President Richard Florizone joined the Dal community as its 11th president and vice-chancellor in 2013. It鈥檚 been an eventful five-and-a-half years for the university: big awards, major research announcements, national profile and growing international reach 鈥斅燼ll culminating in celebrations to mark Dal鈥檚 200th anniversary.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听
With Dr. Florizone set to leave Dal at year鈥檚 end to take on a new role leading the Quantum Valley Ideas Lab in Waterloo, Ont., he sat down for an in-depth chat with Dal News on his time as president. In part one, we discuss first impressions and Dr. Florizone鈥檚 100 Days of Listening project, as well as some of his core priorities and accomplishments as president. (Link to part two.)
Becoming president鈥�
Not everyone who serves as a university president has as extensive a background outside the academy as you have. Given your varied experiences, what did you find that鈥檚 unique about being 鈥渦niversity president鈥�?
My immediate reaction is that it鈥檚 not so much being a university president that鈥檚 unique 鈥� it鈥檚 being president of 新澳门六合彩开奖 that鈥檚 a singular experience. Canada is a great country, and 新澳门六合彩开奖 is the leading research university for four of the great provinces in Canada. And in an age of knowledge, those research universities are more important than ever.
For one, they are responsible for educating professionals to serve this region 鈥� everything from physicians and lawyers to poets and journalists. That鈥檚 a crucial role in terms of serving society. But it鈥檚 also that our society and our economy, more and more, is driven by knowledge, and that the biggest opportunities and challenges we face are too big for any one discipline, sector or institution to tackle alone. Society is relying on universities for that new knowledge, new interpretation, new invention and new partnership to address some of our biggest problems. So being 新澳门六合彩开奖鈥檚 president is a singular role at a singular institution.
You arrived at 新澳门六合彩开奖 in 2013 with an initiative you called the . It ended up being the start of a robust institutional planning process 鈥� but it also gave you a speedy introduction to this university and its people. What did you learn about 新澳门六合彩开奖, and being its president, from those 100 Days?
First off, I鈥檇 say the 100 Days experience ended up being even more valuable than I thought at the time. It came out of my own experience and background: my belief that strategy is both a top-down and bottom-up affair. It鈥檚 bottom-up in that you need not only the facts and the data, but the hopes, dreams, aspirations of an institution鈥檚 people. Then the top-down piece is, how do you actually take that and craft a coherent narrative or strategy that鈥檚 going to work? And, of course, being a collegial institution, the next step is getting Senate and Board approval on that direction, providing you with a mandate that is critically important in terms of galvanizing and organizing a path forward.
In terms of what I learned about 新澳门六合彩开奖, it was a lot of things that have shown up in our work over the past five-and-a-half years: the four 鈥淩s,鈥� as I鈥檝e called them, of 鈥渞etention, research, returns to society and respect鈥�; our priority research areas; and this interesting aspect of our history, this founding vision of being open to all, regardless of class or religious belief. Although I knew that was a vision grounded in the 19th century and those realities and biases of the time, it resonated with me. Sometimes the best kind of directions for an institution are grounded not just in the facts and data and aspirations of its people, but in history, ideas that represent a logical evolution of the institution. So when you can find threads in an institution鈥檚 history you can revisit, like a living tree, that鈥檚 where you have real power and resonance to find positive ways forward. (Pictured: President Florizone during the 100 Days of Listening.)
What鈥檚 something that people who haven鈥檛 been a university president might not appreciate about the role? Or something that might surprise them?
What鈥檚 great about the role 鈥� and challenging, too 鈥� is that involves everything from literally what鈥檚 happening in the dining hall to dealing with heads of state. Even when you鈥檙e a vice-president, you don鈥檛 really have the full sense of what it entails. Because of that, it can seem a bit mysterious to people, which is the principal reason : if I can give people a glimpse of what I鈥檓 dealing with in the institution, or what I鈥檓 up to as president, it might help them feel more engaged and bring a bit more transparency to the role.
It鈥檚 been great to meet people in person and, because they followed me on Twitter or maybe we鈥檇 had an exchange on there, it was like I was meeting them for the second or third time rather than the first. It meant those first conversations were deeper and richer, a little more informal. That鈥檚 one of the real positives: it鈥檚 a facilitator. The downside, of course, is that it鈥檚 always on 鈥� which is true of other elements of the job as well. It鈥檚 another channel that can make it harder to turn off at night when you need to.
President Florizone tweets in a still from the Dal 200 promotional video.
The challenge for leaders is finding that balance between openness and engagement, which is critical, and that time when you can stop, digest, plan and strategize 鈥� or even to stop and breathe. I often say the bedrock of any leadership position in anyone鈥檚 career is to remember food, sleep and exercise. You have to carve out that time not just to be thoughtful and reflective, but to support yourself as a human being.
Priorities and progress鈥�
As you noted, you鈥檝e often framed your priorities as being 鈥渢he four 鈥楻s鈥欌��: retention, research, returns to society, and respect. 鈥淩etention鈥� is priority one in Dal鈥檚 Strategic Direction, too 鈥� why has it been such a key focus for you?
I鈥檓 really passionate about the mission of universities: teaching and learning, research, and service. And of those, first and foremost we鈥檙e an educational institution. To put it really simply, the most important part of the student experience at 新澳门六合彩开奖 is getting a degree. Now, there鈥檚 a lot of caveats I can add to that, of course, and I don鈥檛 want to minimize all the other aspects of education that are so vital. But it鈥檚 true that when students come here, and when their parents and family often support them to come here, it鈥檚 because they want to get a degree.
So, for me, when I looked at the data, and I saw 新澳门六合彩开奖 students weren鈥檛 performing as well in continuing in their studies from first to second year as others in the U15 [group of Canada鈥檚 research universities], it was a concern, but one that we could mobilize people around solving: it鈥檚 so fundamental to our mission and our values. Students and their families are investing their hopes, dreams and aspirations with us 鈥攁re we supporting them in the way they鈥檙e being supported at other institutions? And do we actually know what the barriers are and how to address them?
We鈥檝e been able to make progress on retention, and we鈥檝e done so with initiatives like On Track that have not only been successful, but have really resonated with donors. We鈥檝e been able to go to graduates and alumni and say, 鈥渉elp our student be as successful as you were.鈥� It鈥檚 an inspiring message.
How do you think the student learning experience at 新澳门六合彩开奖 is changing? I鈥檓 thinking, in particular, about the rising emphasis on co-op, work-integrated and experiential learning 鈥� it seems to be a major theme in higher education more generally, and something coming up more and more on campus.
It鈥檚 coming up across the country, actually, working with Universities Canada and with lots of Canada鈥檚 CEOs from the higher ed roundtable.
Here鈥檚 why: the future of work and learning is uncertain, and I want to be really clear on that. Anyone who thinks they know what the future holds, what skills are needed, is a little bit wrong. You only have to look back in history to see how education, or the workforce, has changed in ways people couldn鈥檛 have predicted. But if you look amidst that uncertainty, there鈥檚 a great argument to be made that, with the rise of machines, it鈥檚 the skills that make us most human that will be most valuable. That鈥檚 not to say the technical skills aren鈥檛 important: I鈥檓 an engineer, a scientist myself. But it will absolutely be a blend of human and technical skills. (Pictured: President Florizone takes a selfie with Loran Scholar students.)
Experiential learning seems like a perfect way to deal with that uncertainty. Students get to go out and apply their knowledge, and experience a future profession. It鈥檚 a testing ground for them. It鈥檚 a huge benefit to employers, too. Even if we have to push them, sometimes, to make these positions for students, they know in the long term that it鈥檚 one of the most effective ways to trial employees and bring them into their organizations. It鈥檚 a real win-win.
But the other thing, which has been talked about much less, is how it鈥檚 a feedback loop between the employment system and the education system. Everyone鈥檚 talking about how universities should reshape themselves for the future. That鈥檚 a good debate, and it should happen. But to come back to my first point: nobody really knows what the future holds. So, what do you need to do? You need to build more feedback loops. Think of a system change instead of trying to predict a certain scenario. If you build that feedback loop, if students go out and do a practicum, it shapes the kind of questions they ask in the classroom, which in turn shapes the professor鈥檚 approach and the curriculum. It鈥檚 a living dialogue. By having students have that practical experience, you鈥檙e creating a feedback loop which helps make the education system richer and strengthens the university.
One of Dal鈥檚 biggest achievements during your time as president has been the 鈥� launching a $220-million global ocean research initiative with the largest federal funding grant in the university鈥檚 history. What can Dal learn from that success as it works to advance research and innovation into its third century?
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By definition, we鈥檙e Atlantic Canada鈥檚 research university, and that means we must have a strong, robust agenda for research and schol