Hello everyone! Bonjour tout le monde! Thank you, Juggy, for that warm, thoughtful and kind introduction. It is so much appreciated.
I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered here today on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people.
UBC has a deep commitment to truth and reconciliation. With the launch of the Indigenous Strategic Plan in 2020, UBC became the first university in North America to commit to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Our beautiful Vancouver campus sits on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam people, and our Okanagan campus is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Syilx Okanagan Nation.
We deeply value our relationship with Musqueam, Syilx and all BC Indigenous people. We share an aspiration for a transformative and enduring relationship that advances social, cultural, educational and economic benefits that strengthen our communities.
One of my favourite places on the Vancouver campus is the First Nations Longhouse, which serves as an academic and cultural hub for the Indigenous student community at UBC. Here it is, made of Western red cedar logs in the style of a Musqueam longhouse. As I walk past it on my way to the office, it’s a daily reminder of the importance of continuing our meaningful work together.
Distinguished guests, colleagues, partners, UBC alumni, supporters, and friends. It’s so great to be here. All my thanks to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade for the invitation.
It is a unique privilege and special honour to be with you today as the 17th President of the University of British Columbia. I started at UBC last November so I’m about six months in. I’m proud to be a resident of beautiful BC – I believe the phrase is ‘west coast, best coast’! And I am grateful and excited every day to work at UBC, one of the most amazing, dynamic and innovative research universities in Canada and in the world.
As you may know, I am a native Montrealer; a life-long Habs fan, but with the Habs out this year I’m learning to cheer for the Canucks, now in the second round!
I can tell you that when UBC offered me the job I didn’t hesitate for a second. I’ve been watching UBC for a long time and both its current value proposition and potential for the future are unmatched in this country. These first six months have been incredibly intense and rewarding. Every day has been both an adventure and a gift.
UBC is a hub of learning for more than 70,000 outstanding students and a place of employment for more than 20,000 talented faculty and staff. Since 2005, we have a growing and extremely dynamic Okanagan campus in Kelowna. There is immense potential there as well!
Today, I want to share with you some important ideas and developments in the exciting work UBC is doing to create healthier lives, restore a healthier planet, and sustain healthy communities. But we also need to acknowledge some of the challenges we are currently facing.
This is a time of geopolitical unrest, global instability, and devastating conflict in Ukraine, and Israel and Palestine. The human suffering is immense and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone caught in a war zone, or displaced by war, and with those who grieve or worry for their countries and loved ones.
As you know, these tensions are evoking complex emotions on university campuses. UBC values freedom of expression and respects peaceful protest within the boundaries of university policy and the law. The university must remain a place of reasoned debate where conflicting views can peacefully co-exist.
As we look at society today, we seem less sure of the path ahead, at times more divided, uncertain and polarized. Others wonder if our future, and the future of our children, will not be as bright, and the opportunities as plentiful as they once were for us.
The role of the university has never been more important. The investments we make in education and research have paid off, and will continue to pay off for society, now and in the future. Working together we can meet the challenges of the day, solve difficult problems and create new opportunities.
Each year, the University of British Columbia graduates 15,000 students, on their way to a successful and self-determined life. They enter the world ready to make their contribution, hoping to improve their lives, and the lives of others.
Our graduates go on to teach our children, care for our sick, build new businesses and contribute to the economic, social and cultural improvement of our city, province and country. I have immense faith in these students. They are smarter than we were, and I am hopeful they will be wiser.
UBC grads are everywhere! We have 400,000 alumni in 160 countries around the world who are working to improve our communities, and make our world better. Please raise your hand if you are a graduate of UBC. Thank you all for your contributions.
But it’s not easy being a student today – more difficult than when I was younger. I’m thinking of challenges in housing, affordability, mental health and all the pressures of fast-moving technology, such as social media and generative AI. Through all this, today’s students are determined, creative and eager to contribute to a better world. It is our responsibility to ensure they have the same opportunities we had.
Mental health, as some of you may know, is a key priority for me personally and professionally. I know firsthand the pain of depression and substance use. Supporting our students and employees is a UBC priority. I believe deeply that mental health and academic success are intertwined and that every student deserves both. We are about to open the state-of-the-art Gateway Health building that will provide a clear one-stop shop for all care services on the Vancouver campus.
It’s harder financially too. The federal government’s recent budget just last month recognized generational inequities and made significant reinvestments in the younger generations. UBC provides nearly $400 million a year in student financial assistance in the form of bursaries, scholarships, awards and emergency funding to students on both our campuses. Our FORWARD campaign has committed to raising $100 million by 2029, specifically to mitigate student affordability issues.
On affordable housing, UBC is the largest provider of student accommodations in the country by far, with more than 15,000 beds on our two campuses. Over the last decade we have invested $700 million for our students. And we are not done yet! UBC plans to add an additional 5,000 student beds over the next decade.
What do we want, as a society? What do we need? Healthy lives. A healthy planet. Healthy communities. This is where we focus our efforts, and I want to share a few highlights.
When it comes to creating healthier lives, UBC is driving teaching, learning and research in integrated health disciplines, including Medicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nursing, Dentistry, Physical Therapy, Midwifery, my own fields of Psychology and Neuroscience, and so many others.
This multidisciplinary approach is really exemplified by biomedical innovation. Here is one story to consider: The front page of a recent weekend edition of the Globe and Mail. Love the bold headline: “Biotech boom: Vancouver firms are charting a path to making the city a global pharma capital.”
The article points out that Vancouver is the fastest growing biotech centre in Canada with aspirations to be a significant player in this $1.5 trillion global market. BC’s biotech sector has created 20,000 jobs in just the past four years, and that’s only the beginning.
In talking about UBC’s role, the Globe story noted and I quote: “No other Canadian institution comes close to playing such a central role in a regional innovation ecosystem nor has such a prolific set of academics turn entrepreneurs.”
It is people who make all this happen. Talented, highly sought-after experts who come here from all over the world to work with our outstanding faculty and students. They are attracted to the natural beauty of our city, the excellence of our university, the diversity of our community and the support of our governments. So many inspiring stories to tell — I wish I had three hours!
Many of you will know Dr. Pieter Cullis, a biochemistry and molecular biology professor who completed his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD in physics all at UBC. A serial entrepreneur, Pieter has one of the strongest records of commercializing research discoveries of any researcher in North America. By bridging the gap between academia and practice, Pieter has helped to create hundreds of jobs here in BC while advancing human health.
In 2020, when the world was hit by a once-in-a-century pandemic, years of work from Pieter, his lab at UBC and the team at Acuitas Therapeutics, contributed the foundational science that underpins the lipid nanoparticle technology used in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The discovery helped save millions of lives.
Meet Dr. Megan Levings, a professor in the department of surgery and school of biomedical engineering and a scientist at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Levings and her colleagues are developing cell therapies that activate our own body’s immune system to fight back against a host of diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.
And here is Dr. Sriram Subramaniam, the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Precision Cancer Drug Design. Dr. Subramaniam is a world leader in molecular and cellular image technology. He and his team use massive microscopes, almost 12 feet tall, to see tiny molecules.
His team produced some of the world’s first images related to COVID-19 and is working on new discoveries in cancer, neuroscience and infectious disease. In 2021, he formed Gandeeva Therapeutics, another UBC spin-off company that is using artificial intelligence and microscopy technology to help doctors diagnose diseases earlier and faster.
The work of all these individuals is greatly aided by the establishment of Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub at UBC. The Hub brings together more than 50 partners from industry, the public sector, and non-profit groups, all working together for the first time, further building on the strong ecosystem of life sciences in BC.
Just yesterday, the federal government announced a transformative $140 million investment in the Hub at UBC, truly cementing BC’s position as a national and global leader in bio-engineering, bio-manufacturing and in the life sciences sector as a whole.
Essential to living healthier and longer lives is restoring a healthier planet. Climate change is real. It is here now. And it is impacting our world every day in every aspect of our lives.
At UBC, we are taking action. In 2023, our Vancouver campus emitted 35% less greenhouse gas emissions than it did in 2007—despite a 28% growth in building floor space and a 43% increase in student population. More people, less emissions. As part of our Climate Action Plan 2030, we committed to a campus operations emission reduction target of 85% by 2030. Any opportunities to accelerate this important work must be seized.
More than 20 years ago, we decided to make UBC’s campus a “living lab” for climate action. Imagine a vibrant community where researchers and community members come together to create innovative technologies right on campus, then take those discoveries and apply them broadly to everyone. Here are just a few examples.
Our soon-to-be-opened Smart Hydrogen Energy District led by engineering Professor Walter Merida is taking over a large section of the campus the size of an entire city block, transforming it into a smart energy district. Using advanced solar energy, the hub is showing how hydrogen can be used as fuel in a low-carbon future, including a hydrogen refuelling station for cars and heavy-duty vehicles.
UBC is also home to the Bioproducts Institute, headed by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Bioproducts, Professor Orlando Rojas, a world-renowned expert in the science of renewable materials. They are using forest products to produce clean energy and biodegradable textiles, food wrapping, packaging, and more, to replace environmentally damaging products like plastic and styrofoam. Professor Rojas and his team also recently discovered that combining bark and plant extracts with sawdust can create a filter that traps virtually all nano- and micro-plastics present in water.
And Dr. Lori Daniels, the Koerner Chair at the newly established Centre for Wildfire Coexistence and her colleagues, including Matthieu Bourbonnais at UBC Okanagan, are working with partners from government, Indigenous leaders, and NGOs to co-create new strategies that will protect and sustain healthy forests. For example, they are working with Indigenous partners to revitalize the keystone tradition of cultural burns. They are also using sophisticated technologies, drones, satellite images, and thermal cameras, to develop pro-active forest management strategies, thanks to our great partnership with Rogers.
Everyone in this room knows the devastating impact forest fires are having on our province and country. From the destruction of the town of Lytton to the health hazards of smoke filling our downtown core, the loss of wildlife, and evacuations like the one that closed our Okanagan campus, last summer. And we are now expecting another very dry season. That is why the research of Lori and others is so critical.
Finally, an essential component of both healthy lives and a healthier planet, is healthy communities.
The heart of the university lies in its core mission of teaching, learning and research in disciplines including the Arts, Engineering, Business, Law, Education, Forestry, and Land and Food Systems. Together, they offer literally thousands of experiential learning opportunities and Coop programs each year, that benefit both our students and our community.
I have this poster in my office. When I came to UBC I was amazed, and so impressed, with this story. In just two decades, UBC has created almost 250 significant new companies in our community, many in the health care sector – the blue bubbles – but also in the physical sciences in purple and new technologies in yellow, generating thousands of jobs and billions in valuation and in sales.
UBC is also an economic engine for this city, the province, the country and the world. With an operating budget of $3 billion, UBC is BC’s third largest employer. It has been estimated that our global economic impact is well over $10 billion annually.
In a relatively short period of time, research at UBC has grown at a remarkable rate. In 1990, UBC had about $100 million in research funding. Today that number is heading towards $800 million. That funding supports 10,000 research projects each year—about a quarter of which are direct collaborations with industry, government, donors, and not-for-profit organizations.
Our Faculty of Medicine plays a vital role in ensuring the best health care to all of BC. Our unique model as Canada’s first and only fully distributed undergraduate and medical program has more than 80 training sites across the province, 17 affiliated regional centres and more than 65 community education facilities.
At the Sauder School of Business—ranked as the best business school in the country—our new Centre for Climate and Business Solutions is revolutionizing how we educate business leaders to tackle climate issues. The Centre’s research is helping us rethink our relationship with natural resources and climate risks, aiming for impactful sustainability practices in business.
The great Peter A. Allard School of Law is integrated into the Lower Mainland with our Business Law Clinic, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic, and the Law Students Legal Advice Program, where law students help people with low-cost legal aid.
And in the Downtown Eastside, the UBC Learning Exchange has created a hub where members of the community and UBC students and researchers can directly exchange experience and expertise. Their work is grounded in the core idea that learning is a two-way street.
Through our Campus Vision 2050 plan, we are aiming for 50,000 people living on campus in the near future. A key to increased affordable housing is connectivity. I’m new here but I just don’t understand why the Sky Train is not already at UBC. We need to all work together to bring the Sky Train right to UBC as quickly as possible.
The expansion of rapid transit to UBC will help drive economic prosperity, foster an innovation corridor, create access opportunities for our students to research, health innovation, employment, and housing, and connect UBC to the rest of the community. Virtually every area we are discussing here today will be amplified by extending the Sky Train to UBC. Let’s make this happen, for Vancouver and for BC!
The people of Vancouver support it. In the second survey in six years, 82% of those surveyed favoured the extension. At peak hours, there’s a bus to UBC every 44 seconds.
Everybody, I am so fortunate to lead UBC at this unique and exciting period in its history. Now in our second century, UBC is stronger than ever, contributing to solving some of the biggest challenges in the world, teaching the next generation of British Columbians, investing in our communities, in our health care, in our industries. Creating new companies and jobs. Good, high paying jobs that enhance our community and our way of life.
The University of British Columbia is the University for British Columbia. Our doors are open. Together, we can move forward to build a better world.
Please engage with UBC. Visit our campuses. Join in partnerships with us in research. Attend public lectures and events. Visit our incredible museums and art galleries. Catch a student play, an opera or a Thunderbirds game! Meet our talented faculty. Hire our outstanding students and graduates!
In closing, I remind you of our university motto – Tuum Est. It is Latin for “It Is Yours.” It reflects our history, our core values, our people – students, faculty, staff and partners – “It is Yours.” Together, I know we can do it. And we will do it. Right here, right now. Go Vancouver!Merci beaucoup! Thank you very much!