I am delighted to return to my alma mater as vice-president of Advancement. With the holiday season upon us, it’s a timely occasion both to reflect on what our community has achieved and to look ahead to 2019.
Our fall enrollment at Concordia was the highest in our university’s history with 50,315 registered students.
We conferred 17 Concordia honorary degrees throughout the year. Outstanding recipients earned this distinction for their dedication to advancing teaching and learning in Canada and the world. Our honorands join our 215,000 alumni worldwide.
Our university joined Bâtiment 7, a building collective in Montreal’s Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood, for a community research partnership. Our faculty and students will connect Concordia to community mobilization efforts and grassroots urban development.
The Economist's 2018 ranking of full-time MBA programs placed the John Molson MBA program first in Quebec, and rated our John Molson EMBA program second in Canada and 64th in the world in its "Which MBA?" Executive MBA Ranking.
Concordia launched the Institute for Investigative Journalism, a first of its kind in Canada, where major media outlets connect with journalism students and faculty from across Canada to investigate and report on large-scale public interest stories.
The Government of Canada awarded Concordia $5.2 million in funding for Canada Research Chairs, including new chairs in big data analysis, the Internet of Things and the synthesis of biological processes.
Alumna Gina Cody, MEng 81, PhD 89, made an historic $15 million gift towards the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science. Her September 24 announcement garnered unprecedented media coverage across Canada. The school is now the first university engineering faculty in Canada to be named after a woman.
Our Campaign for Concordia: Next-Gen. Now is halfway towards its historic $250-million goal. I am confident that with our 9 Strategic Directions as our pillars, along with the support of our community, we will reach our goal for the benefit of our students, faculty and researchers.
As we reflect on the highlights of 2018, we also look ahead to exciting initiatives coming up in 2019:
- The inauguration of 4TH SPACE on January 18: Located on the corner of De Maisonneuve and MacKay, 4TH SPACE will connect faculty, students, community members and industry partners to collaborate, experiment and explore ideas into a dynamic experience for the public.
- Advances to our Embedded Wellness Advisor Program: Thanks to a donation from the Rossy Foundation, Concordia is poised to set a new standard in campus mental-health services. The program will increase access to care for Concordia students on both campuses, specifically addressing challenges including students’ fear of stigma, lack of awareness of their resources and wariness to visit places visibly focused on mental wellbeing.
- Opportunities to meet with our alumni in different regions. View our events calendar to see when we’ll be in a city near you.
A throwback pic of me as a Stinger, c. 1994
