Faculty of Health update

June 14, 2024

I’m pleased to share that the University Senate and Board of Governors unanimously approved the ad-hoc Senate Committee on Academic Health Programming’s Faculty of Health proposal in March as well as the subsequent proposals for the Clinical Psychology and Counselling Psychology programs in May. With these approvals, the Committee agreed that we completed our mandate and submitted a closeout report at the June meeting of Senate.

This is a transformative moment for our university, and the result of thoughtful engagement and deliberation as well as challenging but rewarding work. On behalf of the Committee, thank you to all faculty, staff and students who participated in this process—whether that was by completing our fall survey, attending a consultation session, or developing an expression of interest.

Throughout this process, we heard many positive things regarding the opportunities and benefits that the Faculty of Health will bring to the university and our community, including to our students. It will be important for us to keep that positive momentum going.

Although the Committee has disbanded, there is still much work to be done to operationalize the Faculty of Health by May 1, 2025. The search for an inaugural dean is underway, chaired by the Vice-President Academic and Provost, and leaders are working to foster community and consult further with the schools moving to new faculties. Future updates will be provided by the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost, as well as by deans—the Acting Dean of HSD, the Dean of Social Sciences, and the Dean of Education—to their areas.

I look forward to continuing to work across our campus, with all of you, to enhance the university’s health profile through teaching, training, research and service.

Sincerely,
Helga

Helga Hallgrímsdóttir
Chair, Senate Committee on Academic Health Programming
Deputy Provost, Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost