Concordia's president offers his holiday greetings

Français

Dear Concordians,

The holidays are upon us. What better time to look back and celebrate our amazing accomplishments in 2014!

Thank you for all you do to make Concordia a great place to teach, work and learn.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season, and all the best in the new year.

Alan Shepard
President

It’s been a great year for Concordia. Here are some of the community’s amazing accomplishments in 2014.

Attracting and excelling

• Concordia moved up in both the Maclean's University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings
• Registration of first-choice undergrads was nearly 10 per cent higher than last year
• Bloomberg Businessweek’s Best International Business Schools: 2014 ranked Concordia’s MBA 20th in the world
   

Hosting great people and events

• The UK Minister for Universities and Science visited and praised Concordia's Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology
• Open House 2014: 800 volunteers created "an amazing vibe" for 4,000 prospective students
• Concordia hosted 5,100 scholars at the interdisciplinary Acfas research congress in May
• In June, the university hosted Canada’s first international Encuentro conference and performance festival
• The PERFORM Centre hosted its first annual conference on physical activity and brain function

Outstanding research

• Genomics received a $6 million investment to make pork and poultry feed go further
• Two researchers received $5.5 million to lead projects with a major social impact 
• Concordia’s new social entrepreneurship launch pad, RECODE, received a $500,000 grant
• Nadia Bhuiyan is leading a major aerospace research project with a $1.3-million grant
• 47 Concordians received more than $7 million in NSERC grants
• The PERFORM Centre was the site of groundbreaking gestational diabetes prevention research
• Concordia launched the Big Data Consortium with three partner universities
• The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema is now Canada's best-equipped film school and graduated its first PhDs

Community leadership

• The Concordia University Foundation took a leadership role in sustainable investment
• Concordia presented six ways to rejuvenate the city at Je Vois Montréal

Trailblazing education

• Concordia's pioneering Co-op program expanded to four new disciplines
• The university backed new teaching methods through the Curriculum Innovation Fund
• Philippe Caignon ranked among the 10 best professors in Canada

Inventing the future

• A Concordia-McGill team won a global sustainability challenge by capturing dew — and imaginations — with Skywell
• The District 3 Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship celebrated its first anniversary
• Three grads developed a new app that could change how you see your city

Honours and awards

• The Royal Society of Canada honoured five "dynamic academics"
• Alumna Nadia Myre won the $50,000 Sobey Art Award, one of Canada’s top art prizes
• The Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery landed two top Quebec awards at the Gala des arts visuels
• Two grads received the Prix du Québec, the province’s most prestigious prize
• Concordian Mark Ruwedel won the $50,000 Scotiabank Photography Award

Athletics and health

• The new Stingers football coach, Mickey Donovan, was named RSEQ Coach of the Year
• Concordia's rugby team defeated eight-straight champ McGill to take the provincial title
• JMSB student Alexandre Bilodeau was the first-ever two-time winner of the Olympic gold medal in men's moguls
• Former Stinger Caroline Ouellette captained the Canadian women’s hockey team, earning her fourth Olympic gold

Philanthropy

• A generous gift from Susan Raymer, BA 71, and Ben Wygodny, BA 69, will ensure our future engineers consider ethics and the environment
• The National Bank made a landmark $1-million donation to JMSB to support studies in Entrepreneurship and Family Business
• Concordians have supported exciting projects since the launch of FundOne, our online crowdfunding platform
• More than 600 students, faculty and staff raised $65,000 for student financial aid this year at Shuffle 25, bringing the quarter-century total to $1.1 million