The following is a message to the community from York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton:
I am delighted to share Creating Positive Change: 2020 President’s Report with you. This year’s report looks back at the 2019-20 academic year, and tells the story of our community’s inspirational response to the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and how we joined together to make significant progress on our shared goals and priorities.
This report documents York’s efforts to protect the health and safety of our community and the communities we serve, while continuing to pursue excellence in all our endeavours. You will see examples of the innovation in remote and online teaching, learning and scholarship that allowed us to create a positive impact for our students, supporters and partners.
This was also the year York concluded our 10-year plan laid out in our white paper “Building a More Engaged University” and our 2015-2020 University Academic Plan (UAP). The report shows how our deeply rooted planning culture positioned us to deepen our identity as a comprehensive university, expanding our commitment to educating local and international students from a broad cross-section of society. We are also at the beginning of a new five-year UAP, “Building a Better Future,” and the report profiles current projects and accomplishments that are working to support the plan’s six priorities.
In creating this year’s report, we wanted it to be more than just a reflection of past milestones and achievements. Whether you are a student, faculty, staff member, alumnus or partner, you will see how the work you do with your faculty, division or initiative fits into our larger mission, and has helped propel us to the forefront of national and international higher education.
From our founding more than 60 years ago, York has been a different kind of university, one that is committed to engaging with the community around us and using that engagement to drive positive change. Today, we continue to seek novel ways to respond to the current pandemic challenge—and to those challenges we have yet to encounter.
Together, we are building a connected, inclusive and collegial institution focused on improving the future with our distinctive approach. Thank you for your ongoing support and contributions to our community, and I look forward to our continued work together.
Sincerely,
Rhonda L. Lenton
President and Vice-Chancellor