This is my final Arts & Letters missive written while wearing my Dean of Arts hat. I will spare you my numerous reflections on nearly eight years in the hot seat as dean. But I do want to express my sincere gratitude to this expansive group of Arts alumni, donors, retirees, and other friends.
I’ve been lucky to meet many alumni over the years who give their valuable time. There are countless examples. In 2012 an alumni advisory group joined our Arts strategic planning process to keep us focused on real-world outcomes. Each year, 45+ alumni volunteer to attend our popular Conversations Café Speed Networking events to speak with and mentor our students. Arts alumni are remarkably generous with their advice and experience. You are a great source of insight, and we here on campus need to listen. I am truly grateful for your engagement, which has invariably been informed and thoughtful, and sometimes critical.
The Hub opened its doors in September 2016 thanks to an incredible community effort to fund the new space dedicated to students. From the family members of UWaterloo’s founders to alumni of all ages to current students to retirees, faculty, staff, and others, the goodwill and generosity of so many is truly heartening and would make any dean very proud.
Since my own international experiences as a student, I consider global awareness a significant benefit to one’s education — but it is also a significant privilege. Together with gifts from alumni and donors (often the same people!), we are creating more access for more students to travel, volunteer, study, and work in different parts of the world as a formal part of their programs. I have not met a student who has not found such experiences eye-opening, if not life-changing.
Finally, I want to share one more point of pride for myself as Dean of Arts. Over the past eight years, we have invested in talent with new faculty hires. Cutting-edge researchers are here. Talented teachers are here. Our new faculty members generate fresh insights and open more channels for interdisciplinary strength and collaboration, and, in turn, they give our students fantastic opportunities to learn and put learning into practice.
Thank you again for your engagement with the University. You play many different but equally vital roles in making Waterloo Arts the vibrant and diverse community with which I have had the privilege of being associated.
Top photo: In early spring 2015, Doug Peers and students Dylan Ball and Hannah Beckett donned hardhats for the Hagey Hall Hub groundbreaking ceremony. (Photo by William Innes, BA ’14, Drama)
