President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri has issued this fall welcome message and video to the York community:
This is an exciting and invigorating time to be at York University, as we begin a busy fall term on our Keele and Glendon campuses.
Our innovative academic programs and talented faculty, staff and students continue to be recognized.
In July, York was honoured with an Award for Environmental Excellence from Ontario’s Minister of the Environment for our ongoing leadership in sustainability.
The Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program at the Schulich School of Business was ranked first in the world by The Economist and this fall, Schulich is launching the York Entrepreneurship Development Institute on our Keele campus, as well as a new MBA program in Hyderabad, India.
We launched our Lassonde School of Engineering last spring, and we are breaking ground on the school’s extraordinary new home – a 169,000-square-foot, five-storey structure with an innovative design that reflects the dynamic vision of the school.
Significant progress is being made on the construction of the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension and on the new Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletics Stadium.
The York Lanes renovation project is also well underway, with newly updated interiors, new eateries and additional seating areas. This exciting revitalization will continue in the coming years as the overall look and feel of York Lanes is updated to better reflect the needs of the York community.
I look forward to meeting many of you at York events in the coming months, including the Terry Fox Run, Homecoming weekend, and our Town Hall meeting on October 2.
In this moment of dramatic change at York and in higher education, my message to the York community is simple:
This is your time – your time to try new things, take risks, make mistakes and make a difference.
Every day, in every field, we at York are redefining excellence.
I look forward to the coming year and to working together to ensure that York continues to lead, to serve, to grow and to shine.