This summer, all six faculties at the University are taking stock of our responses to the UWaterloo 2013-2018 Strategic Plan — an ambitious institutional vision with eight areas of focus. As we write our own summative report, I cannot help but feel a sense of pride in how Arts has advanced as a Faculty while also making significant strides in collaboration with colleagues across campus and beyond.
Indeed, the whole University is stronger than the sum of our parts — especially when the whole includes our alumni community.
The past five years have been especially exciting in Arts. As a Faculty, we have experienced considerable growth, building capacity with a diverse range of new faculty members, adding specialized staff, expanding infrastructure — most notably the Hagey Hub — and designing new programming. If you will indulge me, I think it is worth shouting about.
With many players involved, Arts has strategically developed undergraduate and graduate opportunities to respond to changing needs and priorities — the transformation and new name of our satellite campus to the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business is one example. With the support of many generous donors, we achieved our goal to build new space for students. Also with support from alumni and donors — increasingly through the Arts 360 fund — we now offer students more ways to apply learning beyond the classroom, including expanding opportunities for our students to have a co-op experience, thereby capitalizing on the University’s internationally-recognized leadership in this area.
Additionally, I must note the substantial ways in which Arts make campus-wide initiatives happen. Members of the Faculty lead a large program to build communication skills for all Waterloo students; we collaborate across disciplines for truly innovative research — for example, our leadership of the Games Institute and the Centre for Mental Health Research & Treatment — and we facilitate institutional commitments to Truth and Reconciliation with Indigenous communities.
We are doing well, but we are not complacent.
Looking ahead, we will continue to set the pace with research and academic programs that combine disciplinary rigor, interdisciplinary perspectives, and wider world experiences. We continue our longstanding priority to respond to current and emerging issues of society. As ever, such endeavours rely in large part on staying in touch with you, our alumni and friends — our most important ambassadors.
Enjoy the rest of summer, and happy reading.
Banner photo: new graduates of the MA Global Governance program celebrate at Spring Convocation, 2018.
