Welcome to a new academic year at Memorial University.

The start of the fall semester is an exciting time when thousands of students join us from around the world and from our beautiful province.

Campus life

In the first week of the semester, I took part in academic matriculation, which is part of the fall welcome activities for new students on the St. John’s campus.

With live music, Sammy the Sea-Hawk, Gusty the Canada Games mascot and our talented Memorial University cheerleaders amping up the excitement, it was wonderful to see more than 1,000 new students welcomed so warmly into their university experience.

I had a great time chatting to students and handing out leaflets at one of the entrances.

It was also wonderful to see so many current students volunteering at matriculation.

They welcomed their fellow students in 11 different languages, and student emcees spoke about their own student experience and the importance of getting involved, finding your community and asking for help when you need it.

Throughout my time at Memorial, and particularly this last year as president, I’ve seen first-hand how hard faculty, staff and students work to support members of our community.

I know our incoming students will be similarly supported as they embark on their academic journey.

I look forward to meeting more employees and students throughout the academic year.

Updates

When I started as president in April 2023, I formed the President’s Executive Council as Memorial’s senior administrative body, which normally meets twice weekly and is focused on collective decision-making.

Since that time, senate processes have been reviewed and changes introduced, the most recent being the introduction of the position of speaker. A joint senate-Board of Regents liaison committee has been formed and will continue to meet over the coming year.

In addition, we are telling the stories of our research strengths, nationally and internationally and extensive work is being done to finalize Memorial’s Strategic Enrolment and Retention Plan.

I also prioritized searches for positions that have been filled in an interim or acting capacity.

In an update to senate on Sept. 10, I provided details on searches for three vice-president positions. They are as follows:

• Since the last update in July, the ad for provost and vice-president (academic) has been live with the first round of interviews anticipated through the fall

• Consultations were held in June for the vice-president (Marine Institute) with a town hall and online survey. The feedback was collated, and it is anticipated that an ad and profile will be widely advertised in the coming weeks

• The search committee for vice-president (Grenfell Campus) is finalizing the ad which will be provided to the community for consultation in the coming weeks

In the last year, five senior positions were filled.

This includes Dr. Pamela Osmond-Johnson, dean of the Faculty of Education; Dr. Anne-Marie Sullivan, dean of the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation; and Dr. Travor Brown, dean of the Faculty of Business Administration.

Dr. Amy Warren was named associate vice-president (academic) and dean of the School of Graduate Studies, while Alison Randall became the chief information officer.

Collaborative and collegial

I would like to thank all members of our community who are serving on search committees and encourage everyone to take part in the feedback processes associated with searches.

The input of faculty, students and staff is vital as we build a leadership team that reflects the type of institution we want to become.

As Memorial’s 99th academic year gets underway — we are one year away from our centennial — we are working with intention towards our mission.

My goal as president and vice-chancellor pro tempore is to continue to promote Memorial as a comprehensive, research-intensive university that responds to the needs of our students, employees, province and the world.

Please reach out any time via email to president@mun.ca.