|
Message From the President Dr. Daniel O'Brien |
 |
|
With the coming of Spring, and with the end of another academic year, it is time to reflect on the achievements, events and defining moments of the past year. One
of the most noticeable changes to the University over the past year
has been the construction of two new buildings to accommodate our ever-expanding
student population. For those who have not had the opportunity to visit
our campus over the past few years, the changes at St. Thomas are remarkable.
As a growing insti-tution, we are working hard to develop our physical
plant to remain in step with our growing student population. Our two
new buildings – a large academic building to accommodate our professional
and applied programmes – and a smaller building to accommodate
our admissions, coop education and international programming offices
– were completed in 2001. As with all new construction, there were challenges to overcome, and some disruption for students and staff. However, thanks to the ingenuity of staff, and the good will and patience of students and faculty, we have weathered the construction phase and are now enjoying the benefits of two superb new buildings. This additional space means that, at least for now, our classroom and office space bears some resemblance to our needs. On that note, the University Senate and Board of Governors has approved the Enrolment Management Committee recommendations to prevent uncontrolled growth by setting an enrolment target of 2,400 to 2,800 full-time students. Our vision is to provide all of the advantages of a small university, yet with a wide range of services and facilities. We are in the enviable position of being able to deliberately limit enrolment. Therefore, we will maintain our commitment to a small student body. It is a credit to the University that our impressive reputation for quality programmes and quality faculty has encouraged so many students to make St. Thomas their number one choice. Now that we have settled our growth aspirations our full attention can turn to honing and improving the quality of our programmes to ensure students the very best educational experience possible. Another notable development of this year has been the spectacular success of our faculty in winning numerous externally-funded research grants. In addition to its reputation for teaching excellence, our faculty is rapidly establishing a similar reputation for research achievement. This has been a very successful year for St. Thomas University. All of our essential components are strong – we have bright and talented students, an excellent faculty, a very high quality physical plant, an improving reputation, and a caring and growing alumni. However, we still face financial challenges. With our rapidly growing enrolment, our operating grant from the provincial government has fallen seriously behind other New Brunswick universities. In response, we have expended considerable time and effort to persuade the Province to adjust our operating-grant base. One might question – given all of the University’s successes – our need for additional public monies. The answer is simple. Our students deserve the same level of support as students at other provincial universities. Furthermore, we believe that students learn best in small classes. Our classes are designed to allow students to interact with both their peers and their professors in a meaningful way. We will continue to require additional resources to reduce our student-faculty ratios and to continue to fulfil our claim to providing an educational environment in which faculty are accessible and committed to excellence in teaching. Our
alumni are a very important part of the University community. I would
like to encourage you to remain in contact with our Alumni office and
to participate in any Alumni events scheduled in your community. As
always, we enjoy and are thankful for the fine support we receive from
our graduates. I welcome and look forward to the opportunity to meet
with you throughout the year. |
|