This article originally appeared in the Friday, August 29, 2014 edition of the Daily Bulletin.
The anticipation is building! There is something so special about September on campus: a fresh injection of bright young minds, and the overwhelming sense of endless possibility.
As preparation continues for Orientation week, let me extend our entire university’s sincere thanks to our hundreds of staff and volunteers. Orientation is a massive effort that requires co-ordination and teamwork across all six faculties and our entire campus community – students, faculty, and staff.
To each and every one of you involved in making Orientation 2014 a great success, thank you and I’ll see you out there!
As we head into a new academic year, we can be proud to welcome our intake of first-year students into Waterloo’s research-intensive environment. Research has been a major focus of my attention this month.
Since my last column ran in the Daily Bulletin, the Globe & Mail published a comment piece I submitted on the topic of university rankings.
If you haven’t seen it yet, please do take a look online if you can find a moment to do so. I’d welcome your feedback to president@uwaterloo.ca, even if I can’t promise to return every message. It’s always helpful for me to have a sense for your views and opinions on these issues.
Essentially, the articles centers on the need to keep university rankings in perspective: they are extremely helpful, essential even, but they have to be understood in context.
It’s important that Waterloo have a strong voice on the national and international level when it comes to research outcomes, funding, and policy. We are a highly respected institution, and we have what is often a very unique perspective on university education and research policy.
I’m very pleased that we’ll have an opportunity to continue shaping the national and international dialogue through an additional platform going forward.
On August 21, I was officially named the new chair of the U15, Canada’s association of research-intensive universities. You can read the media release, and my first message as chair, online.
As many of you already know, the U15’s role is to serve as Canada’s premier advocacy group on research policy. For my two-year term as chair, I will facilitate meetings and decision-making of our executive heads group, and serve often as spokesperson for the association. I look forward to this expanded opportunity to shape the national dialogue on the critical importance of university research to Canada’s vibrancy and competitiveness.
I’ll have plenty more to say about research policy in the months to come – for the moment, however, let me once again welcome our new first-year students to campus!
I look forward to spending much of the month of September welcoming you to your new home-away-from-home, and putting Waterloo on track for another excellent academic year.
Go Warriors!