PHOTO: DAN CALLIS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
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any of us are increasingly aware that growing media attention is being focused on the nature and value of the undergraduate experience at Canadian universities. Claims and implications are rife that our post-secondary institutions are failing to prepare young people adequately for the job market, that they no longer focus on personal interaction between students and professors, and that the investment being made by students and their parents is not paying strong dividends. The cumulative effect of this coverage is that high school graduates, their parents and others who support them are finding it more and more difficult to make one of life’s most important decisions I believe very strongly that the current debate should not obscure the formidable case in favour of a university education. With respect to employment outcomes, we know that there will be 13 million more jobs for university graduates in 2020 than there were in 2010 and that the average lifetime earnings of university graduates will be $1.3 million higher than those of high school graduates. Perhaps more importantly, Acadia provides a unique experience where young women and men are both challenged and mentored by our outstanding faculty. While this level of student/faculty interaction has been a hallmark of Acadia over our 176-year history, it is becoming increasingly rare in contemporary Canadian higher education. We have not deviated from this model because we continue to believe that Acadia’s special blend of a high academic standard coupled with a rich and supportive learning environment produces extraordinary results. In short, Acadia offers a transformational experience that enables students to recognize and realize their full potential – to grow exponentially. In fact, “grow exponentially” is the new tagline that has emerged from recent brand-building work to which many alumni, students,
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ACADIA BULLETIN Fall 2015
‘GROW EXPONENTIALLY‘ APTLY DESCRIBES THE ACADIA EXPERIENCE faculty and staff contributed. It is also an encapsulation of the Acadia experience and a commitment to our students now and in the future. This edition of the Bulletin certainly strengthens our case, highlighting excellence and achievement among our students, alumni, and faculty. Dr. Allen Eaves, one our country’s most distinguished scientists and successful entrepreneurs, should make all of us proud to be a member of the Acadia community. Similarly, Dr. Barry Moody stands as a testament to the direct interest Acadia professors take in their students, while Simone Jucker, Jeff and Leila Richards and Tracy MacGillivray leave no room for doubt that their Acadia experience prepared them well for careers that were far from their minds when they first came to campus. Our current students and recent alumni, including the Gnemmi family, are writing their own stories. For example, this September Julia Whidden (’13, ’15) began her Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Miami studying sharks and other ocean predators, and dual sport studentathlete Katie Ross (’17) was named a CIS Top 8 Academic AllCanadian, Acadia’s third in a row and the only University in Canada that can make this claim. What we do at Acadia is not done elsewhere, and our students and alumni provide the proof. For all the reasons post-secondary education is facing challenges, there are an equal number of reasons why it’s thriving, as it always has, at Acadia. Raymond E. Ivany
President and Vice-Chancellor