To All Members of the Carleton Community:
Welcome to all new and returning faculty, staff and students. It is great to have you here on campus for the beginning of the 2019 fall term. You are part of a vibrant and caring community and I am confident that your Carleton experience will be a rewarding one and that your contributions will make our community even stronger.
The next academic year will involve broad consultation on our strategic plan. The work of the Carleton University Strategic Integrated Planning Task Force is underway and is being led by Co-Chairs Lorraine Dyke, Deputy Provost (Academic Operations and Planning); Betina Appel Kuzmarov, Clerk of Senate; Patrice Smith, Dean of Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs; and Cindy Taylor, Assistant Vice-President, Human Resources. I invite you to visit the Strategic Integrated Plan website to read more about this important process, register for an upcoming consultation session or speaker series event, and provide your feedback online.
In December 2018, Benny Michaud, Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusive Communities, Prof. Kahente Horn-Miller (School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies) and I were appointed to co-chair the Carleton University Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Committee (CUISIC). CUISIC was formed to devise a concrete response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and forge stronger relationships with Inuit, First Nation and Métis on campus, in the Ottawa region and across the country. Together, we have conducted close to 40 on and off-campus consultations. We are continuing to consult with our external partners now and will be inviting you to provide feedback on the draft calls to action in the coming weeks.
Experiential learning continues to be a strategic priority for both Carleton and the provincial government. Last year, we established a $50,000 Carleton University Experiential Learning Fund which provides our colleagues with financial support to integrate experiential learning components into academic courses or programs. Applications for the second round of funding are due on Oct. 21. Starting this term, all courses are following the new Degree Level Expectation on Experiential Learning, which ensures that experiential learning is incorporated into all our academic programs. We look forward to continuing to work with the Carleton community to expand experiential learning for the benefit of our students.
Last year, we looked strategically at ways we could increase our engagement with our community. Through our participation in the Canadian pilot of the Carnegie Classification on Community Engagement and the development of the Hub for Good portal, Carleton is poised to expand its community outreach even further.
I am excited that we are off to such a great start to the new academic year and wish you every success in 2019-20.
Sincerely,
Jerry Tomberlin Provost and Vice-President (Academic)