Editor's note: Prof. Alastair Summerlee welcomes comments on his column at president@uoguelph.ca.
At the start of each school year, I always remind myself to expect the unexpected. It might seem like an unnecessary caution for someone in academia. After all, people who work at a university tend to do many of the same things year after year: teach, research, serve, learn and lead. Even the new things we encounter have a comforting predictability to them new students and colleagues, new courses, even new challenges.
Yet I always heed my reminder. I suppose my thinking is that, if I plan on something totally unexpected happening, then when it does, it won't really be a surprise. Somehow, it makes handling unanticipated problems and crises easier.
My method has worked fairly well until this year. No amount of warning could have prepared me for some of the events of the past six months or for their aftermath. Foremost in my mind is the unimaginable earthquake and tsunami that claimed tens of thousands of lives and caused unbearable grief, suffering and turmoil around the globe. We are a university and a world still in mourning.
Closer to home, we lost some of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and good friends to illness and accidents this year, and we are grieving their loss.
On a different and much smaller scale, the University encountered numerous budgetary challenges and unanticipated expensive problems with our aging infrastructure. The result was a funding shortfall that was even larger than last year's. We had to make extremely difficult decisions across campus to reduce costs to balance the budget, including saying goodbye to numerous colleagues through early retirement, resignations and position redundancies. Our challenges with budget constraints were trivial compared with the devastation of the tsunami and loss of close friends and colleagues, but it was a painful process nonetheless.
Despite or even because of these traumatic and unexpected events, it was important to focus on the many positive things and even triumphs that have happened this year. Many of them were also unexpected but warmly welcomed.
U of G once again surpassed its goal and raised $340,000 for the United Way. Our students raised $32,000 for cancer relief and more than $21,000 for local food banks, claiming a national record. Our entire University community also paid tribute to tsunami victims and held numerous events to raise funds and awareness.
Three of our senior faculty received the prestigious Order of Canada, a professor claimed Canada's premier prize for literary excellence and another was nominated for a Genie Award. We had a chemist admitted to the Royal Society of Canada and a physicist awarded the Canadian Association of Physicists' Herzberg Medal. We also had numerous faculty receive outstanding financial support for their innovative research.
Among the academic honours bestowed on our students were a Fulbright Fellowship, two Commonwealth Scholarships and a Gates Scholarship. Our student athletes also excelled, including our women's basketball team, which won the provincial championship and went to the nationals for the first time in 24 years, and our men's and women's cross-country teams, which earned national silver medals. One of our students earned international recognition for both athletic and acting abilities by co-starring in a Disney movie about ice skating.
Seven of the Guelph YMCA-YWCA's eight Women of Distinction Awards this year went to members of the U of G community - staff, faculty, a student and a graduate - and we also had a staff member who was named a national ambassador for spinal cord research.
U of G opened Phase 1 of the science complex and a new multi-million-dollar magnetic resonance imaging facility at OVC. We celebrated 25 years of women's studies and the 100th anniversary of Macdonald Hall. And Guelph received accolades in national surveys for its research, campus atmosphere, overall quality, public accountability and, perhaps most important, its reputation based on the opinion of its graduates.
This year also saw the completion of the Rae report on post-secondary education, which was accompanied by overwhelming support and advocacy efforts from our faculty, staff, alumni and friends. Our Presidential Task Force on Accessibility to University Education also released a groundbreaking report, and many of its recommendations ended up being included in the provincial budget and the Rae review.
We also continued to see tireless dedication, commitment and service from our staff and faculty. This year, 40 of our employees are celebrating 25-year anniversaries, 54 are marking 30 years of service, 16 have reached the 35-year point and two have reached 40 years of service milestones we will celebrate at the annual President's Breakfast in September. It is both humbling and inspiring.
But I am not surprised. As I have said many times before, it is the people who give this university its strength and spirit. And when it comes to the dedication and accomplishments of our students, staff and faculty, I would have expected nothing less.
