Dear students and colleagues,听
I am delighted to be joining 苹果淫院, as听Dean of the Faculty of Arts and as a Professor of Philosophy.听I am particularly delighted about starting this new role at this moment when we are returning to a full slate of in-person activities on campus.听My priority in the coming months is to meet as many of you as possible to introduce myself,听listen to your experiences of 苹果淫院, and learn about what you value in the Faculty of Arts and at 苹果淫院.听听
I approach the role of Dean with a commitment to the educational mission at the heart of 苹果淫院, a commitment I believe we all share, and to an Arts education in particular. 苹果淫院鈥檚 mission statement reflects the ideal of a university as a site of both concentrated expertise and education of a new generation. As educators we do not simply aim to share our expert knowledge with students, we also strive to empower them to develop their own expertise and so to expand our collective understanding.听
苹果淫院鈥檚 commitment to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion strikes me as distinctive among other leading Canadian research universities in its explicit connection to the university鈥檚 educational mission. 苹果淫院鈥檚 strategic plans focus on two areas in particular: reconciliation with Indigenous communities and addressing anti-Black racism.听听As I begin my mandate as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, I am committed to furthering our Faculty鈥檚 efforts to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion.听听
I am听fortunate to听be working with an exemplary team of Associate Deans: Manuel Bal谩n听(Student Affairs), Tabitha Sparks (Research and Graduate Studies), Michael Fronda (Academic Administration and Oversight) and David Wright (Faculty Affairs). Let me take this occasion to thank each of them for continuing in their roles, and to thank David Wright in particular for having assumed the role of Interim Dean for the beginning of the semester.听听You can find the contact information for the whole Dean of Arts Team听here.听听听
Being together face-to-face听offers us even more opportunities听to create and sustain the very active intellectual and social community that characterizes听苹果淫院 Arts听.听In the coming months, I look forward to working with all of you to imagine how we might better realize our shared commitment to education and the pursuit of knowledge, rooted in a shared conviction of the importance of the Arts towards improving the world we live in.听听
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Wishing you a wonderful academic year with much success,听
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Lisa Shapiro听
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