Dear members of the Carleton community,
I would like to take a moment to wish you all a very happy new year and a warm welcome back to campus. I hope you were able to take some time to rest and relax with family and friends over the holiday break.
With the start of a new calendar year, the campus is filled with renewed energy. The new term brings new opportunities for our students who are striving to achieve their full academic, personal and professional potential. Together, we can support our students while continuing our own growth and supporting ourselves.
Ask Me
As we welcome our new and returning students to campus, I invite you to join me in wearing your Ask Me button until Friday, January 12, 2024, for our annual winter Ask Me campaign. This campaign is an opportunity to help our Ravens navigate campus and to remind students of services and resources to support their success.
Support for Students
We continue to support students with their transition to university through three specific initiatives. The first is that we are beginning to implement the fourth round of the Academic Continuation Evaluation (ACE) process which continues to provide more frequent opportunities to connect students with academic resources and supports to ensure they are meeting program requirements. Anecdotally, we have seen great success with this process and will be analyzing the results more closely in the coming months. Additionally, we are now supporting the second group of eligible students under the First-Year Grading Policy (FYGP) which allows students to change up to 2.0 credits of their final passing grades to CR (Credit). Finally, the Academic Consideration Policy which comes into effect on Thursday, January 4, 2024, provides students who are unable to complete academic deliverables, due to extending circumstances beyond their control, with alternate academic arrangements.
Services, Programs and Events
The Students and Enrolment division also continues to offer a wide variety of services, programs and events to support our students including peer academic support, mentorship and campus events. To name a few examples, on Saturday, January 20, 2024, we will host the tenth annual SOAR Student Leadership Conference with the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson who will provide the keynote address, followed by the Capital Hoops Classic on Friday, February 2, 2024, and the Colonel By Classic on Thursday, February 8, 2024 at TD Place. The Current Students website has all the latest student news and events and a directory of our many support services.
Organizational Excellence Gold
The Students and Enrolment division has achieved the Canada Awards for Excellence (CAE) gold level certification from Excellence Canada’s Organizational Excellence Standard (OES) which was presented at a ceremony on Friday, November 17, 2023. This recognition confirms the division is committed to a high service standard and innovative approaches. I am proud of everyone within Students and Enrolment for this achievement.
There are numerous student support resources available to help you support our students and we continue to update the Mental Health and Wellness website with information and resources to help students understand, manage and improve their mental health and wellness while at university. As always, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office at vpstudents@carleton.ca and we will be happy to assist you.
Wishing you all the best for the upcoming winter term,
Suzanne Blanchard
Vice-President (Students and Enrolment)
carleton.ca/studentsupport