A message from Dr. Annette Trimbee, president and vice-chancellor.
In October, we gathered for the State of the University address to look at how place powers us here at MacEwan. In the weeks since, I’ve had many conversations about our strategic vision, Teaching Greatness, and its role in driving our university forward.
I see a lot of support for Teaching Greatness and the growth that will come with realizing our vision. I have also been asked many questions about how we'll get there, so I would like to share my thoughts and responses with you.
The answers to questions about our path to 2030 lie in several places – the strategic vision is our guiding document, supported by a dashboard and metrics (some of which I shared with you back in October) that allow us to report to our Board of Governors from a financial and fiduciary perspective. We have plans, including a Tactical Plan for Scholarship, that outline the “how” of achieving Teaching Greatness. And we have budgets – making strategic investments will be critical to scaling up from 20,000 to 30,000 individual students by 2030.
One question that has come up several times related to scaling up is about space. The new School of Business building, which is the physical manifestation of our vision, will provide us with capacity for another 7,500 students. We are preparing to have shovels in the ground this spring – it’s an exciting time, but it’s just the beginning. The building will provide three-quarters of the space we need to accommodate 10,000 more students, so we are also exploring innovative ways to use technology, finding new opportunities to “smash the calendar” and investing strategically in properties to the north of us as part of our land strategy and Campus Master Plan to have them when and if we need them.
Space isn’t our only consideration. As our student numbers increase, so must our investments in support for those students: teaching faculty, scholarships, awards and bursaries, mental health support, career support, housing and more.
We aren’t waiting until those additional students arrive to begin that process. We are setting the groundwork now, advocating for what is needed, attaching resources to the vision and making strategic investments to support that growth.
I know that many of you are familiar with university budgets, but I’ll offer this for anyone who doesn’t spend as much time as I do immersed in the numbers. The bulk of our expenses are tied to people. So, many of our most important decisions involve who we hire, when we hire them and what we ask them to do. As we grow, those decisions impact everything that happens here.
What’s always on my mind as MacEwan’s president is how we can scale up in a way that respects and honours what makes this university special. I spoke about being bold at the State of the University address, and we need to do that. But being bold doesn’t mean that we lose our way. We do not have plans to build giant classrooms. That is not MacEwan. We want to maintain the excellent student experience this university is known for, and we have multiple processes and systems in place to ensure we do that.
Creating an environment that encourages us to be bold – that healthy ecosystem, if you will (my biological sciences background is showing) – is more than simply drafting a strategic vision, a tactical plan or a budget. How can we shape an environment where we can make our plans a reality? How do we make choices that protect what matters to us? How can we ensure people are empowered and set the groundwork for success? These are questions we all have a part in answering.
We are on this journey together. We all have an obligation to our place – our university, our community, O’day-min, our city and our province – and my part is to ensure we keep our eyes on the prize.
But we must not lose sight of the devastating and scary things happening in the world. Our core role as a university – and the way we can make the most impact – is through teaching and research. We must foster a place where we can have complicated, complex conversations about critical issues, make difficult decisions, solve problems and take action. In my opinion, a president should create an environment where people are supported to find their way on a road that isn’t straight and where we can’t necessarily see what’s coming around the next corner. It’s not about all of us landing in the same place on any given item or issue, but rather making sure that we are headed in the same direction – our strategic vision helps us focus on the steps we need to take to be successful.
When I describe MacEwan as not very hierarchical, the reaction I often get is disbelief. We are a large institution, but comparatively, we have an incredible amount of room to experiment and try new things. That applies to faculty, staff and students, and it is critical as we move forward in a bold way together.
When I look at what powers MacEwan, it always comes back to people. We are powered by ideas and the personal transformation that happens here every day. Over the next few months, you’ll see stories on MacEwan.ca/News that focus on power and a new advertising campaign for the institution tied to greatness. I love that both initiatives connect to Teaching Greatness and the idea that greatness is everywhere and within each of us.
To me, greatness is being excellent at what you do and doing it with your heart and soul. It isn’t always about winning the biggest prize or making a giant breakthrough. At MacEwan, it’s not about elitism. Being an incredible leader in big and small ways is greatness. So is being a great teacher or colleague. And there’s greatness in connecting to and serving a community (a perfect example is our newest Allard Chair in Business, John Cameron).
At MacEwan, we prepare students to find their greatness. Where and how they apply it is up to them.
I hope you all see the greatness that I see in you. I appreciate the stories of what you are all doing and share them to illustrate MacEwan’s momentum. And we do have incredible momentum.
Dr. Annette Trimbee
President and Vice-Chancellor