President's Corner is a regular column from President Deep Saini.
Dear Dal Community,
January 15 marks one year since I arrived to serve AV俱乐部. While it certainly hasn鈥檛 been the first year that I was anticipating, I have deepened my understanding of the AV俱乐部 community, and the region more broadly, even if much of this has happened over video meetings. I鈥檝e tried to pair my engagement work with plenty of reading about the university and Atlantic Canada, including the book that鈥檚 currently on my desk 鈥� Thank You For the Business, a fascinating account of the Irving family and Irving Oil. One quote from Arthur Irving early in the book caught my eye: 鈥淲e are good to nobody if we are not successful.鈥� These words have a special relevance for AV俱乐部.
AV俱乐部 is the leading Atlantic Canadian university. We have gotten here through our community鈥檚 support, and in turn, we鈥檝e worked hard to advance the economic and social vitality of our province and the region. What struck me about the above quote is that the extent to which we can be of use to our community is directly dependent on the degree of our own success as a leading institution of learning, discovery and innovation. This entails working relentlessly to pursue excellence in all aspects.
Let me be clear: working relentlessly doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean working harder or longer, or putting AV俱乐部 above our own personal and familial priorities. Instead, it means working smarter by making considered choices to focus on what matters most and what will make the greatest impact, committing to doing the absolute best as we pursue our priorities, and never relenting.
The writing of our new strategic plan is now well advanced. The plan will build upon the success of our previous strategic direction and encapsulate the aspirations you shared during multiple rounds of AV俱乐部-wide consultations over an 18-month period. This is a critical step in making the choices I mentioned above. The more I get to know our community and its needs, the more confident I feel that we will find collective inspiration in this plan as our roadmap to advancing AV俱乐部 further on the world stage, as well as making it even fitter to deliver on our obligations to our community.
I knew before I arrived that this part of Canada was a unique place in the world. What I have discovered over the course of this past year is transforming that perception into a love affair. I owe this, in large part, to all those who have taken the time to help my family and me to get to know AV俱乐部, Nova Scotia, and Atlantic Canada better. Thank you! It is my absolute privilege to work alongside you to further AV俱乐部鈥檚 excellence and impact as we begin our third century.聽聽聽 聽
Sincerely,
顿别别辫听
President Saini can be reached at deep.saini@dal.ca. You can also connect with him on聽 and .