VPAC highlights from 2023
- Formed an ad-hoc Senate committee to recommend new structures for health programming (i.e., a Faculty of Health)
- Completed a review of UVic's budget model and formed a Budget Design Committee
- Began work on an academic action plan to support UVic's new Strategic Plan
- Welcomed and onboarded three new deans (business, education and law)
- Partnered with Kaplan International to support our international recruitment efforts
- Launched an Accessibility Plan and developed a guide for universal design for learning
- Negotiated the new Collective Agreement with the Faculty Association
- Revised the policy for establishing certificates and diplomas to include micro-certificates
- Launched a community of practice for chairs and directors that includes regular townhalls
- Re-imagined the REACH Awards and revised the application process
This of course isn't a complete list, and items are listed in no particular order. Several items were done in collaboration with other offices and involved highly consultative processes. Thank you to leaders, faculty, staff and students who contributed to these and other initiatives.
End-of-year message from the provost
December 18, 2023
Dear colleagues,
As 2023 comes to a close, I want to extend a very warm thank you for your efforts this year. I know many of you are still actively wrapping up exams, marking, submitting papers, and preparing for the spring term. I hope that you find time to relax and recharge over the holiday closure. For me, the season means holiday feasts, cards and boardgames with friends and family, and winter folk music playing the background.
Thank you for contributing to our university through your teaching, research and service, and for helping make UVic such an incredible place to live, work and play. I continue to be amazed and delighted by the many large and small expressions of talent, expertise, inspiration and excellence across this wonderful and surprising institution. Together we continue to define and amplify what sets us apart—our commitment to truth and reconciliation and to action on equity, to people and planet, to experiential, research-led learning and student experience—delivered in spades through the tight connection between our high-quality education and the remarkable impact of our research and creative activities. This is all hard, good work in the face of challenging times, and I am grateful to colleagues across the campus who continue to roll up their sleeves and pitch in across so many fronts of the academic enterprise.
I am embarking on an Engagement Tour with Faculty Councils in spring 2024, building on our discussions during the 2022/23 Listening Tour. The VPAC team and I look forward to hearing your ideas and advice on implementing our institutional priorities, advancing academic programming, lifting our graduate aspirations, and strengthening our scholarly culture—and your plans and initiatives in these and other areas for the coming year. In 2024, you can expect updates from my team about the academic action plan, student enrolment, resourcing for academic accommodations and universal design, and our aspirations related to health education, research and training.
Happy holidays, colleagues, and all the best for the new year.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Croft, PhD
Vice-President Academic and Provost
University of Victoria