Students returning to York University this fall will have some trouble recognizing the Keele Campus and even the entrance to Glendon.
Thanks to the Superbuild Program of the Government of Ontario and the generous support of donors, we have two new buildings under construction at York Boulevard/Pond Road on the Keele Campus - the new building for the Schulich School of Business and the new joint York-Seneca Technology-Enhanced Learning building. In addition, York Boulevard has been changed to meet draining and traffic flow requirements and the Honour Court is now more accessible from the road. The new Computer Science building is nearly complete on the University Walk and promises to be a beautiful and highly functional building for students and faculty and, across the walk, the new Parking Building is under construction on DD parking lot. Our team on facilities and campus design has been working extremely hard for many months and will for the coming two years. At Glendon the entrance gates have been redesigned for better traffic control and security.
The leadership of many of our faculties and the Library has changed over the summer: Professor Bob Drummond has replaced Professor George Fallis as Dean of Arts - we welcome Bob, a professor in political science to his new role; Professor Gillian Wu joins us from medicine at the University of Toronto to lead the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science as Professor Robert Prince has completed his term; Professor Paul Axelrod has become Dean of the Faculty of Education moving from the Division of Social Sciences; Cynthia Archer has come from the University of Windsor as University Librarian replacing Ellen Hoffman who has completed 18 years in that leadership position; and we have Acting Deans in the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies (Professor Joanne McGee) and in the Faculty of Environmental Studies (Professor David Morley) while searches are underway. We wish all the very best to our new leaders and those who are stepping back into the professoriate or moving to other positions.
Much of the excitement at York stems from the intense activity in research and scholarship....the appointments of new Canada Research Chair positions, the new Chairs in Hellenic Studies, in Canadian History, in Holocaust Studies and the refocusing in research through the revised Strategic Plan.
Above all, this is a year of advanced preparation for welcoming the double cohort in 2003-2004 student, faculty, staff and the Board of Governors are contributing to making this a big success for everyone already at York and for those who will be joining us.
I wish all of you success in the year ahead and look forward especially to the active involvement of our alumni in all of our activities.