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From Promise to Inclusive Impact and Prominence, Together

Carleton University President and Vice-Chancellor
Wisdom Tettey’s Installation Address

June 16, 2025

Madame Chancellor, Madame Board Chair, members of the Board of Governors, Elder Dumont-Hill, representatives from all levels of government, diplomatic missions, sister institutions, graduands, and distinguished guests.

Good morning and thank you very much for honoring us with your presence on this special occasion.

It is a great privilege to gather with all of you this morning on the unceded lands of the Algonquin Anishinabeg nation and I want to express gratitude for the generous opportunity granted us by Indigenous communities. That generosity should serve as a constant reminder of the value, benefits, and responsibilities of mutuality with one another and with nature.

I also wish to acknowledge all those who have come before us, including my predecessors some of whom are here today, and to thank them for their dedication and foresight.

Let me use this opportunity to honour my dearly departed parents for starting me on this journey and helping me along with the values and lessons that have enabled me to explore possibilities and to traverse the world while remaining grounded in and connected to my roots.

It is wonderful to have in attendance my siblings, extended family, and many friends who have enriched my life’s journey throughout the years. Thank you for being here with us in person or by other means. Akpe na mi, meda moa si, nyeyi wa la don, m-paɣiri a, na go de, spaciba, miigwech.

To my dear spouse and partner, Natasha, and my children – Makafui, Norvisi, and Selasi – accept my profound thanks for the privilege of your enduring support, love, blessings, understanding, encouragement and sacrifices.

I am grateful to the Carleton and Ottawa community for entrusting me with this role in such an important institution in this city, and/or for welcoming me into your fold, helping me learn, and guiding me as we pursue our shared mission together.

I am enthusiastically committed to joining kindred spirit to extend the range and impact of our collective work.

I am confident that, together, we will elevate our sights, enable Carleton’s unstoppable momentum, and transform our world for the good of all.

At its founding, Carleton offered the promise of opportunity and possibility, driven by collective commitment and purposive response to lifting people up and building a future of shared prosperity and mutual advancement in the immediate aftermath of World War II.

That spirit of purposive higher education and community advancement is indelibly imprinted in Carleton’s motto – Ours the Task Eternal.

This motto should continue to motivate and guide us to higher laurels and behooves us to be a catalyst for inclusive impact, not only as an end in itself, but as an expression of the scope and scale of what our mission necessitates and our purpose demands.

Meeting our obligation in this regard requires the regenerative power of a vision that we develop together, embrace, nurture, and co-own, as we move inexorably towards global prominence by our centennial year in 2042.

Please indulge me, as I share the broad strokes of that vision as I see it. It encapsulates your exciting aspirations that attracted me here and was made more concrete through my engagements with many of you over the course of the last six months.

That vision can be conceptualized as a quintet of interconnected elements that will provide us with the unstoppable momentum to translate the promise of our founding into a future of Inclusive Impact and Prominence, Together.

The first is to elevate Carleton as a transnational voice and exemplar of authentic inclusion and community wellbeing. We will be relentless stewards of principles of mutual care and flourishing – not just of our human peers but also of our non-human world, living this commitment as foundational, intrinsic, and an inextricable sinew in all aspects of our mission.

It is critical that we continue to be an institution that prioritizes and supports its peoples – students, faculty, staff, alumni, community, partners and all those with whom we are linked, not just by geography but by our common humanity.

As demonstrated by the beautiful blend and conviviality of traditions that you have witnessed today, the intricately woven tapestry of who we are as individuals and a community should be honoured and celebrated.

I will bring my full self comfortably to the collective work of going From Promise to Inclusive Impact and Prominence, Together – as a proud African, Canadian, Ghanaian, Raven, and everything in-between, with perspectives and experiences enriched as much by my upbringing in the socio-economically marginalized community of Maamobi, in Accra, as well as my connections to extended family in Singapore.

I encourage all of us to do the same.

That is what enables the magic of going From Promise to Inclusive Impact and Prominence, Together to happen.

It helps to create better versions of ourselves and our world when our diversity is allowed to converge in harmony and in a safe, equitable, civil, caring and healthy learning and working environment.

It is particularly imperative now more than ever, that we stand together resolutely for fundamental values of equity, inclusion and belonging, and not jettison them because of the pressures of challenging circumstances or the discomfort of the powerful or those who want to remain exclusive beneficiaries of the status quo.

We should deploy the solemn privilege of purposive education, scholarship, service and leadership for transformational good.

The next element of the vision is for Carleton to be at the forefront of high quality, responsive, and accessible programs that differentiate us as a uniquely attractive destination of choice for a diverse assembly of the best students from around the world, the most meaningful student experience, and a source of relevant education that enriches not only the individual but society as a whole.

We will take steps to stand out among our peers as the embodiment of the kind of learning and learners that feed and actualize Canadian and global aspirations for talent.

Carleton graduates, like the ones we celebrate today, will be recognized for the consequential positive impact they make as experts with a conscience, a commitment to connecting the world, a passion for fostering mutual understanding and empathy, and the acumen for transforming and sustaining communities – all for the common good.

The third dimension of the vision is to propel Carleton from being a highly regarded comprehensive, research-intensive university, into global leadership and prominence as a leader in particular areas of research, innovation, and creative activity.

We will assiduously drive sustained support for disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations in areas of established, emerging, and potential strength to enhance our global standing, facilitate international partnerships, and grow the scale and range of funding outcomes.

We will always be motivated by a commitment to and passion for making a positive difference for all by cultivating and harnessing the depth and scope of talent and ingenuity that is the outcome of the investment we make in building a diverse community of the best minds.

The fourth element of the quintuplet is to establish a distinct place for Carleton as an anchor institution partner of choice. We will leverage the enduring essence of our origin story that connects us to place and commits us to using our values and expertise to advance inclusive impact and mutual flourishing in our region and beyond.

We will be an authentic partner, building deep and long-lasting relationships with various collaborators who share our values and embrace the imperatives of our mission – individuals, other educational institutions, community organizations, businesses, industry, and various levels of government.

We will couple local relevance and global resonance to generate the synergies that enable us to connect people, passions, and purpose to ignite exhilarating, edifying, and uplifting outcomes across boundaries for mutual benefit, fulfilment and prosperity.

Finally, particularly in this moment of significant financial constraints, we will build a culture of uncompromising accountability to the health and sustainability of our academic mission through processes of critical introspection; evidence-based and data-driven decision making; transparency; mutual accountability; and collegial co-learning and co-creation of solutions.

We will adopt a cross-portfolio, matrix approach that:

I look forward to us honing and actualizing this vision together so that we may soar in unison as Ravens – with pride, optimism, and unalloyed commitment to our core values.

Let us be inspired by the promise of possibilities that our forebears diligently and tirelessly cultivated; galvanized by common purpose; and energized by the spirit of mutuality.

A shared commitment to going From Promise to Inclusive Impact and Prominence, Together is key to making the excellence of our mission unassailable, nourished by staunch support for the inviolability of academic freedom.

Immense possibilities beckon. I hope we are all ready to roll.

Thank you for the honour of this opportunity to serve you and the privilege of pursuing this exciting future together.

I commit to delivering on the trust you have reposed in me, serving with humility, compassion, empathy, and integrity – values instilled in me by my most significant source of inspiration – my dear mother, Doe Sebuabe – whose guiding hand continues to show me the way.

I count on your continuing support as we embark on this journey From Promise to Inclusive Impact and Prominence, Together.

Chi Miigwech!!

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