To update you from our last edition of Arts & Letters, which was my inaugural issue, I’d like to let you know that I do not appear to have screwed up, as yet. Or if I have, no one is telling me.
A more meaningful update, I suspect, is to let you know about all the strategic planning that is going on around here. The University’s strategic plan for 2020 through 2025 – Connecting Imagination with Impact – was finalized and approved in the fall. If you look at it, you’ll see that its “impact themes” are well-aligned with the our Faculty’s strengths and vision: developing talent for a complex future; advancing research for global impact; and strengthening sustainable and diverse communities. Innovation, entrepreneurship, and experiential learning have long been regarded as Waterloo’s strengths, and the strategic plan envisions enhancing and expanding these opportunities still further, with a view to taking on global challenges in such areas as health, climate, and the human-technology interface.
With that in mind, I’d like to direct your attention to some of the stories in this issue. They demonstrate how Arts students and scholars, past and present, contribute to the world of healthcare (read about our 2019 Alumni Award winners Marc Hall and Dianne Carmichael) and to understanding and addressing the climate crisis (take a look at the research going on across the Faculty). We are tremendously proud of the way in which so many of our entrepreneurial alumni and students have a real impact on society, the economy, and the environment, which we illustrate in this issue with a story on Arts and the entrepreneurial mindset.
Speaking of strategic planning, I mentioned in the last issue that Arts is about to launch into a strategic planning exercise of its own. We now have a task force in place and we’re beginning the process of consultation, which includes reaching out to you.
It’s very important to us that we hear from our alumni. We welcome reflections on your experience in Arts at Waterloo, and your observations on the role of Arts grads and scholarship for the workplace and for society in general.
And last, but most certainly not least, Happy Birthday to Us! Arts at Waterloo turns 60 this year. I’ve been here since 1987, so Arts and I have aged gracefully together. I have seen a lot of change to the Faculty, the University, and the community since I first arrived here, and for the most part those changes have been all to the good. If I had to pinpoint the one positive change that stands out the most for me, it would have to be that we finally adopted a new decorating scheme for the tunnel between Modern Languages and Environment (I’m very sensitive to décor).
