President's report - June Board meeting

SFU has experienced a flurry of activity since the last Board meeting. From exciting research announcements to honouring our incredible students at convocation, there has been no lack of achievements to celebrate. 

Over the rest of the summer, we will be encouraging faculty and staff to unplug and recharge ahead of our busy fall term. I am looking forward to a quiet summer at SFU as we prepare for the upcoming academic year.

Advancing strategic priorities

There is work occurring across the university to advance the What’s Next strategic priorities. Several key examples are highlighted below.

Uphold Truth & Reconciliation

• The Indigenous Council Office, led by Indigenous Executive Lead Chris (Syeta’xtn) Lewis, continues to advance Indigenous strategic priorities as well as build its capacity and the capacity of the Office for Aboriginal Peoples. Current areas of focus include the Indigenous Welcoming Procedure, First Peoples’ Gathering House, First Nations naming, transitions to the new Indigenous Governance Structure and next Indigenous Strategic Plan. To ensure that the office has appropriate capacity, we are developing a road map that will ensure that the office is positioned to execute strategic priorities and support the work of Upholding Truth and Reconciliation across SFU.
• I was honoured to attend this year’s Indigenous Student Centre Honouring Feast on June 10. It was moving to celebrate the achievements of Indigenous graduands along with their families and loved ones, and I am grateful to all the organizers for putting together a wonderful event.

Engage in Global Challenges

• Work is underway to develop a coordinated strategic plan for international, with the goals of deepening partnerships, enhancing enrolment efforts and increasing academic collaborations between SFU and partners around the world. An internal international strategy group is in place, and a consulting firm has been hired to advance development of the strategic approach.
• On May 16, VPAAE and the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAS) partnered to deliver Ctl+Alt+She, a dynamic forum on shaping a more inclusive future in tech. Featured speakers included 2023 President’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award recipient Amyn Rajan and SFU Outstanding Alumni Award recipient Isabel Ge Mahe, Vice President and Managing Director of Greater China, Apple Inc. along with a panel of FAS faculty members. The faculty-based alumni and stakeholder engagement event has already generated encouraging interest from members of our donor community who were present.
• On May 31, the Hon. Terry Beech, the Hon. Josie Osborne and partners joined us at the Burnaby campus to announce the SFU Clean Hydrogen Hub. SFU’s commitment to engaging in global challenges, specifically climate change, will grow through the new hub—a government, industry and academic collaboration that will develop and scale-up clean hydrogen energy technologies.
• Pacific Economic Development Canada announced $4.3M to SFU to establish the Quantum Fabrication Centre at the university’s 4D LABS facility. The investment will advance British Columbia’s position as an early pioneer and leader in the global quantum ecosystem.
• The Government of Canada announced $14.6M in funding for the new Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Consortium: Essential Societal Infrastructure to Support Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Pipeline project, co-led by SFU health sciences professor Kelley Lee. The SSH Consortium is composed of leading expertise in epidemiology, anthropology, communications, political science, history, law, philosophy, sociology and other fields to better understand and support public trust in, and equitable access to, vaccines and other immune-based innovations.

Make a Difference for B.C.

• Following approvals for the School of Medicine and Full Program Proposal by Senate and Board in May, the School is now shifting its focus towards the accreditation process, concluding the hiring of the founding dean and will be filling key future leadership positions such as associate dean, research in the fall. 
  • The school's accreditation team is actively working on the first major submission in the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) accreditation process and preparing to present at CACMS’ winter meeting. 
  • The school is also creating a Learner Advisory Council and calling for expressions of interest from undergraduate and graduate students, at SFU and other universities. Council members will have the opportunity to help shape student services and a new, innovative MD program.
• On June 3, the Hon. Brenda Bailey joined us on Burnaby campus to announce that SFU has received $80M in funding to upgrade supercomputer Cedar, one of the most powerful academic supercomputers in Canada. The funds include nearly $41M from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance), $24.5M from the Province of British Columbia through the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund and more than $15 million in in-kind contributions from partners. The Alliance is also contributing an additional $248,000 to fund three research-support positions.
• This spring, SFU Public Square concluded the multi-year Taking Action! speaker series, a partnership between SFU and the Resilience BC Anti-Racism Network. The series featured four researchers, authors, activists and performers from around the world who shared their successes and strategies for anti-racism work. The lectures reached a global audience of more than 1,700 people, going beyond identifying the problems of racism, colonialism, hate and discrimination to focus on ways we can take an active decolonized approach to anti-racism work in communities across B.C.  
• Over nine years, the Burnaby Festival of Learning—now Connect Fest—has brought people from all over the Lower Mainland into Burnaby for vibrant community knowledge exchange. In partnership with the City of Burnaby, SFU co-hosted 50 learning opportunities with 125 co-hosts, including leaders, students, citizens, artists, teachers, partners, volunteers and organizers. The festival reached more than 2,000 attendees.

Transform the SFU Experience

• SFU’s Summer Welcome Day was held at the Burnaby campus on May 3. The event hosted 115 new students for an informative and fun-filled afternoon. Attendees connected, explored the campus, and met their faculties. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, as participants told us it was "truly a memorable day," "helpful and engaging," and "the best way to start a new term." This summer also introduced a virtual meet and greet pre-event, SFU Connections, which we plan to feature prior to Welcome Day this fall.
• SFU Public Square collaborated with the Student Learning Commons to support Photovoice, a unique project led by students in which they took photos of their lives and experiences to reflect on their perceptions of “academic success.” These photos symbolically and artistically represented the students’ strengths, challenges, hopes, and fears, and were followed by written reflection pieces and rich discussions as a cohort. This project exhibited the value of art-based methodology as the participants explored their experiences as students. The photos are currently on display on the third floor of the W.A.C. Bennett Library at SFU Burnaby and showcased on the SFU Public Square website. 

Joy Johnson
President & Vice-Chancellor
Simon Fraser University