Recap: March President’s Advisory College Council Town Hall Meeting

March 21^st Town Hall Meeting

On March 21, the Trafalgar campus played host to the March President’s Advisory College Council Town Hall Meeting. The event was hosted in the SCAET news studio to facilitate the live stream.

Celebratory Moments

Dr. Mary Preece began the meeting by highlighting a few recent celebratory moments for the Sheridan community:

• The Sheridan-incubated musical, Come from Away, had its official Broadway premiere in New York City on March 12. Several members of the Sheridan community were in attendance. Mary congratulated Associate Dean Michael Rubinoff on this amazing milestone for Sheridan’s Canadian Music Theatre Project, commending the hard work and innovation at Sheridan that played a role in the musical’s journey to Broadway.
• The Sheridan Bruins men’s basketball team capped off a stellar season by winning a silver medal at the national championship game at the CCAA Men’s Basketball Championship in Charlottetown, PEI on March 18. The team won gold at the OCAA championship two weeks ago. Mary congratulated the team and their coaches, and recognized Jim Flack’s pivotal role in the success of the team and Sheridan’s athletics program.
• Farzad Rayegani was featured on CBC Metro Morning on March 20, as part of a story on Iranian-Canadian engineers to coincide with Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. The story was also featured on CBC News online.
• On March 17, The Hon. Kevin Flynn, Minister of Labour and MPP for Oakville, visited Sheridan’s Skilled Trades Centre to announce $282,300 in new funding for Sheridan’s pre-apprenticeship training programs, including Industrial Mechanic Millwright, General Machinist and Tool and Die Maker.

Ryerson-Sheridan Partnership in Brampton

• The Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development announced on March 14 that Ryerson University’s joint proposal with Sheridan to explore a university presence was the only one received for Brampton as part of the new provincial opportunity, and is now under review. The proposal is being led by Ryerson. Click here to read the message sent to all employees last week about the proposal.
• The Provincial government’s announcement was not expected until later this year, as the original rollout plan called for a review period to determine a shortlist prior to making the proposals public.
• It is now Ryerson’s responsibility to prepare the full application, and Sheridan will continue to be part of these discussions.
• Mary emphasized that this potential partnership will strengthen our long-term university aspirations, as it will align us with a university that shares many of our strengths.

HMC B-Wing Opening

• Friday, March 24^th marked the official opening of HMC B-wing with a morning event for supporters and dignitaries, and an afternoon open house for students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Both events featured special exhibits on the building’s sustainability elements, the Materials Connexion library, and purposeful creativity at Sheridan.
• Mary thanked everyone who worked tirelessly to get the building ready for classes in January, and those who are still hard at work to finish all remaining elements of B-wing for the Fall 2017 term.

Academic Plan

• Under the leadership of our Provost and Vice President Academic, Dr. Janet Morrison, the draft Academic Plan was presented at the Board of Governors retreat on March 22 and the Sheridan Senate on March 23.
• The current iteration of the plan reflects the feedback received from the Sheridan community – thank you to everyone who offered their input!
• The plan will be further refined for final approval in May.

Strategic Management Agreement (SMA)

• We have now received the SMA templates from the Ministry and will work to populate and validate the information.
• The new SMA reflects the provincial government’s shift to prioritizing stability in the colleges as opposed to growth, based on changes in demographics in recent years and the need for fiscal sustainability. They are introducing a new funding model and enrolment rules designed to encourage stability. We will need to identify metrics that will hold us accountable.
• The draft SMA will be informed by the consultation that took place to support the new Academic Plan, and additional consultation that has taken place over the past 18 months.
• The SMA will also be reviewed by the Board to ensure the aspirational section of the Agreement reflects our vision and the latest leg of our journey, likely including a coordinated statement on being part of the potential Ontario colleges polytechnics movement.
  • We will also work with Ryerson to include a statement regarding our potential partnership in Brampton.
• Going forward, we will need to work as a community to evaluate how we can be more efficient, keeping in mind the challenges faced by the Ontario college sector that were outlined in the PWC Report commissioned by Colleges Ontario.

CQAAP Institutional Audit

• We are now beginning our preparation for the upcoming College Quality Assurance Audit Process (CQAAP), administered by the Ontario College Quality Assurance Service
• Our submission is due March 2018, with an institutional visit by OCQAS scheduled for May 2018.
• This audit will be a major priority for Sheridan in the coming months. As a result of the institutional effort required to prepare for the audit, our December 2017 goal date for submitting our application for Universities Canada may be impacted.

Executive Leadership Update

• There is still time to provide feedback for the Presidential Search, and to share your thoughts on the attributes you’d like to see in our next President. Click here to learn more and take the survey before April 7, 2017.
• The Vice President, Finance and Administration position has now been posted and recruitment is underway.

Mary then invited questions from the community.

Is there an update on the STC staff moves to other campuses?

• The new staff locations at the Davis and Trafalgar campuses have been determined and discussions around the preparation of these workspaces are now underway. There will be some retrofitting required. More details will be provided as they become available.

The next President’s Advisory College Council Town Hall meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 18^th, from 2pm – 3pm at S235 at the Trafalgar Campus.