Announced early in the 2015 fall semester, the University of Guelph began a project that aimed to provide staff, students, and faculty with the opportunity to bring change to the institution. Titled Strategic Renewal, the project sets out to identify crucial areas in need of a new perspective in all facets of university life. Specifically, in the first phase of the project, Strategic Renewal aims to gather input from all members of the Guelph community. In doing so, the project has given an important responsibility to the community—to analyze, evaluate, and contextualize your experience with U of G in a constructive and informative way.
Serge Desmarais, a former Canada Research Chair in applied social psychology and the current associate vice-president (academic) at the University of Guelph, has been chosen by President Vaccarino as the project manager for Strategic Renewal. Working and researching in Guelph since 1995, Desmarais plans to provide the community with a way to crucially shape U of G’s identity for many years down the road.
Desmarais spoke with The Ontarion and offered key information on the nature of the project, and the importance of citizens to actively become involved in the process.
“Our last strategic plan was released in 1995, so it has been a long time since our university has engaged in a strategic renewal process,” said Desmarais. “As you could imagine, a lot has changed in 20 years. When one looks at the plan all those years ago, it reads as a document of the past.”
For President Vaccarino and members of the Strategic Renewal project, the need to contextualize and re-evaluate the vision and identity of U of G has become increasingly apparent. When asked about the mission of Strategic Renewal, Desmarais emphasized the importance of adaptation.
“Our mission is to work with the community to examine what the U of G is, what our strengths are, and in what directions should the institution move forward. In light of contemporary information and changing university structures, it is a very good time for us as a community to ask ourselves some pretty significant questions about the things we identity as fundamental to what we do at U of G. What kind of university do we want to be?”
One of the core tenets of the Strategic Renewal project involves engagement with the community. The dialogue brought forward by addressing larger, wide-spanning issues can ultimately bring new light onto significant concerns within U of G.
“This is truly a process driven to engage people and to have conversations that are open, where people can talk about the good parts of the university, but also talk more critically about the opportunities that we are not capitalizing on,” said Desmarais. “I think that the process of discussing these issues as a community is almost as important as the final product. In moving away from day to day activities and by starting to think bigger about the larger ideas at play, we can begin to think about the things that make our community unique.”
There are a variety of ways that the project aims to hear from students and members of the Guelph community. Specifically, Desmarais mentioned the opportunity to participate in drop-in sessions as well as facilitated focus group within the coming week.
“We are trying to have open conversations with students. It was suggested by a student group that a drop-in session should be held for students, faculty and staff who may be interested in contributing. For anybody who wants to chat with members of the team, during these sessions, our team will engage in conversation with anyone who shows up during those drop-in hours,” concluded Desmarais.