Message from VP Academic

Message from the VP 

Student experience has always been a focus at SFU, but this year, we have had to reshape what the student experience is all about.

While most years have allowed us to provide hands-on and community-based experiences for our students, the impact of COVID-19 has forced us to re-evaluate the meaning of the student experience. This year has been one of resilience and preparation—for staff, faculty, and especially for students. While we look to provide more support and assistance to our students who are not on campus, our teams have also been hard at work with those who are here, and in preparing to welcome students back to campus in the coming year. We have pushed ahead with renovation projects, increased the number of online webinars and engagement projects, and we have made it our goal to adapt to the newly created frameworks for student experience.

With the Student Experience Initiative, this challenge has allowed our staff to pinpoint one shared goal that remains at the top of our list—to ensure students feel the sense of community and engagement that they would normally find at SFU. While we recognize this may not be the same, we have made it our mission to get as close as we can, given our current circumstances.

Over this past year, we have focused on the Healthier Campus Community theme, promoting well-being in learning environments for researchers and teaching assistants, as well as Destination SFU, with a wide range of campus improvements that await students when they return to campus.

This year has tasked us all with re-imagining what student experience is all about. While it has not been easy, I am proud of each staff member who has worked outside of their comfort zone to support our students and I cannot wait to see the road ahead when we can invite students back to an even better and brighter campus

Yours truly,

Dr. Catherine Dauvergne
Vice-President Academic and Provost