Speeches & Presentations

"An interesting duality is emerging in terms of the skills graduates need in the 21st-century workplace. While changes in the job market require universities to prepare students to deal with the complex knowledge being created at a fast rate, including the demand for higher-level technical skills, a university education also must equip students with skills that cannot be replaced by technology."

"It is well established that all successful innovation clusters and ecosystems tend to have a number of common ingredients, such as strong knowledge generation and educational infrastructure, established companies with global reach, advanced suppliers networks, advanced communication and transportation networks, specialized support services, and financial institutions and venture capital. Government, through its direct investment, regulatory regimes and policies, is also an important catalyst."

"We need to be more responsive, more nimble to act, more open to bold ideas and new ways of doing things. Above all, we need to recognize that we cannot do this alone. It is about pan-university, cross-disciplinary, and mission-driven research. For our teaching and research to be truly valuable to society, for our graduates to be ready for the workplace, colleges and universities must be integrated into our communities—with government, with industry, with civil society—rather than islands."

"...in our collaboration we should realize that while these may look like the challenges we saw in the 60s, the world has changed, the issues have changed, and so the tools, too, have to change as we seek to confront hatred, violent or oppressive acts, and promote human dignity. All of our efforts and our policies must allow us to support equity. York is a leader in this area, so this is an opportunity to build on our already established strengths and our reputation for social justice. I hope in my time remaining to be a catalyst in these efforts."

"I believe we are starting to see a new definition of innovation emerging—one that includes notions of inclusion and integration, and that seeks to understand how we can break down existing barriers to unleash not only the fullest potential of industry, academia and government, but the fullest potential of each citizen and group so that all have access to and can contribute to the knowledge economy."

"The University—today and for centuries past—has a high public purpose. Our mission is to provide an education of the highest quality, to build knowledge and understanding, to cultivate excellence, and ultimately, to prepare you, our graduates, to go out and make the world better than you found it."

"Not yet two decades into this new century, it is clear that the 21st century will be like no other – a period distinguished by an unprecedented level and depth of global interaction in all domains – economic, political, cultural. In such an interconnected environment, joint efforts across national boundaries have been growing to use science and technology to address shared global challenges including global health management, food security, environmental sustainability, water shortage and global security, among others."

"To facilitate the internationalization strategies necessitated by this new global context, universities have developed campus environments that encourage and support positive interactions of individuals from many diverse backgrounds. The creation of such environments not only facilitates the development of future world citizens, but can also serve as a model — and perhaps even a catalyst — for world peace."

"It is clear that the internationalization of university education and the development of the workforce of tomorrow will be the defining factor in whether organizations succeed or fail. Future citizens of any country will need not only to be well educated but will also need to have a world perspective."

"By supporting research collaborations between the postsecondary education sector and other sectors, and by leveraging our universities’ contributions to knowledge mobilization and social innovation, we can assert Canada’scompetitive advantage and our continued leadership in the global economy."

"Is education Canada's next great export? Our role in lifting global competitiveness.."

"We are a university on the move. We are a university with potential. We have the people, we have the drive and determination, and we have the plans in place to achieve our goals.."

"For Ontario and Canada to remain prosperous and competitive, we need to better leverage the talents to increase our ability to innovate and be more productive."

"The goal to promote respect and mutual understanding among all cultures and faiths through partnerships is very much what this city needs and what York University is all about..."

"At York, we educate our students to become citizens of the world. We are an international university, with more than 65,000 students, staff and faculty who can trace their origins to more than 155 countries worldwide..."

"At 52 years young, we are at the doorstep of becoming a world-class teaching and research institution. We have a strong foundation and a road map. But, our success will depend on our ability to change and deal with the many challenges facing post-secondary education in general, and York in particular..."

"Over the years, we have transformed into a leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. We have a student population of 53,000 and almost 250,000 alumni worldwide - making us the second largest University in Ontario, and the third largest in Canada..."

"This has been a challenging year for us in more ways than one, but I'm pleased to say that the clouds have begun to part for York. The measures we have taken to help students navigate through the extended academic year appear to have
been successful. We seem to be making headway in regaining the trust of our key stakeholders and the government..."

"There's a lot of good work happening here, but it's being overshadowed by recent events. York is at a critical point in its history and we need to change. We need to address the issues that threaten our institution and our academic
reputation. As the University's academic governing body, I call on you to rise to this challenge and to help deliver the change York needs..."

"York occupies a unique place among Canadian universities, being both large and well-established and yet, we are young and growing. We have only just begun to make our mark in Canada and the global community. We are located in the fastest-growing and most diverse region of Canada, a mini-world where ideas with global perspective can be tested and implemented..."

"The great Egyptian writer and Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz once wrote: "You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." Well, I am very proud to have had parents who were both clever and wise..."