New academic year – new opportunities

Optimistic.

That one word sums up how I feel about the new academic year.

As we welcome some 8,000 new students to Concordia, I am excited about the months ahead.

One reason is that our senior academic leadership team is now in place with the recent arrival of our new provost, Benoit-Antoine Bacon.

He is supported by Lisa Ostiguy, who has taken on the new role of deputy provost. She will be looking at how we can improve student life and services on our campuses. We recently named two new vice-provosts — Catherine Bolton and Jorgen Hansen — and broadened our Provost Fellows Program to support opportunities for faculty development.

Another reason for my optimism is that we continue to gain more recognition for our academic and research excellence. This year, we will continue efforts to support our researchers and build our research presence locally and internationally.

For example, in mid-May, we will host Acfas, the largest multidisciplinary scientific gathering for la Francophonie. In late June, Encuentro comes to Concordia. This academic conference and festival is hosted by Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.

Improving our labour relations is an important priority. That is why the university will be working hard to reach agreements with all our employee groups. To date, we have reached agreements with two groups, our full-time faculty and our continuing education professors.

I hope to see you around campus, including at the upcoming “meet and greet” events planned for September 12 and 16, and at the annual Shuffle on September 27.

Keep in touch (you can email me at alan.shepard@concordia.ca), and all the best for the year.

Alan Shepard
President