Robert Runté		 Personal Background
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I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, and received my B.A., Professional Diploma in Education, M.Ed., and Ph.D. all from the University of Alberta. I moved to Lethbridge to join the Education Faculty in 1991. I was attracted to the University of Lethbridge by a variety of factors: a quality undergraduate program with an excellent reputation; an expanding master's program; a small, intimate campus where one can really get to know one's students; the opportunity to pursue a broader range of academic interests than would be possible on a more compartmentalized campus; and the corresponding opportunity for interaction and collaboration with colleagues in other disciplines.

I am first and foremost a sociologist. My Ph.D dissertation (Ideological Proletarianization: A Case Study of Educators, University of Alberta, 1992 [dissertation abstract]) examined teacher professionalism through a study of educators working within a branch of Alberta Learning. My master's thesis was on the origins of Athabasca University (The Emergence of the Open University Concept in Alberta, University of Alberta, 1981 [thesis abstract]) Alberta's distance education university.

I teach four courses from a sociological perspective at University ofLethbridge: Ed 3603: Social Context; Ed 4320: School and Society from a Sociological Perspective; Ed 4321: Social Issues in Education; and Ed 4391 "Cyberculture: A Sociological Analysis for Educators". At the graduate level, I teach Ed 5400: The Nature of Educational Research. I have also worked as a test development specialist for the Student Evaluation Branch of Alberta Education. I was responsible for the Social Studies Achievement Tests for Grades 3, 6 and 9, and collaborated on other tests in the humanities. Based on this practical experience as a professional test developer, I teach two courses in student evaluation: Ed 3504 (authentic assessment techniques) and Ed 3604 (test construction). I routinely offer workshops on test construction, item analysis, and student-oriented grading across Canada.

I am also a former fiction editor with Tesseract Books (when it was still an imprint of the Books Collective), and am currently a reviewer for Neo-Opsis Magazine, and have won two Aurora Awards for my essays promoting Canadian Speculative Fiction. I am currently editing a volume of critical essays on Canadian science fiction.

Runte Family 2005

I am married and have two daughters, Tigana and Kasia. For more on my family life, turn to my autobiographical essays or my personal web pages.

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This page last updated January, 2009.