I am pleased to present my priorities and goals for the 2021-22 year. Briefly, the priorities fall into the following categories – equity, diversity and inclusion; indigenous engagement and reconciliation; climate change; COVID-19 response; operational efficiency and the President’s Academic Excellence Initiative.
1. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
-
- Work with the UBC community to complete the Taskforce Report of Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence;
- Identify priorities for implementation from the Taskforce Report;
- Support the implementation of top annual priorities from the Inclusion Action Plan;
- Release the Report from the National Forum on Anti-Asian Racism;
- Ensure that the “Beyond Tomorrow Scholars Program” is successfully launched.
2. Indigenous Engagement and Reconciliation
- Work with the entire UBC community and indigenous partners to implement the Indigenous Strategic Plan;
- Continue to foster strong relationships with Musqueam;
- Work with the Executive, Provosts, Deans and ISP Coordinating Committee to plan Indigenous faculty, staff and student recruitment;
- Work with Professor Sheryl Lightfoot and the Deans to develop a synergistic partnership between the Faculties of Applied Science and Science with 3 First Nations.
3. Climate Change
- Continue to lead climate action in my second year as the President of the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3);
- Represent UBC and Canada at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow;
- Continue to lead as Chair of the Committee of Presidents of the U7+ Alliance of 45 universities to address pressing global challenges such as climate change;
- Prepare to host the global Climate Change Summit at UBC in summer 2022.
4. COVID-19 response
- Continue to lead UBC’s strategy to support a healthy and safe community during this year of Return to Campus, working with provincial leaders and health authorities;
- Support the implementation of a remote work program that fosters employee engagement, attraction and retention, and considerations around environmental impacts;
- Work with the Executive and others to enhance programming for students as they return to campus after 18 months away;
- Evaluate and apply lessons learned from the pandemic into future planning to mitigate risk and leverage opportunities.
5. Operational Efficiency
- Work with Executive and experts in institutional finance to establish a UBCV/O operating model that optimizes the distribution of resources across UBCV and UBCO.
- Focus on UBCV and UBCO budgets with a clear delineation of administrative structures and an alignment of budget frameworks between both campuses.
- Support the implementation of a Thrive-based platform for monitoring testing of unvaccinated individuals at UBC.
- Provide clear and visible leadership in the refinement of Workday HR and Finance and the implementation of Student within the Integrated Renewal Program.
6. President’s Academic Excellence Initiative
- Oversee the accelerate phase of the PAEI and support the development of the campaign-phase for both campuses;
- Engage with the Provosts and Deans to leverage PAEI to support the EDI priorities of the university.
- And work with the Provosts, VP Research and Deans to support infrastructure investments to support new faculty members recruited by PAEI.