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January 17, 2017

Director General Richard Filion’s welcome back address

Success is not final; failure is not fatal;
It’s the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill

Dear colleagues and friends. Welcome back to Dawson!

First let me wish you the very best for 2017. Hope you are all doing well and that you are ready to welcome our students and guide them on their journey on the path to success.

As the Nobel Prize for Literature once sang:
“May you have a strong foundation/When the wind of changes shift/ May you stay forever young”
(My tip of the hat to Bob Dylan!)

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Before entering into the core of my presentation, let me begin by an anecdotal situation I went through last week.

And don’t get me wrong: I don’t want to aggravate a situation that is already pretty serious!

Last week, like many of you, I watched President Barack Obama deliver his farewell speech. I was struck by the nobility of his address and by the subtlety of his message to the world. With elegance and style, President Obama spoke about the threats our democracies are facing and he made clear but subtle statements about the meaning of citizenship and the need to remain vigilant in the face of the pitfalls and setbacks our democracies can become trapped.

“Lace up your shoes”, he said to the Americans, and participate!

It was a powerful and dignified speech that President Obama left his fellow Americans with, and for all of us, I would dare to say.

The day after, I took the risk of watching the President-elect’s press conference.

What a shock! What a drag! I will not enter into the details of this performance, except to say that is was another disgraceful episode that made us feel like “The Apprentice” show was just moving to another stage, the White House.

We used to say: “Le style c’est l’homme”.

One thing’s for sure: the contrast in style is immense between the two men. Immense and shocking!
What does this presidential election in the U.S. reveal?

Let me tell you: global issues are coming in to sharper focus than they have ever been in our lifetime: international relations; ethics in governance; respect for factual information; environmental crisis; globalization; justice; the future of our democracies; immigration; military; all these issues are becoming edgier and will seemingly outline the face of politics for the upcoming period.

Sharper issues in a more uncertain and unstable world. This is what is at stake.

However, what this election reveals goes deeper than this.

It says much about the need to keep focusing and working hard on one single thing: Education.

The politics of fear and isolation, of rejection and resentment that have brought this man into office can be seen as backfiring at the collateral effects of globalization. It’s one way of looking at it!
But it is also something that is fuelled by fear, ignorance and contempt.

Something that only education can help counterbalance and hopefully eradicate.

The thing we at Dawson are good at!

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In the Fall semester, we had the opportunity to go public and to illustrate what lies at the heart of our educational mission.

In September, while we were commemorating the 10th anniversary of the tragedy that befell us in 2006, we reiterated our commitment to an education that promotes the humanistic values of peace, respect and openness.

We showed how strong was our belief that education is not only there to prepare a workforce for the sake of economic growth.

We explained how dear to Dawson’s heart is the idea that education means providing to all of our students the tools to grow as active citizens contributing to the betterment of the world.
We said that education is THE way through which we work in helping our students to learn more about what being human means.

This educational task is never ending.

And, needless to say, this task has become more important than ever, since it looks like our world – our civilization – had now gotten to a tipping point.

With this in mind, we have pursued our conversation about the strategic directions we will follow for the forthcoming period.

In the Fall, we brought to its final phase the consultation process and the review of our Strategic Plan.

We took the opportunity to reflect about our mission statement and update it.

We discussed and identified what values should guide us as educators.

We formulated a vision statement that fosters student success through the delivery of bold, innovative and transformative learning experiences.

We reaffirmed our attachment to the Graduate Profile Outcomes.

We validated our commitment to the overarching requirements it represents and that defines what we would like our graduates to acquire, through their years at Dawson.

We gave ourselves a road map for the future.

Every action, every consideration, everything we do is geared – or should be geared – toward student success. While our efforts are for students, we have to ask ourselves what do students understand about these efforts, how do they feel about the services we have put in place and the programs they are enrolled in?

In other words, what does a student success mean to them in practical terms?

An intrepid team of videographers was given the task of finding Dawson students and graduates to ask them some questions that might give us a clue.

The young people you will see in the video were not paid, were not coached, and were not told what to say. Though there has been editing for time, these are honest, spontaneous responses to questions about their Dawson experience.

Helping our students to become the persons they want in the future, this is what these student say about success!

Isn’t it inspiring?

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Over the years, Dawson had become a leading institution in college education.

Our attractiveness hasn’t diminished. Our reputation is at its best. We have reached the plateau in terms of popularity and success.

But we must not rest on our laurels.

We must keep working hard to improve what needs to be improved and bring our successes a step further, to a higher level.

The Strategic Plan 2016-2021 paves the way for such an undertaking, for a more integrated effort and collaboration between us.

Thus, the conversation we have engaged in through the reviewing of our strategic plan will go on.
In the coming months, we will keep sustaining this dialogue by favoring discussions within the various services and departments about how we can better contribute to the achievement of our mission which lies on three basic pillars: Educate, Engage, Enrich.

We will make sure that our educational undertakings give breath to initiatives that will address those issues I have spoken about.

Because, at the end of the line, if we are not in a position to provide our students with the skills and knowledge they need to deal with the challenges we are facing, who’s going to do it? ? I am asking: Who’s going to do it? No one except us.

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In closing, allow me to say a few words about what is coming our way.

The Winter semester promises to be a busy and exciting one with Dawson featuring prominently in activities in which we are participating for the first time.

In March, Dawson will be one of the host organizations welcoming more than 2,000 participants from all over the world to World Model UN. The massive event will take place between March 13 and 17 at the Palais des Congrès. Montreal was selected in large part due to the tireless efforts of Dawson Model UN coordinators, faculty members Ted Irwin and Chris Bourne, in collaboration with Tourisme Montréal, the Palais des Congrès, with the support of all three levels of government. Our leading participation will be Dawson’s contribution to the 375th anniversary festivities of Montreal by doing what we do best, showcasing the exceptional talents of young people.

I would also like to mention the Social Science Week that will take place in February. Again this year, the Social Science Week is offering a very rich and diversified set of conferences and panels. Stay tuned!

Also in March, Dawson’s Art Gallery will be a part of the Art Souterrain Festival for the first time with a number of interactive exhibits. Running from March 4 to 26, Dawson has not only been selected to participate as one of 10 stations in this network of exhibits that span the city’s 32 km of tunnels, it will also be the site of the news conference to launch the Festival in mid-February. The theme is Play and Distraction / Jeu et Diversion.

Also for the first time, Dawson will be a stop in the Nuit Blanche circuit, an annual event that will take place on March 4 this year. It’s the event that draws the most people in a single day in the Montreal events calendar. Nuit Blanche brings in 350,000 visitors throughout the evening hours with more than 200 activities – most of them free – and connected by a free shuttle service. The theme is “1967” and Dawson’s contribution will centre on the historical significance of this heritage building.

These are tremendous examples of Dawson’s capacity to act as a community resource, to partner with external organizations and to be involved in the life of Montreal!

Speaking about being a community resource, I am happy to announce that Dawson Health Clinic is now up and running, thanks to the hard work of Vanessa Gangai and Mylène Saucier, faculty members of the Physiotherapy Technology department. This clinic is offering services in physiotherapy to clients – both internal and external — who have therapeutic needs. In so doing, we also are creating opportunities for our students to practice through the clinical learning activities. We hope this clinic is the beginning of something that will grow over time, integrating different areas of medical practice.

In a totally different direction is the wonderful news that two of our women basketball players have been selected to attend prestigious Purdue University in Indiana on full scholarships. Tamara Farquhar will study Psychology and Kinesiology and Léony Boudreau will study Biomedical Engineering.

This is an exceptional accomplishment for both young women, but in Léony’s case, it is even more remarkable in that she came to Dawson from the francophone sector with basic language skills in English. She has not only perfected her skills, she has excelled in all her courses. We wish them both the best of luck in their academic and athletic pursuits!

Finally, I would like to introduce to the community Pascahl Scott as our newly appointed Director of Human Resources. This position has been created by the Board of Governors last June with the view of enhancing HR management and development at Dawson.

The addition of Madame Scott to the competent and dedicated team already at work will help our Human Resources Department to augment its capacities to deal with the many dossiers generated by an organization that has more than 1,000 employees. Welcome Pascahl!

So everybody, thanks for your kind attention.

Have a good semester and don’t forget: Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the continuous effort that counts.

Richard Filion
Director General