Board of Governors

Lakehead University is in the midst of a major change with a new Strategic Plan, a new President, a new planning/budgeting process and major building openings in downtown Thunder Bay and Orillia.  As part of this change the President’s Report is being reformatted so that it focuses on the Strategic Plan.  This will be one of several methods of ensuring accountability and enhancing communications between the Lakehead Senior Administration and the Board of Governors.  I would very much like your comments on the format and the approach.

 

 

Although the overall format will match the four Strategic Directions, there are some issues that deserve special mention. These will be presented in this section.

 

I have had more comments on this issue than any other since I became President. I’m sure you’re aware of the interest of staff, faculty, students and the media.   But this extends throughout Thunder Bay and the rest of the country. I have been confronted in restaurants, at conferences, in the hallways and just about everywhere that people find out I’m the new president.  This is an important issue that affects Lakehead’s reputation and its ability to conduct business.  At the same time, some concern has been expressed about the impact on student health. When I first came to this university, I did two things.  First, I asked my staff whether the current information was such that the potential health issue alone was enough to maintain the ban.  The answer I received was that Health Canada did not think so.  The next step was to find out whether the ban was what people wanted. Did people at Lakehead prefer the system’s concern for their health over the convenience available at their homes and in the coffee shops?  The most important part of the consultation has been an on-line poll on this issue.  The response rate has been tremendous.  The poll closes on September 30 so I will be able to announce the results at the Board meeting October 1.

 

Lakehead University’s Thunder Bay Campus currently is feeling the impact of two major labour relations issues.  The OPSEU employees at NOSM are currently on strike and the Thunder Bay transit union is close to one.  Both strikes require that some contingency planning takes place. The Student’s Union has been leading the planning for how to ensure students can get to campus in the event of a strike and we will be doing our best to help. 

 

Enrolment

Gerry Munt will be doing a presentation at this meeting on our plans for increasing enrolment so there will be a lot of opportunity for discussion on this important strategy. The majority of the enrolment figures for September 2010/11 are currently in and it looks as though Lakehead will have another year of increased enrolment.  We generally wait until November 1, when all the data is in, before issuing any enrolment figures but it looks right now as if the enrolment at both campuses will be very close to projections.  One weakness has been a continuation of the long-running decline in international students.  This reinforces the importance of the international initiative presented to the Board in September.

 

Following the presentation to the Board, the decision was made to pursue careful planning of this initiative with the final determination of investments and actions to be dependent on the result of the planning. The position of Associate Vice-President (International) was posted and Tony Williams has been engaged in helping to develop the plan.

 

The Academic Planning process has begun and will continue through the 2010/2011 academic year. A subcommittee of the Senate Academic Committee, led by the Acting Vice-President (Academic) & Provost, will involve the academic community through a consultative planning process, will provide regular communications on progress, and will ultimately bring a new Academic Plan to Senate by fall 2011.

 

One of the objectives of the Strategic Plan (S7) was that “Lakehead University will be a front forerunner in University environmental sustainability”.  The Orillia campus opened a brand new building to its students this fall. This brand new building was built to achieve LEED® Platinum standard and is one of the most important early accomplishments of the implementation of the Strategic Plan.  I urge all of you, if you find the opportunity, to take a look at this leading edge building.

 

At its March 2010 meeting, the Council of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada approved revised Terms of Reference which requires applications for new law degree programs to address the “National Requirements” recommended by the Task Force. Lakehead University was required to provide a written submission which articulated how the proposed law degree program would, if approved and implemented, meet each of the elements of the National Requirements.

 

Lakehead University’s Proposal was enhanced with learner outcomes and degree level expectations to demonstrate alignment with the Federation’s National Requirements. The University is currently awaiting formal notification of the outcome of the review. (Early signs are very encouraging.)

 

The big news for this Strategic Direction is, of course, the increased enrolment in 2010/11 and the establishment of an international initiative.  These are not the only accomplishments for this Direction.

 

Work is progressing on a number of construction projects.  The reinforcement of Lake Tamblyn is well underway, PACI is close to being ready and ground-breaking for a new residence in Orillia (another LEED® Platinum project) was conducted in September.

 

The University’s Office of Advancement has been very busy.   Overall fundraising appears to be on target. The “Your Bright Future” campaign and Alumni Relations particularly are doing well.  This strategy, increasing external revenue, will be a large part of one of this year’s upcoming meetings.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Moira McPherson, Acting Vice-President (Academic) & Provost, was named to the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance, a new body designed to uphold the rigorous quality assurance of undergraduate and graduate programs and universities across the province.

 

The Quality Assurance Framework has three major components: procedures for the approval of new academic programs, procedures for the review of existing programs, and an audit of each university's quality assurance on an eight-year cycle.  The framework was developed by a special task force, which worked closely over a two-year period with academic vice-presidents, consulted with the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and received support from the Executive Heads of Ontario Universities.

 

This fall marked the launch of the newly developed Honours Bachelor of Arts and Science in Environmental Sustainability at Lakehead-Orillia.

 

The Department of Indigenous Learning and the Nanibijou Steering Committee are in the final stages of the development of a proposal for a Master of Arts in Indigenous Learning in the Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities. Following completion, the proposal will be submitted for internal and external review.

 

The President’s Dinner was a big success. Students, faculty, staff and Board members were able to get together, eat a great meal, and have fun at the first mixed social event of the 2010/11 academic year. I’d like to personally thank the organizers and the members of the Board who were kind enough to attend this event.

 

Both the Chancellor Paterson Library and the new Orillia building have recently added a “learning commons” – a place where students can congregate, get access to a friendly setting and leading edge technology and extend their learning experience beyond the classroom. I have great hopes for how these new facilities will enhance and improve the students’ learning opportunities over the course of their sojourn at Lakehead University.

 

Dr. Mary Lou Kelley and the Centre for Education and Research on Aging & Health (CERAH) have received $1.825 M from CIHR to support a research project on "Improving End-of-Life Care in First Nations Communities: Generating a Theory of Change to Guide Program and Policy Development.”  This is the largest CIHR grant Lakehead has ever received. 

 

To further enhance the linkage between Lakehead researchers with tri-councils, Lakehead recently appointed its new tri-council representatives.  They are:  SSHRC Leader, Dr. Gillian Siddall, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities; CIHR Representative -Dr. Mary Lou Kelley, Department of Social Work; and NSERC Representative - Dr. Peter Hollings, Department of Geology.

 

Dr. David R. Law, Dr. Peter F. Lee and Dr. Joseph P. Carney have received $171,621 from the Ministry of Research and Innovation for their project “Protecting the health of Ontario’s waterways using modern toxicological techniques: upgrade of the Lakehead University Aquatic Research Laboratory”.

 

The Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute (TBRRI) and Lakehead University jointly hosted the “Lake Superior Imaging Consortium: 1^st International Workshop on Advanced Technologies for Radiation Medical Imaging” from September 20-22, 2010.

 

The President’s Installation will be used to launch a new community initiative that will, I hope, give people a clear sense of what I mean by Community Engagement. There will be two events. On the afternoon prior to my installation there will be a conference on the role of Lakehead in regional economic development.  At the breakfast on the morning of my installation there will be a discussion on the role of universities with respect to Aboriginal peoples. Lloyd Axworthy, the current President of the University of Winnipeg, will be the guest speaker.