Top SFU News stories of 2022

At SFU, 2022 was all about reconnecting and laying the foundations for a new era.

The university was brimming with life and excitement across all three campuses as we enjoyed being back in person for the first full calendar year since the COVID-19 pandemic began. New amenities made the on-campus experience better than ever for students while the year also saw the university get the green light on major projects that will forever change the SFU experience for years to come.

Take a stroll down memory lane with us as we recap the top SFU News stories of 2022.

New look, new experiences

The year redefined what the Simon Fraser University on-campus experience is all about.

Let’s start with our new team name. The SFU Red Leafs was unveiled as the new name for our varsity athletics teams in September after an extensive two-year consultation process. Grounded in the university’s strong and rich athletic history, athletes and coaches have competed under SFU’s iconic leaf for generations. Recognized as a symbol of unity across its campuses, the name also builds on our representation as Canada’s only NCAA team competing in the U.S.

The doors to the new, state-of-the-art Dining Commons opened this fall. The new building features 10 new culinary stations, 500 indoor seats, outdoor patio and a mezzanine to make it the ideal spot to grab a bite, study and socialize.

The university continued to work towards provide housing for 3,250 students by 2035 with the opening of two new family housing buildings. The buildings including 90 rental units and expands housing options for SFU students and their partners and children.

SFU also took a big step toward making life better for staff who work at its three campuses. In July, SFU announced it plans to becoming a Living Wage Employer – a first for a Canadian public university.

A bright future

This year saw the university hit major milestones on two projects that will completely transform SFU for years to come.

That first came in January as Burnaby city council voted in favour of advancing the proposed gondola for Burnaby Mountain. In June, the Metro Vancouver Mayors’ Council and the Translink board of directors approved the gondola as part of Translink’s 10-year priority plan.

B.C. Premier David Eby bookmarked the year with a visit to SFU Surrey in late November, where he announced $4.9 million in start-up funding for an SFU medical school and Dr. Roger Strasser as interim Dean.

SFU is working to create a program for medical students and residents to learn in team-based primary care settings, which are patient-centered and consider social, environmental, and prevention contexts. Once established, this would be the first new medical school in Western Canada in more than 50 years.

Advancing Indigenous partnerships

Indigenous studies and SFU’s own journey toward reconciliation are important foundations for the university and 2022 was no different.

In January, SFU researchers were among those from six universities taking a leading role in the international, Indigenous-led Ărramăt project. The initiative involves more than 150 Indigenous organizations, universities, and other partners working together to highlight the complex problems of biodiversity loss and its implications for health and well-being.

SFU’s Community Economic Development program was involved in a new report by Sxwpilemaát Siyám, Hereditary Chief Leanne Joe, of the Squamish Nation, that sets a framework toward economic reconciliation.

Sigidimnak Nox Ts’aawit (Dr. Amy Parent, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Education and Governance) has been involved in a historic precedent-setting research project that will see a long-stolen memorial totem pole returned to her family in the Nisga’a Nation from Scotland.

Researchers also published papers this year on sea garden story maps that unite Indigenous mariculture practices across the Pacific and forest gardens identified on Nootka Island.

Striving for sustainability

SFU deepened its commitment to sustainability and climate action with the release of SFU’s 2022-2025 Strategic Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, which puts SFU on the path towards net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.

The university cut greenhouse gases by more than 50 per cent from 2007 levels in 2021, exceeding provincial interim targets and even topping the university’s own aggressive Race to Zero targets.

Since announcing the university’s commitment to full divestment last fall, SFU’s Global equity portfolio, valued at $450 million as of December 2021, is 100 per cent fossil fuel free.

Recognizing excellence

Many SFU faculty were honoured on the national and international stage. There’s too many to name but the list includes 16 researchers with new or renewed Canadian Research Chairs (see January, June and November), two faculty members being named 2022 Guggenheim Fellows, eight scholars named to the Royal Society of Canada, and one being recognized with a prestigious Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

Top of the mountain

SFU’s star shone brightly again in 2022 university rankings. We reclaimed sole possession of the top spot at Canada’s No. 1 comprehensive university in the Macleans Magazine annual rankings. The magazine cited campus upgrades like the new Dining Commons, our commitment to sustainability and reconciliation and new programs as key factors in SFU remaining on the summit of its rankings for the 14th time in 15 years.

SFU ranked once more among the world’s top 10 universities for its commitment to sustainable cities and communities, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) 2022 Impact Rankings, first in Canada for innovation and first in the world for entrepreneurial spirit, according to the World’s Universities with Real Impact (WURI) 2022 rankings.

Major milestones

SFU’s Surrey campus celebrated 20 years in September, marking its growth from a betaspace in Surrey Place Mall (now Central City Mall) to an expanded campus embedded in downtown Surrey, serving a growing and continuing need for post-secondary education south of the Fraser.

And 40 years ago the Beedie School of Business opened its doors in the spirit of “redefining radical” and has established itself as a school of firsts: offering Canada’s first Executive MBA and Management of Technology MBA; the first and only university in the world to offer an Indigenous Business Leadership Executive MBA; and the distinction of being in the one per cent of business schools with double-accreditation.

And it continues to innovate. This year, Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster announced an official partnership with SFU Beedie to invest $4 million into the Digital Innovation and Leadership (DIAL) initiative, which aims to train more than 1,100 workers across Canada over the next two years.

Supporting cutting-edge research

As a leading research university, SFU had a lot to celebrate in 2022.

Brain research is taking promising new directions at the SFU Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (NIN), which was announced in January and is led by renowned neuroscientist Randy McIntosh.

In June, SFU received $6.22 million from the Mellon Foundation to support an effort to counter the impacts of discriminatory online misinformation through a multi-faceted, multi-institutional three-year Data Fluencies Project led by Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media.

A new B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation at SFU Surrey will further position British Columbia as a world leader in supporting agriculture technology (agritech) —locally and globally—while creating hundreds of new jobs.

And there was $2 million announced for SFU’s 4D Labs to advance clean technologies late-stage testing through the new Centre for Environmental and Food Analysis.

Last but not least, the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society (PIPPS) opened as a new interdisciplinary research institute focused on strengthening B.C.’s capability to prevent, prepare for and respond to major infectious disease events.

From the ocean…

SFU research continues to contribute to bettering our understanding of the world we live in. This year, that includes focuses on polar bear conservation, improving health outcomes, saving honeybees, preserving our undersea kelp forests, tackling dementia and autism, improving communities and fighting climate change.

That rapid-fire list of new research barely scratches the surface but helps show how connected SFU is with its communities.

…to the stars

But why stop with research on Earth? A couple of unique SFU projects this year are truly out of this world.

For the first time in history, a Canadian rover will explore the moon and help in the international search for water ice, a key component needed for the future of human space exploration and SFU was named one of the mission’s partners.

SFU students also partnered with students at the University of British Columbia to design and build a satellite that will be launched into orbit onboard a SpaceX rocket.

Great 2022… but What’s Next?

That was some year! Before our attention turns to 2023 and the future, we also wanted to make sure we spent this year listening to you.

SFU What’s Next? launched this year to engage in community conversations to help us collectively express SFU's vision, purpose, priorities and commitments, with the goal of developing a framework that aligns efforts across the university.

Stay tuned next year to hear what’s next for SFU.