To the Concordia community,
Every year, this report gives me the opportunity to pause and reflect on what it truly takes to keep a university running and to acknowledge the people who make it happen. This year, that reflection carries particular weight.
The 2024–25 academic year unfolded against a backdrop that many of you know well: sustained financial pressures, tighter budgets, and the ongoing reality of a structural deficit. These are not abstract challenges. They shape decisions we are called upon to make every single day - which projects move forward, which are paused, how teams are organized, and how we prioritize. What strikes me, reading through the work documented in this report, is not only what was accomplished despite those constraints, but how it was accomplished: with discipline, creativity, and an unwavering focus on the people we serve.
Consider the numbers: Nearly half a million meals served in student residences. Over 48,000 work orders completed by Facilities Management. 90,000 support interactions handled by IITS. More than 127,000 calls received by Campus Safety and Prevention Services' Dispatch Centre. These figures don't tell the whole story, but they speak to the scale and relentlessness of the work our sector carries out, day in and day out, and largely out of sight.
Behind those numbers are teams that adapted to new funding realities without losing sight of their mission. Facilities Management renegotiated capital spending parameters with the Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur and found ways to advance critical deferred maintenance projects, sustainability retrofits, and academic infrastructure improvements, all while keeping 556,000 square metres of campus space functional. IITS launched a structured program to manage budget compression thoughtfully, protecting the systems that 50,000 people rely on regularly while continuing to modernize the platforms that support teaching, research, and student services. Human Resources navigated labour relations with professionalism and care, while also delivering a tenth consecutive recognition as one of Montreal's Top Employers — a reminder that how we treat our people matters, even in difficult times.
The commitment to sustainability continued to yield results that we should all be proud of. Concordia became the first Canadian university to receive a STARS Gold Rating under the more rigorous STARS 3.0 framework, was named one of Canada's Greenest Employers, and earned a Living Campus certification from WWF-Canada. More than 1,800 trees and shrubs were planted at Loyola, and over 1,600 members of our community came together for Campus Sustainability Month. These are not small achievements: they reflect years of patient, deliberate work embedded into how this university operates.
Our Recreation and Athletics teams also had a remarkable year. The men's hockey program captured the Corey Cup and the Queen's Cup, and brought home a U SPORTS silver medal - the program's first since 1984. Alongside those historic results, our recreation facilities continue to serve thousands of students, faculty, and staff seeking connection, balance, and well-being. That everyday access matters just as much as the trophies.
What I want to highlight most in this message, however, is something that doesn't show up cleanly in any single statistic: the genuine care that defines this sector. From Campus Safety and Prevention Services agents who foster trust and compassion in complex urban environments, to Environmental Health and Safety professionals who ensure that every lab, classroom, and workspace meets the rigorous standards needed for safe research and daily work, including earning provincial recognition for innovation in laboratory safety - to Budget Planning and Business Development colleagues whose financial acumen and revenue-generating initiatives help sustain the services this community relies on, to our recreation staff who create welcoming spaces where people can connect and recharge. The people of Services and Sustainability are not simply delivering services. They are actively shaping the conditions under which Concordia can learn, discover, and thrive.
We are doing this work in an era of chronic resource constraint. I will not minimize that reality. But I am continually inspired by how our teams meet it - not with resignation, but with ingenuity, solidarity, and purpose.
I invite you to read this report as I do: as a testimony to what is possible when talented, dedicated people put their community first.
With appreciation and pride,
Michael Di Grappa
Vice-President, Services and Sustainability
