President's Newsletter — Issue 11 (June, 2010)

This will be my last Newsletter for the current academic year, and like all such Newsletters, it is an opportunity to reflect on the past year, on what we have achieved, and on what remains to be done. Over all, it has been a good year, and I am pleased with what has occurred, even though there have been some inevitable frustrations along the way. We have enjoyed many successes and enjoyed substantial academic development. The University has grown and we tabled a balanced budget which allowed for a limited number of new investments in the University. Our Governance and administrative structures continue to develop, and many people have worked hard to ensure they do, and we concluded the Mission and Mandate exercise in anticipation of the next stages of institutional planning. And, of course, we embarked on a large number of searches which I am optimistic will bring good new people to the institution. By any standard, we should be pleased with what has gone on over the last year, and at the outset I wish to thank all those who contributed, each in their own way, to the governance and operations of the institution.

United Way—an exceptional year

I wish to begin this Newsletter by congratulating Ronnie Skolnick and her colleagues from BCGEU and the Kwantlen Faculty Association for an outstanding United Way Campaign. Kwantlen was the recipient of a Community Spirit Award from the United Way of the Lower BC Mainland for its exemplary campaign for 2010. Under Ronnie's leadership and with the efforts of many volunteers, Kwantlen raised $78,838.00 compared to $23,875.00 for the preceding year; this is a remarkable improvement. The number of individual donors also increased substantially. Such generosity is important in and of itself; more than this, though, it sends a signal that Kwantlen is an important contributor to the communities it serves. My congratulations and thanks to everyone who contributed to the campaign, and to all those who
worked on it.

A year of achievements

There are many achievements the University can celebrate—too many, in fact to mention them all. The annual Fashion Show by our Bachelor of Fashion Design graduates was a tour de force, as was a similar event put on by our Interior Design students. The Art Department had an impressive graduating show, this year held for the first time on our Cloverdale campus. The Music Department, both faculty and students, continue to provide outstanding concerts, and this year performed for the first time on the Surrey campus. I was privileged to attend all manner of scholarship and awards nights showcasing student achievement. Our Women's Soccer Team won its first league championship and went on to finish third in the nation, while our Badminton Team won bronze at the Nationals.

Any number of conferences occurred over the last year, a number organized by and for students; examples include the KPU Student Leadership Conference, the Connecting Minds 2010 Conference on Undergraduate Research in Psychology, and Black History Month sponsored by the Department of History. We had another very successful Open House, which attracted substantial numbers of potential students to campus, as well as an equally successful High School Counsellors Day on the Langley campus. Education of a different sort took place through the very successful TALK program, and I was most grateful to be able to provide a Saturday lecture to this program.

We saw the first Farmer's Market on our Langley campus, and the second has already started for the current summer. We partnered with the city of Surrey in the building of a turf field at Newton Park, which will finally give Kwantlen a designated outdoor facility for athletics and recreation. We were designated one of the top 100 Most Green Institutions in Canada, one of only six post-secondary institutions to make this list. For the third year in a row, Kwantlen was named one of the top 55 Employers in British Columbia. The University's new Aboriginal Gathering Place, which was officially opened last week, was recognized with the 2010 Innovation Award by the Architectural Institute of B.C. and with the 2010 BC Wood Design Award by Wood Canada. Kwantlen recently received a gift of $2.5 million from Dr. Ike Barber; this is the largest gift in Kwantlen history, and will go to support an endowment for accessibility programs.

The Kwantlen Foundation and Kwantlen Alumni Association have continued to flourish, and the University's relationship with both organizations has grown. I wish especially to thank Chris Brodie, the current Chair of the Kwantlen Foundation Board, and Baltej Dhillon, Chair of the Alumni Board, for their leadership to each of their organizations. We have worked well this year with the Kwantlen Students Association, with whom we are now discussing the construction of a Student Union Building on the Surrey campus and renovations to the student union space at the Langley campus. And I want to extend my personal thanks and appreciation to the Board of Governors, and its Chair, Scott Nicoll, who work long and hard on behalf of Kwantlen. I wish to especially thank Rebecca Darnell, who will be stepping down from the Board after six years.

Of particular significance to Kwantlen was the establishment of the British Columbia Association of Institutes and Universities, with Ruth Wittenberg, former Assistant Deputy Minister at AVED, appointed its first President. This organization has demonstrated its value in a very short time, allowing as it has an opportunity for dialogue and conversation among its member institutions, and providing its member organizations an effective voice with the British Columbia government.

Academic Developments

There has been substantial growth on the academic side of the University. We received final approval for the Bachelor of Fine Arts, which had long been in the works; I know this was very welcome news to the Department of Fine Arts. As well, Senate approved a new Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies and a post-degree Bachelor of Nursing; both of these are now posted on the DQAB website. Program concepts were also approved for a Bachelor of Horticulture Science, with majors in Plant Health and Urban Ecosystems, a Bachelor of Science in Health Science, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and a Bachelor of Sustainable Agriculture. We are also expecting proposals for a Bachelor of Design in Product Design and Innovation and a Bachelor of Music in Musical Arts.

Enrolment, Budget, Capital and other development

The University experienced a significant increase in enrolment in 2009-2010. 10,576.7 FTE students enrolled compared to 9,863.7 FTE for the preceding year. Of note here is the 23% increase in enrolment on the Langley campus. While the budget was very tight this year, we still managed to fund a number of new projects, although we continue to be concerned about the restrictions we face relative to how we report our financials. The budget process was, I believe, further improved; and there will be additional changes in the 2011 budget process given what we learned this year. We are awaiting final approval for the sale of the Newton campus, for which we received $4.7 million. These funds will go into a capital reserve fund controlled by the Board, and will be used in due course for major capital development.

We have moved forward on a number of capital projects, some of them funded by the Federal and Provincial Infrastructure Program. I appreciate that some of these projects have produced noise and some inconvenience, and I thank those impacted for their patience. I am very pleased that our Administrative Offices have finally opened at the Langley campus, thus allowing the School of Business to occupy new space on the Surrey campus. The construction of academic space for Social Sciences is virtually complete, and occupancy is scheduled for the middle of July. We have approved the final layout for the renovations of the west wing at Langley, and I have been assured that this project, along with important renovations to the Richmond Library will be concluded by the end 2010.

As I think is generally known, we have wanted to convert our current Lotus Notes e-mail to Microsoft Exchange and IET has been putting into place plans that will allow for this migration. Funds are available for this implementation, which will now take place over the last two weeks of September. We were originally looking at dates at the end of August, but decided to postpone until after classes are well underway for the Fall 2010.

Governance and Structure

We should be pleased with the development and growth of Senate over the last year. It was intended there should be a review of Senate operations after eighteen months, but this has been postponed, in no small part because it is busy with so many other issues. Some of these are controversial, and not everyone agrees with the outcomes. What is important is that Senate is prepared to tackle the challenging issues facing the institution as we move forward. This is critically important. The institution has embraced a new governance model based on accountability and transparency, especially around academic planning and the University budget. There should be very few topics that we are not prepared to debate and discuss, and to this principle I am absolutely committed.

We have also continued with organizational change this year, placing particular emphasis on Student Services and on Enrolment Management Planning. Both are critical to our future success, and demand outstanding individual leadership. Ron Maggiore joined us in his role as Associate Vice-President (Strategic Enrolment Management), and Jody Gordon assumed the role of Associate Vice-President (Students). This reorganization involved a number of units and is now complete. As well, Marketing and Communications has been joined with Alumni Affairs and Institutional Development to create a comprehensive Advancement Office, similar to those found at other Canadian universities.

A major undertaking for the coming year is the current round of bargaining with both the KFA and the BCGEU. I am well aware of the challenges that bargaining entails, especially in an institution that prides itself on collegial decision-making. Having said this, I am optimistic that bargaining will go well, simultaneously keeping in mind the wellbeing of those who work here and the future of Kwantlen
as a university.

We have also continued with our review of current institutional policy in light of our change to university status. To date, we have updated and drafted a large number of operational policies. While this is not an undertaking that attracts much attention, it is critical to establishing a consistent set of rules and expectations by which the University conducts its business. Rob Fleming was leading this exercise for the last year. With his departure, I shall try to fill in until an appropriate replacement is found. We shall continue to work with Hans Van der Slagt, who has been key during the drafting process.

Institutional Vision

We concluded the Mission and Mandate exercise this year, after an exhaustive process of consultation and discussion with the university community. This document is a foundational one for the institution, intended as it is to establish a conceptual framework for the University. It was always intended that Mission and Mandate would be followed by three additional steps: 1. an institutional Vision Statement, 2. a comprehensive strategic plan, 3. a new marketing brand and strategy. The Board of Governors has recently taken the step of identifying the drafting of a vision statement as a priority for the institution, and, accordingly, we shall be aiming to have something in front of the Kwantlen community by September. We have heard repeatedly about the need for a statement that will at once inspire and guide the institution, and this is very much what this next stage is about. The Board's direction concerning the development of a vision statement is exceedingly timely, consistent as it is with our general plans to define Kwantlen; and it has provided an important impetus to completing the current task.

I am aware that both with institutional vision and with institutional definition, there must be broad buy-in from the University community. We already have, of course, the material provided by the Mission and Mandate exercise, and extensive input from Creative Intelligence (now Twist Marketing), with whom we have been working for the last several months. I have also struck a small committee to provide guidance and direction, and to assist in the drafting of a vision statement for Kwantlen. Members of this Task Force are Wade Deisman (Dept. of Criminology and Chair of the Senate Academic Planning and Priorities Committee), Dana Cserepes (Dept. of Fine Art, Vice-Chair of Senate, and Chair of Senate's Curriculum Committee), Jim Matteoni (Horticulture), Art Coren (Dean, School of Business), Ron Maggiore (Associate Vice-President, Strategic Enrolment Management), and Caroline Daniels (Librarian). We are currently looking for an appropriate student representative. This same committee will also provide leadership in drafting the "green paper" which we shall be submitting to Government on Kwantlen's role as a "polytechnic university." This "green paper" will define Kwantlen's aspirations as a polytechnic university, and constitute an important part of an eventual institutional strategic plan.

The importance of this next stage in defining Kwantlen cannot be under stated. It was not something that could have been achieved during our first few months as a university. It required that we adjust to our new status and think carefully about our future. Most certainly, we should not be pushing out a vision and image of the institution until we are absolutely sure what they are. At the same time, we know that positioning Kwantlen is crucial to establishing it as a university both in British Columbia and Canada, and internationally. There has been an incredible amount of work completed on all fronts and at every level of the institution over the last twenty months, as our confidence as a university has grown. Now is the time to establish our ambitions for the next five to ten years; and the University community should be confident that we are committed to meeting this challenge.

Searches

One of our most important tasks is to recruit the very best people we can to work at Kwantlen, and to this end everyone is working very hard on the many searches being conducted in the institution. The search processes for the Associate Vice-President (Human Resource Services), the Associate Vice-President (Academic and Faculty Affairs), the Dean of Academic and Career Advancement, and the Dean of Community and Health Studies are all underway, and we remain optimistic about making appointments by the end of the summer. While the search for an Executive Director of Continuing Education was a challenging one, I am pleased Dr. Russell Currie will be joining us in August, 2010. Dr. Currie comes to us from the University of British Columbia (Okanagan) and his office will be located on the Langley campus. Continuing Education remains a priority for the institution, and I am certain Dr. Currie will provide the kind of leadership the institution needs. Searches for the University Registrar and the Director of Marketing and Communications are in their final stages. We shall begin the preliminary work for the Vice-President (Academic) search over the summer. The Vice-President (Academic) is intending to have an Acting Dean of Science and Horticulture appointed within the next several weeks, although there is every expectation that Horticulture will become its own Faculty.

Thanks

I wish to take this opportunity as well to offer special thanks to two of our departing colleagues. Dr. Rob Fleming, Associate Vice-President (Academic) leaves shortly to take up his new position as Executive Director of the B.C. Council on Admissions and Transfer, and Deborah Harkin (Vice-President, Human Resource Services) will be taking retirement at the end of June. I want to thank both of our colleagues for the guidance and leadership they have given the institution, and to wish them well in the future. As well, I want to thank Dr. Claudette Kelly, who will also be leaving us, after serving as Acting Dean of Community and Health Studies.

Convocation

Convocation is in about ten days, and we shall have a full house for at least two of the ceremonies. My expectation is that we will go to 5 ceremonies next year rather than the current 4. This year, Kwantlen will confer honorary degrees on Mike Harcourt and Carol Jones; these are the first honorary degrees conferred since Kwantlen became a university. As well, we will be awarding a series of new medals to our outstanding students. Deans medals will be awarded to the most academic accomplished student in each Faculty. These new medals are in addition to the ones we already award. Although space will be tight, anyone who has expressed an interest in attending Convocation and would like to do so should get in touch with the Registrar's Office.

Have a Good Summer

I hope everyone feels a sense of satisfaction about the last year, and, like me, looks forward to the one upcoming. I hope, too, that everyone has a great summer and leaves time for family and friends.