Senate unanimously approves revised mandate for School of Extended Learning

New strategic hires

In his regular update on Concordia’s Academic Plan, Benoit-Antoine Bacon, provost and vice-president of Academic Affairs, announced six new strategic hires. In line with the plan’s objectives, the hires are intended to build institutional leadership in key research areas: nano-medicinal chemistry trauma intervention; aboriginal youth; sustainable infrastructure and building for communities in a cold climate; computer games and virtual worlds; and interaction design, theory and practice.

Curriculum innovation

Bacon also announced that the second call for proposals for the Curriculum Innovation Fund yielded 18 submissions from teams representing a mix of departments from across the university’s four academic Faculties. The selection process is underway and the successful applicants will be announced at the Senate’s May meeting.

Undergraduate research awards

The list of recipients of this year’s undergraduate research awards has been finalized. Another initiative under the Academic Plan, the awards allow undergrads to pursue summer research projects at the university under the mentorship of a faculty member. This year, 75 undergraduate students will receive funding for their projects, up from 50 last year.

Improvements to acceptance processes

This year, thanks to a streamlining of its processes, Concordia has become much faster in issuing offers of admission to new students. Five weeks after the application deadline, the university had already accepted 6,180 students, up from 5,193 the previous year. In addition, the average entering grade of accepted students has increased. The provost thanked everyone involved. “We have truly improved our admissions process, and that will allow us to increase the proportion of qualified applicants that will choose Concordia,” Bacon said.