Elizabeth Cannon is the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary. (Photo by Jason Stang)
What is courage?
In this issue of U Magazine, courage takes centre stage as we see how University of Calgary students, faculty, staff and alumni are showing courage in the ways they experience learning, in the research they do, in the enormous projects they steer to completion and in their connections to the Calgary community.
I believe that courage is drawn from our values. We are most courageous when we promote and defend our values, those things in which we fundamentally believe.
Earlier this year nearly 4,000 members of our own university community, and many from the broader Calgary community, had the courage to share their values and their aspirations for our university through Project Next, the most extensive consultation process ever undertaken on our campus.
The goal of Project Next was to develop a roadmap for the University of Calgary’s future based on a shared vision of what we can be to the city, the country and the world. We learned that we are a community and a city of courageous thinkers and leaders, and that we are determined to look far ahead and to dream very big. During the consultations, we saw and heard at every turn the pride and genuine desire to make this a truly great university.
Over many years Calgarians have shown the courage necessary to build a great city, one that has changed the face of Canada. Our community is now showing the courage to realize our university’s remarkable potential, building on a strong foundation established over the past 45 years by the talent and commitment of students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader community.
As we look towards celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2016, I am extremely proud to lead a university with such a bold vision for the future. And on Sept. 28 we will be proud to unveil the strategy document and framework that is the result of Project Next. It will mark a new era at the University of Calgary, the beginning of an exciting year that will see the transformation of the strategy into the beginning of concrete action.
A new strategy for a new future means change. We will have the courage to change because the change will be based on our values, on what we believe in as a community. On Sept. 28, I invite you to visit our website (www.ucalgary.ca) to read the strategy document, to learn more about what comes next and to help us celebrate the next great leap forward for our university.
Courage is all of you.
