SFU: WHAT’S NEXT? – MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT TO STUDENTS

I hope you are having a great start to the term! I have really enjoyed seeing so many students on campus again and meeting many of you in person during our Month of Welcome.

While participating in various activities this month, you may have seen that the university is currently undergoing a process called SFU: What’s Next?—a community conversation that we started in March, in order to create a framework that guides the university in the years ahead.

Whether you’re new to SFU or you are a long-time member of our community, I want to hear from you! Your feedback will be a very important part of our decision-making.

We’ve partnered with the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue to create several ways for you to make your voice heard, including a short survey and engagement pop-ups taking place on all three campuses. Learn more at the Centre for Dialogue website.

You can also contribute to the conversation by attending the SFU: What’s Next? town hall for students on November 15 to share feedback directly with myself and SFU’s Provost and Vice-President Academic pro tem, Wade Parkhouse.

And finally, Wade and I encourage you to learn about the feedback we’ve received to date on the SFU: What’s Next? website. So far we’ve seen that we need to focus on enriching the student experience as we return to campus, uphold a community commitment to reconciliation, decolonization, Indigenization and social justice, and recenter the university’s academic mission in all that we do.

Do you agree? Disagree? This is the time to make your voice heard.

I look forward to your feedback, to hearing from you at the town hall and to seeing you in the hallways and on our campuses in the months ahead!

Thank you, and best wishes for a successful term.

Joy Johnson
Pronouns: she, her, hers
President and Vice-Chancellor
Simon Fraser University