Summer is definitely now, finally, in the air. After what seemed like an endless winter, we’ve had our first heat wave. We ended the academic year with the city and ºÚÁÏÍø±¬³Ô¹Ï coming together to cheer the Habs on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with the Canadiens flag flying above the Arts building. That spirit of community resonated throughout the past academic year, as we came together to build wholes greater than the sum of the parts. A few highlights: We started the Fall with the launch of the Faculty of Arts Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges, which hosted a number of events over the course of the year culminating in an Indigenous Language Symposium in April. The Faculty relaunched the Maxwell Cummings Lecture series with a fireside chat about the role of universities with Nicholas Dirks, Chancellor Emeritus of University of California at Berkeley in September, and another conversation in March with Prof. Kristen Renwick Monroe, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science at University of California at Irvine about Moral Courage. Students built community through publishing journals, like Uhuru Journal, in African Studies, sponsoring public lectures and conferences, and connecting with local organizations. Our faculty hosted conferences and visiting speakers, and engaged with the broader community in events as disparate as MISC’s Conversations, sponsored by Charles Bronfman, this year on AI and Society, and the biennial Montreal International Poetry Prize.
While the Habs didn’t make it to the Finals, they showed tremendous promise for the season ahead. And in a similar way we are looking forward to all the activities the coming academic year will bring, starting at the end of August, through which we will engage with one another, pique our curiosity, confront the complex world around us, and co-create our vibrant community.
A big thank you to all the students, faculty, and administrative staff for all their work and engagement to building community over the course of the year. And a big congratulations to all the recent graduates!
- Dean Lisa ShapiroÂ