Provost and Vice-President Academic Report to Senate—January 2024

SFU’s executive team and our Board of Governors are committed to increased communication about topics discussed at each Board and Senate meeting, and it is my pleasure to present a summary of a key initiative discussed at Senate on January 8, 2024

• You can also read SFU President Joy Johnson’s message from the January 25, 2024 Board of Governor’s meeting here.
• And Board Chair Angie Lamarsh’s report here.

Leadership at SFU Surrey and SFU Vancouver campuses now reporting to Provost and VPA

As of December 31, 2023, leadership at Surrey and Vancouver campuses reports to the Provost and VP Academic. There are a number of reasons for this change.

• SFU’s Surrey and Vancouver campuses have grown a great deal. SFU Surrey has become a community cornerstone and is the home of two new schools, and SFU Vancouver has become an intellectual centre of the city. Now there is an opportunity to strengthen academic leadership and long-term decision-making for those campuses.
• The new model will bring new perspectives into what is already working well at our campuses. We will build on our strengths as we consider the academic priorities and future for each campus.
• Dugan O’Neil, VPRI, will assume the role of acting academic director for SFU Surrey, and Peter Hall, Associate Vice-President Academic, will take on that role for SFU Vancouver. Along with Executive Directors Steve Dooley in Surrey and Laurie Anderson in Vancouver, they will report to the Provost and VP Academic and work with the faculties and different units at the university to develop a new framework for the development of the three-campus model at SFU.

I want to thank Joanne Curry for her leadership on the Surrey and Vancouver campuses. Her work has been remarkable and paves the way for a new moment at SFU.

Dilson Etcheverry Rassier
Provost and Vice-President Academic