On Thursday, October 11, President Turpin delivered the 2018 State of the University Address in Convocation Hall. Read and/or watch the address below.
Hello!
Welcome to the 2018 State of the University address and to Convocation Hall. We acknowledge that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, traditional lands of First Nations and Métis people.
I want to thank all of you for joining me both here and via the livestream. Coming together as a community is always important. This is the time of year when the academic community gathers anew. Whether it is for department or faculty council meetings - staff retreats - or the first few days of classes - gathering in early fall is always about setting the stage for the year to come. What's on the reading list? How many assignments? What's the big strategic goal?
Two years ago I used this opportunity to launch "For the Public Good," the strategic plan that we as community had developed together.
Last year, I spoke of some of the major initiatives we were unfolding as a result of that plan.
We all know that there is a lot on tap for this year. Some of these initiatives include: the development of a new international strategy and further progress on our path towards reconciliation. The roll-out of a new strategic plan for equity, diversity and inclusion, the ongoing development of our national recruitment strategy and the building of additional experiential learning opportunities. The implementation of a new budget model and the continuation of our multi-year budget planning efforts in a time of uncertainty. A major community engagement consultation process is underway and a special Ad Hoc Committee of the Senate is engaging key stakeholders on best practices around the selection of honorary degrees. Our first three signature areas - precision health, energy systems, and research at the intersection of gender - will be preparing for official launches later this year. And there are many more.
This year, however, before we get down to the work, I want to take a step back and ask ourselves the larger questions that hover behind these initiatives - why does this work matter? What is the larger purpose of our work at the University of Alberta?
In early September, I was at a Board retreat organized by Board Chair Michael Phair to develop the Board's work plan and overall agenda for the year. Richard Florida - urban studies theorist and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto - was a keynote speaker. He began his presentation with a story.
He came from a working class family in a suburb of Newark, New Jersey and was the first person in his family to go to college. He was the recipient of a Garden State scholarship - a scholarship that made it possible for him to attend Rutgers University - one of America's first public, land grant universities.
He credits that scholarship for changing the direction of his life. By his account, it took him out of a negative peer environment, out of his comfort zone and into a place where he could study and meet other people and ultimately realize that his lifelong interest in cities could actually be the subject of research and his future academic career.
He told us this story to emphasize the role that public support has played in his life. From that Garden State Scholarship until now - public support of education in the US and here in Canada has been essential to his personal and professional success and more importantly the success of millions of other individuals. It is a story everyone of us can relate to.
Listening to Richard Florida, I thought of Canada's outstanding public education system - from kindergarten through to grade 12. I thought of our incredible nation-wide community of post-secondary colleges and universities, almost all of which are publicly-funded institutions. The vast majority of Canadian students and graduates are the beneficiaries of public support.
I was also reminded of the many conversations Provost Steven Dew and I had with so many of you during the drafting of "For the Public Good".
At campus town halls or roundtables - several of you stood up to say: We must underscore that the University of Alberta is a public university, a designation that comes with a particular mission and purpose in serving the people who support it.
The foundation of public education runs deep in this province. The University Act was one of the first acts passed during the first sitting of the provincial legislature. Premier Alexander Rutherford also moved quickly to open 500 schools across the province and began building what has become one of the world's finest education systems. Alberta, since its beginnings, has used its wealth in natural resources to fund knowledge and learning.
Take away that government funding - and this university - and it's hard to imagine this province being what it is today.
And yet history is not destiny.
I am now in my fourth year as president and have been reflecting on Florida's comments about the transformative power of publicly supported education - both to the development of individuals and to that of cities and our communities. This comes during a period of uncertainty for us. We know there are two elections ahead - provincial and federal - that could change how universities like ours are supported by government.
In addition to discussions here on campus, over the past several months I have also been meeting with the presidents of Campus Alberta's 26 post-secondary institutions. We've been talking about how we, as presidents, can work together as effective advocates for the sector and for our students. How can we make the case that post-secondary education is a public good - that continued investment in knowledge and learning makes sense in a 21st century Alberta?
In Ottawa, at several meetings over the past few weeks, I have also met with colleagues from across Canada where we discussed the next stage of advocacy related to the Federal Fundamental Science Review.
To succeed in our efforts, we know we must find compelling answers to key questions: What role do universities play in Canada? How can we better contribute to social inclusion and mobility? Why is the public funding of basic research so important? How can we translate that public investment in education and fundamental research into made-in-Canada technical and social innovations to the benefit of all?
Whether we are speaking at the provincial or the federal level - whether we are talking to our neighbours or our families - those of us who work in universities must be keenly aware that we cannot take the public support we enjoy for granted.
So: how do we build a compelling case that will resonate with Albertans and Canadians when there are so many other worthy public services in need of public support?
I am a scientist, so let's begin with some data.
Earlier this year, the U of A engaged Alex Usher, CEO of Higher Education Strategy Associates, to help formulate several areas of vital importance to an Alberta "knowledge strategy". He identified three:
Number 1:
Alberta needs to successfully navigate major changes to our economic and social models. The development of our natural resource wealth - still vitally important - must be matched by development of emerging fields and industries.
Usher highlighted that "one of the key threats to Alberta's future is the increasing inability of Alberta to develop its own talent." In 2000, the participation rate of 19 year-old Albertans in post-secondary education was about average. Today? We sit near the bottom of the pack in Canada. This is in spite of the fact that Alberta has one of the highest quality post-secondary systems of colleges and universities in Canada.
What explains this decline? Data shows that we lack the spaces for the number of students Alberta needs in higher education. There isn't enough capacity in the system. This is occurring against growth in the youth population in Alberta that is much greater than the national average.
To bring us up to the national average in terms of participation rate, our system would need to grow to accommodate an additional 47,000 new students.
This kind of increase would take time. As a province I believe we should set the target and the investment strategy needed to reach this goal by 2025.
Number 2:
We know that there are some young Albertans who currently cannot access the system because of affordability, and they need more help. Out of all of the provinces, Alberta's student aid system has the lowest grant to loan ratio. Only 20% of Alberta's student aid program comes as a needs-based grant - the remaining 80% is a loan, that must be paid back. By comparison, Ontario's student aid program consists of 65% grants and only 35 % loans.
I think of the hundreds of young students who come to our campus each year through the Senate's USchool program - a program aimed at introducing school-aged children from underserved and vulnerable communities to university. Nine years in, the program is bearing fruit. 38 graduates of USchool are now attending the U of A - for these students - many like Richard Florida the first in their families to go to university - need generous student aid packages to be here.
Alberta is losing out on its own talent at precisely the time in which it needs it the most. Our province - like all regions of the world - must deal with major changes that are coming to our economic and social models. We need to ensure that we are refreshing the pool of high-skilled, creative people to lead the way by building the the province's post-secondary educational system to the capacity we need.
Number 3:
We also need to ensure that support for research and innovation in new, emerging fields, from artificial intelligence to alternative energies to precision health to social inclusion, keeps pace with change.
When it comes to funding for research are we where we need to be?
According to the Fundamental Science Report, Canada's investment in R&D has been in decline for 15 years relative to our gross domestic product, or GDP. Canada has fallen out of the top 10 nations worldwide.
After a number of significant increases from 2000 to 2006, total federal research spending more or less stayed stable through 2015, resulting in a small erosion of real funding. At the same time, the numbers of researchers grew by 20 per cent.
We know first hand the detrimental impacts of these changes, which is why universities across Canada banded together in a major advocacy effort after the release of the report. We succeeded in drawing significant new investment in the Tri-Councils in the 2018 federal budget - one of the most significant gains in Canadian history.
There is still much more to do to build the case. Increased provincial and federal investment in cutting-edge research will be key to ensuring Alberta's - and Canada's - long-term prosperity.
So: if we look at the data, we can make our case for public investment in post-secondary education and research.
But perhaps one of the hardest lessons I had to learn in the early days of being a university leader was that data alone does not move people - or not far enough. When you need to move people, data can only help you build the structure of your argument; emotional, human connection is far more important if you want to draw people in and work with you in achieving a goal.
All of us here today can testify to the value of public investment in universities and colleges.
The challenge before us is how do we take the picture that data paints and make it tangible and meaningful to individual Albertans and Canadians? 47,000 spaces? One of the lowest percentages of non-repayable student aid in Canada? The importance of investing in discovery based research? How do we make these data matter to Albertans and Canadians?
We must answer the bigger questions around purpose: What is the purpose of a public university? Is a public university de facto a public good?
The answer for me begins with the fact that the University of Alberta takes the human potential of our students - the potential of sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, mothers and fathers - and amplifies it …. and unleashes it into communities and society where it continues to grow and have broad impact.
If we look back, we can see the kind of impact our students and graduates have.
Think of award-winning journalist Paula Simons and activist Patti Laboucane-Benson - two distinguished alumna both appointed to the Canadian Senate last week.
I think of Beverly McLachlan, recently retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Her potential was clear from her arrival at the U of A and through her degrees in Arts and Law. But even her most supportive professors could not have imagined the impact she would eventually have on Canada's justice system and the interpretation of our Charter of Rights and Freedom.
Consider, too, the impact of U of A's many Indigenous alumni who have recently formed a new Alumni chapter. As student leaders, their foundational work helped to establish Indigenous programs and services at the U of A that have evolved into today's Faculty of Native Studies, First People's House, and Aboriginal Teacher Education Program. As graduates, they became leading educators, activists, artists, lawyers, negotiators and elected officials, all of them making substantial contributions to advancing Indigenous issues over the last 40 years in Canada, as well as internationally.
We can see the same potential in our students today.
Take Roshan Achal, PhD student in Department of Physics, as an example. A member of Bob Wolkow's nano-scale physics research team, Roshan has figured out how to create an atomic-scale computer memory that could exceed the capacity of today's solid-state storage drives by 1,000 times. The potential impact of this discovery, coupled with others made by Bob Wolkow and his team, is enormous.
Or consider the potential of nursing student Tracy Folorunsho-Barry. Tracy came to the U of A as an immigrant struggling with isolation, not yet 30 years old, and a mother of five. Not only has she found the courage to re-shape her life - she's since founded her own non-profit organization to empower other immigrant women to build communities and pursue their goals. Already, Tracy's organization is active in cities across the country. Imagine how many lives it may have touched 10 years from now.
More young Albertans - like Roshan and Tracy - deserve to have their potential amplified through exceptional learning experiences.
Alberta needs the benefit of their potential unleashed. The province needs the skills, knowledge, and creativity that our graduates will take into new and existing industries, business, government and community organizations . . . classrooms, courtrooms, and hospitals. … theatres, design studios, and more.
That is the purpose of providing public investment in education. That is why growing the system's capacity and increasing the proportion of non-refundable student financial aid matters - it is ultimately about nurturing the human potential of individual Albertans and giving them the skills and knowledge they need to help communities thrive.
If the case begins with human potential, in universities that potential is also borne out in discovery and innovation. Thanks to public support, universities and university researchers play critical roles in addressing big global challenges that can only be solved through major, collective efforts.
Earlier this year, I spoke at a summit of global mayors, which met in the days prior to the IPCC Cities & Climate Change Science Conference hosted here in Edmonton.
Mayors around the world know better than anyone that cities are on the frontlines of the effects of climate change. When rivers flood - fires burn out of control - or tornadoes strike, cities often bear the brunt of the disaster. Think of Calgary, Fort McMurray, and Ottawa.
Cities bear the brunt, but they are also major contributors to the problem. More than 50% of the world's population live in cities. They use massive amounts of energy and currently produce 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Clearly our cities need to be re-designed and re-imagined. We need to change the energy sources that fuel them, and rethink every aspect of how we use and deliver energy, in what form for what purpose. We need to rebuild infrastructure and governance systems that provide and manage our energy system, and the impact on the environment.
Given the complexity of the challenge, a systems approach is essential - and the U of A has been actively engaged - thanks to our expertise in energy and climate research that spans at least 10 of our faculties.
In 2016, we launched Future Energy Systems, a $75 million research institute - and now with the development of Energy Systems as a signature area, we will continue to amplify and expand that work.
We are in this position today because public funding over many decades enabled hundreds of individuals to pursue fundamental research that is advancing us towards the solutions we need.
The same can be said of the other two signature areas we will formally be launching in the near future. Both are also tackling big, systemic challenges with broad, diverse approaches.
Precision Health has the potential to revolutionize current healthcare models. It leverages data, new technologies, and the study of factors such as genomics, metabolomics, nutrition and environment, to better understand and address diseases and disabilities. Through the use and study of population data, precision health research also has the potential to lead to new approaches to disease prevention, health promotion, rehabilitation, and reduction of health disparities in populations.
Energy and health - two major global challenges that require both technical and social solutions. Finding these social solutions, however, requires foundational research into the ways in which we structure societies, knowledge, and identity.
On any given day, we see people around the world marching in solidarity to call attention to how political, social, and economic inequalities are being born disproportionately by women, people of colour, Indigenous people, people with disabilities, immigrants, and undocumented people. It is critical that we increase our understanding of how gender intersects with other aspects of identity and social belonging - such as, race, ethnicity, class, age, and religion - to create the conditions that perpetuate and reinforce the inequalities we seek to overcome. Research at the Intersections of Gender supports research essential to our ability to solve today's most complex challenges: from health care delivery in refugee camps and water security on Indigenous reserves to changes to cities' transport systems and institutionalized sexual harassment.
The development of these signature areas today would not be possible were it not for the U of A's commitment to a broad research and teaching mission - and the strong - sometimes exceptional - investment in research we have attracted from both the provincial and federal level. In fact this past year, we secured $500M in external research funding.
Most private sector organizations today are beholden entirely to their shareholders - increasingly they are driven to produce quick results and appreciable returns quarter by quarter.
Public universities - in contrast - have a different purpose. We have been given the privilege - in large part by our public funders - of a longer term horizon and greater opportunity to explore risky ideas. Undergraduates are given at least four years to develop specialized knowledge and skills before they are expected to begin contributing substantially to the building of their communities. The expected timelines of fundamental research are much longer than that.
With steadfast public investment in long-term research, the University of Alberta has proven repeatedly over its history that we can - and will continue to make - major contributions to the well-being and prosperity of this province - Canada and the world.
40 years ago, nobody would have thought that a scientist developing computer programs to play games would result in the U of A becoming a global leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning
Today, artificial intelligence is expected to disrupt almost every facet of life and its anticipated global economic impact is now estimated to be at least $50 trillion.
This is just one example where I can point to the benefit of long-term public funding at the U of A. Such funding makes it possible for our university to create environments where individuals can excel - and pursue fundamental research which may appear to some as irrelevant in the beginning but eventually leads to incredible change.
I have been challenged over the years to explain why universities feel that they are distinct from other organizations, and for me, it boils down to the breadth of our mission and the bedrock commitment that we have to institutional autonomy and academic freedom.
Both are essential to the advancement of knowledge - and from there, essential to the development of most every imaginable type of innovation that might eventually be put to use in society.
Both are also essential elements of the special, unfettered environment that universities create in which individuals can excel. Unfettered, autonomous and independent.
I can not think of a single private sector organization that has the breadth of mission and diversity of methodologies and philosophies as the university. They also do not have the same ability to tolerate the internal debate, disagreement, and sometimes even dissent that comes with the university's competing and conflicting academic missions.
We have that ability because of our autonomy and independence. And - it is important to acknowledge - that we have that autonomy and independence because over many generations our public funders have understood the very real benefits that come out of the environment we create.
When I am asked: What is the purpose of a public university? Why should the public invest in our work?
My answer is ultimately that it is about potential. The potential of real human beings - who, when put into a place where they are able to excel - have the potential to create new ideas and knowledge that can change the world in incredible ways.
Potential is not a product that one can see or measure. Its outputs far exceed economic measures - even though they are also essential to a community's economic health. Reducing the value of public education to economic measures has long been recognized as a mistake and the steadfast support of knowledge and learning in this province is a testament to that. At the same time, however, public funding often comes under threat when the public feels universities and colleges are out-of-step with economic realities.
How do we respond?
First, we can challenge the narrative that we are out of step. We can point to North American labour statistics that consistently show that university graduates experience much higher rates of employment and pay than those with lower levels of education. At the University of Alberta, the unemployment rate for graduates is just 2.8 per cent five years out from graduation, significantly lower than then 6.9 per cent national average. In addition to economic benefits, Canadian university graduates are also more likely to volunteer and are more engaged with their civic responsibilities.
Second, and more importantly, we must continue to evolve as we always have since our founding more than 100 year ago. The University of Alberta has consistently provided the research and highly skilled people this province has needed to build and strengthen its communities and to fuel its chief economic sectors, its outstanding suite of public services, and its vibrant arts and culture. We have done so by being a forward-looking institution.
We must remain responsive to our students and to changes in our community. Innovative new programs are launched every year to meet student demand. We must continue to put a focus on expanding experiential learning opportunities - encouraging students to test the traditional lines between so-called classroom learning and real world demands. And we must continue to work with our external partners to create and translate new knowledge into all kinds of public goods - from products to public policy - more quickly and more effectively.
So today I ask you to join with me in continuing with this important work. And I ask you to join me in advocating strongly for our sector.
Ours is a powerful story of public good - a story that has been supported by generations of Albertans through strong public funding. That funding has led to real and tangible results of human potential fulfilled, knowledge and learning turned into engines of incredible social change and economic growth, and communities built and sustained.
Thank you for all that you do to fulfill the mission of the University of Alberta. I look forward to working with you to advance the many initiatives and projects we have set for the next year - all with the ultimate goals of fulfilling our students' potential and continuing to play a lead role in building a better city, a better province, and a better Canada.
Thank you.