Reclaiming Our Role in Society

Our roots run very deep. For over a century and a half, St. Mike’s has defined itself as an educational community committed to exploring the truth in all things, and to helping young people find themselves and their way in the world. We take great pride in this place and its people, a community that has nourished and inspired generations of students who, in turn, have gone on to serve the broader community and shaped the very fabric of Canadian society.

Now we look to the future. St. Mike’s 180 affirms that we will remain committed to our history, our eyes clearly focused on the challenges ahead. Our three-fold efforts begin with a commitment to building up all aspects of St. Mike’s, our people and our campus. Our goal is to become a space within the University of Toronto that embraces and celebrates our diversity and allows our students, staff and faculty every opportunity to flourish, academically, of course, but in all aspects of their humanity. Our teaching and research will continue to focus, in proven and new ways, on exploring the challenges of our day and convening important conversations that befit a Catholic university called to build up the Church and society. Finally, we will look at everything we do through a lens of sustainability, yes to protect the environment, but also to renew our historic partnerships and to explore new relationships within the many communities to which we belong.

As Sr. Nuala Kenny states so eloquently, “St. Michael’s can help reclaim the role of the university in the building of society.” We aspire to nothing less. To do so, we must understand that the term Catholic in a university setting like St. Michael’s needs to be a verb and not an adjective; not simply a body of knowledge, but a way of doing things: how we teach and learn and how we put that knowledge in the service of the common good.

I learned long ago that a president’s role is really quite simple: to support good people with good ideas, and then to get out of the way. At St. Mike’s, we are blessed with remarkable faculty, staff, trustees, and alumni. Our students are, quite rightly, at the centre of everything we do, and are inspiring agents of innovation and change. They love this place, they are smart and creative, they seek justice, and they are not afraid to serve. So, this is really what St. Mike’s 180, our new strategic plan, is all about, unleashing the power of our community for the good of St. Mike’s, the good of all of U of T, and for the world. And, in this President’s Report, I would like you to meet just a few of the many good people in our community, and to learn about our hopes for the future and a few of the initiatives we have begun together to renew our university and reclaim the role of St. Michael’s in the building of society.