I look forward to working closely together with them – and all of you – in the year ahead. Together with our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends, we aspire to continue the tradition of excellence established by Dean Emeritus, Dezsö Horváth, as we tackle new challenges and pursue new goals.
It is my intention to give regular updates on some of the key developments and initiatives of the School. Today, I’d like to highlight just three items (among many!) that the new team has been working on during the past month.
1) New Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group
Earlier last month, amid growing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, we announced the establishment of a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group to address anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. Many have pointed out to me over the past few weeks that Schulich is one of the most diverse business schools in North America when it comes to our faculty, staff and student body. In many respects, this is true. But in other respects, it is not, and we are starting to have long overdue conversations about addressing the underrepresentation among Black and Indigenous communities at our School and beyond.
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group will have representatives from our students, faculty, staff and alumni and will develop recommendations to address systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. Some of the specific areas the Working Group will be tasked with examining include identifying ways to create greater Black and Indigenous representation at our School and providing greater financial assistance and support to Black and Indigenous students.
My hope is that by confronting together structural and cultural forms of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism and exclusion, we will collectively continue to create a culture of respect and inclusion as well as a heightened sense of our communalities. You can read more details about the Working Group and the entire announcement here.
2) Advancing Teaching & Learning during the Pandemic and Beyond
We are about to conclude the first-ever fully remote term at Schulich, and the first-ever fully remote Fall term is just around the corner. The sudden transition to remote instruction that happened less than five months ago seems at times like a distant memory. While the COVID-19 crisis appears to have stabilized somewhat here in Ontario, it is still with us, creating ongoing uncertainty. Nonetheless, our hope is that classes will resume in person once the Winter semester begins in January 2021. At this point, let me also say how deeply impressed by and personally grateful I am to our excellent faculty and staff, who have been working very hard, often under extremely difficult circumstances, to ensure that our students are able to pursue their studies and complete their degrees during a global pandemic.
Since we switched to remote learning during the pandemic lockdown in mid-March, we’ve made amazing progress in our ability to provide to our students a virtual Schulich experience that stands up to the very best schools in Canada. Again, this is not the success of one person or a few individuals. This outcome is the result of the collective work performed by many faculty, staff and students over the past five months. It is a wonderful testament to the resolve and ability of the Schulich community to thrive in the face of extraordinary challenges.
Consider for a moment how the pandemic crisis has made us rethink teaching and learning at the School in fundamental ways. Without a doubt, students and faculty miss the in-person teaching experience and long to go back to classroom teaching. However, the experience of teaching and learning remotely has produced many innovative practices and approaches that enhance in-person teaching, enrich the learning environment and will, therefore, persist once we return to campus.
We know that not everything is perfect but we continue to work hard to make the remote teaching and learning experience the very best it can be for both students and faculty. I remain optimistic about our prospects because every day I see faculty, staff and students working together to solve problems, explore new ideas and enhance our ability to thrive in a world reshaped by the pandemic. If we continue along this path, I’m confident that we’ll come out the other side able to deliver functional, attractive and flexible learning environments for our students and cutting-edge teaching environments for our faculty.
3) New Master’s Program
During the upcoming academic year, we will begin work on the development of a new Master of Health Management and Leadership degree, capitalizing on Schulich’s longstanding leadership in this field and leveraging the expertise we’ve established through our Health Industry Management Program.
The new degree program will be supported by a generous $5 million gift from Schulich alumnus Robert Krembil (MBA ’71, Hon LLD ’00) and the Krembil Foundation, which was announced in June. As part of this major investment, we will establish a new Centre of Excellence in Health Management and Leadership at our School, as well as significant new scholarship support for our students. The new Centre of Excellence will deliver world-class teaching and research and become a leading global hub in this rapidly growing sector. We are very grateful for this contribution and excited to see these new initiatives come to life.
In the coming months, I will share more updates with you regarding these new initiatives and other developments at our School.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the summer and I look forward to greeting many of you “virtually” when the new school year begins.
Sincerely,
Detlev
Detlev Zwick, PhD | Interim Dean, Office of the Dean |Schulich School of Business
Office: 416-736-5070 (Dean’s Liaison Officer: Yvonne Massop) | dean@schulich.yorku.ca | www.schulich.yorku.ca
York University, Seymour Schulich Building, N302, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario (Canada) M3J 1P3
