Hugo Cardoso - New Chair's Greetings

Dear students, staff and faculty members,

I would like to first acknowledge the Coast Salish peoples on whose ancestral, traditional and unceded territories our three campuses reside, and on whose land we are privileged to live, work and play.

For those of you who do not know me, I’m Hugo Cardoso, Associate Professor and the new chair of the Department of Archaeology.

We are living challenging times under the covid pandemic. I would just like to say that I hope that you are all well and staying safe, and that I remain positive about how we will face the trials ahead and work towards transitioning to a new normality soon.

In the meanwhile, given the circumstances I am sorry that I cannot meet most of you in person and that you cannot also meet face to face and gather on campus for classes, and to socialize. I would like the department to stay connected and I am sure I speak for everyone by saying we will all work to make this transition less difficult and we are committed to keeping everyone engaged and safe.

I would like first to welcome to the department the new undergraduate and graduate students and thank you for your perseverance and for staying motivated in these challenging times.

Next I would like to welcome back our existing cohorts of undergraduate and graduate students. I also want to thank you for your perseverance and for staying connected despite the challenges.

I welcome back our staff members who have already been working hard to prepare the fall semester and thank you for your many and essential supporting roles, including the difficult and busy transition to the covid era.

Lastly, I welcome back our faculty, and thank you for your many contributions to leadership and example of determination and adaptability transitioning to remote teaching and in confronting obstacles to research.

I would like everyone to think for an instant about the reason or reasons that bring you to the department. I hope we develop those as strengths on which we can build and continue to create a sense of community where everyone has a voice. I am here to help you all face your challenges as part of SFU’s archaeology community and I will be available to you to address your concerns and work with everyone to raise the profile of archaeology and its social and scholarly contributions. This includes to keeping our community safe and healthy during this pandemic.

I wish you all a great day and great start for the fall semester! See you all soon virtually

Hugo