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w uz ::s 0 <( ~ <( 0 a::::: 0 uz 0 u •• =Ill "'z -co (/) I RISING TO THE I 0 CHALLENGE __J I Like other Quebec universities, Concordia is fighting to maintain 0 both academic quality and ready access to higher education in the I face of severe budget cuts. • This battle is crucial to the well-being of our future society. ....... To compete successfully in an increasingly globalized technology I based economy, more people must be able to make use of the --0 (/) information that is accumulating explosively year by year. 1- We need engineers, computer scientists and molecular biologists z to create new knowledge in the natural and applied sciences. We w ~ al o need administrator , ocial scientists, humanists and artists w to help us under tand our variou communities, and help us >w control technology and give it a human context. I Not only do our international competitiveness and our stan u dard of living depend upon higher education, but so do the very <( intellectual and moral underpinnings of our civil society. 1- How i Concordia University dealing with this chall enge? Last year, the number of full-time-equivalent students z This Report touches on many of our activities in 1996-97, the actually increased slightly and we managed to balance our w 0 second year of a massive five-year, 25-per-cent reduction of our budget, two accomplishments that contrast with the experience :::) operating budget. The accomplishments of our students, faculty of most Quebec universities. 1- (/) and staff which you will discover in this report are a big part of We have provided an excellent education to more than the story. 24,000 students without adding to our long-term debt, • You will al o read about the international validation of the an thanks to successful retirement incentive plans, more efficient I quality of our Faculty of Commerce and Administration; an deployment of our reso urces, and the co-operation of our ~ exciting new program in computer animation; domination, once loyal faculty and staff. (/) 1- again, of the top ranks in the national examinations for chartered However, we face at least two more years of substantial cuts z accountants; and the continuing succe of our women's hockey in government funding - while income from tuition fees w program. remains frozen. To meet this challenge, we will plan more ~ focused academic programs, find ways to function effectively w with reduced personnel, consolidate our use of space, and >w seek new sources of income. I We do plan to operate more efficiently, but we do not u intend to stand still. We have acquired two large downtown <( I buildings to enable us to move departments out of dispersed u and often inefficient, rented quarters. a::::: Exciting new interdisciplinary programs have been developed, <( such as the Centre for the Arts in Human Development, and w (/) the Centre on Citizenship and Social Transformation. w Planning for the innovative Digital Multimedia Laboratory is a::::: in its final stage. • The preliminary "quiet phase" of our three-year capital C'? I campaign has been especially gratifying. Fresh Ideas - The N Campaign for a New Millennium will be publicly launched in (/) October. 1-z At this time of both trial and opportunity, Concordia w University is fortunate to have the support of an outstanding ~ Board of Governors, loyal alumni/ae, and an internal com w munity that is truly rising to the challenge. >w I u <( u 1~~:o~ lo; ~ Rector and Vice-Chancellor w 0 <( u <( Ill•• Q "'-z re a I • - education for the real WO r Id 1997 FOCUS: We have a mission that is socially valued; we have a tradition of II openness, accessibility and diversity that other universities are now II struggling to create; and we are again demonstrating that we are prepared to innovate before others dare to. - Frederick Lowy With a mandate from the University Academic Initiatives Senate, Provost and Vice-Rector Research Concordia is responding to a spate of ea rl y Jack Lightstone has led the academic retirements and reduced government funding in planning process and helped maintain crea ti ve ways. Some departments have refocused the highest academic standards through on their disciplinary areas; some programs have a period of unprecedented budget cuts. been consolidated; departments with common ground have merged. A ge neral educati on cur riculum is being discussed, as are clusters of courses Berengere Gaudet has served as the on particul ar skills. Despite fin ancial diffi culties, University's Secretary-General since the University has maintained its commitment to February, 1988.The Office of the Secre students by fo rging new lin ks and continuing to tary General oversees the operations of bring professional expertise in to the cl assroom. UJ the offices of the Board of Governors and O ur 750 part-time fa cul ty members excel in their Senate, the University Legal Counsel, th e fi elds; they are film-makers, publishers, artists, Advisor on Rights and Responsibilities, engineers, civil serva nts, chartered accountants, lawyers and journali sts. Equity Programs,Translation Services, The world is becomi.ng less compartmentali zed the Code Administrator and University and Concordia has taken note. Thirteen interdis Archives. ciplinary "clusters;' groups of courses that cut across departments, are now available to students New Administrators on such diverse topi cs as Legal Studies, Native Si nce he took up his post in July, the Hon . Studies and Survival in the Workplace. Marcel Danis, Vice-Rector, Institutional The Centre for Tea ching and Learning Services Relations, has succeeded in creating an has expanded its role, launching a two-yea r pro gram of pedagogical development and mentoring unprecedented level of commu nicatio n fo r new professors. Workshops are being given on between the administration and the such subjects as The Large Class, Teaching and University's unions. Danis, a political Technology and Computer-Based Tutorials. Issues scientist, served as Canada's labour in teaching and teaching technology were fro nt and minister and minister of state for youth centre during Concordia's fi rst Teaching Fa ir, held and fitness. in the atrium of the J.W. McConnell Building. Fa ire Le Grand Sa ut !, a lively two-week orientation for French-speaking business students, Brigadier-General Charles Emond left was launched in time fo r the start of cl asses. Dean Mohsen Anvari joined the "Team his post as Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Canada" trade miss ion to Asia led by Prime the Royal Military College in Kingston, Minister Jean Chretien last January. where he led the consolidation of three military colleges into a sing le bilingual ENGINEERING institution. He is now Concordia's Vice AND COMPUTER SCIENCE Rector, Services. Thanks to the support of the Faculty's external advisory board of engineering and computer Larry English C.A., our fi rst Chi ef Financial sci ence professionals, th e co-op educa tion format has been extended to aJJ programs. This will all ow Officer, received his Bachelor of Commerce students to complement their university educa tion from Concordia in 1978 and graduate with real experience in industry. diploma of accountancy from McGill in The Faculty of Fine Arts and the Department 1981 . He returned to Concordia in 1996 of Computer Science have collaborated to develop as CFO after serving as Director of Finance a joint Major in Computer Animation. The pro at St. Mary's Hospital. gram will combine expertise in computer pro gramming with crea tive and aesthetic elements, preparing students fo r the rapidly growing fi eld New Deans of multi-media. It is the onl y unive rsity program The Schoo l of Graduate Studies has a of its kind in Canada. new dean. Claude Bedard served most The Centre fo r Building Studies and the recently as Associate Dean, Student Affairs ARTS AND SCIENCE Department of Civil Engineering have been m and Curriculum, at the School. He has been A new course fo r first-year students in difficulty, restructured to fo rm the School fo r Building, the official Concordia representative to CLASS I is a summer session developed with the reinfo rcing an importan t niche in engineering the Ordre des ingenieurs since 1991. help of Continuing Education to teach basic study research and education. skill s. Letters of re-admission were sent out to 368 More than 1,600 students, a record, applied fo r students who successfully completed CLASS I last enrolment in 1996-97, res ul ting in a 4-per-cent Dean of Students Donald Boisvert was summer, and another group took the course in increase in registrati on. previously Associate Vice-Rector, Student the fall . Life. As Dean of Students, he administers Six professors across several disciplines have all student services, including health, teamed up to create the Centre fo r Research on financial aid, and advocacy and support. Citizenship and Social Transformation. Their aim is m to develop a social and critical analysis of citizen Nabil Esmail, a Fellow with the Chem ical ship and the poli tics of governance in Canada and Q uebec. Institute of Canada and former Chair of The Mathemati cs and Statisti cs Department was the Department of Chemical Engineering completely overhaul ed. The number of programs at the University of Saskatchewan, is has been reduced and a core curriculum introduced. Concordia's new Dean of Engineering Courses now emphasize rea l-li fe applica tions, such and Computer Science. as understanding the phenomenal sound qual ity delivered by com pact discs. Martin Singer, new Dean of Arts and COMMERCE Science, was most recently Chair of the AND ADMINISTRATION Department of History, where he special m Concordia joined a select group of business schools FINE ARTS ized in East Asia.

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