Les Conférences du recteur

Le second rendez-vous des Conférences du recteur a eu lieu le 1er avril. À cette occasion, la professeure Chantal Laroche a fait une présentation fascinante à propos des effets du bruit sur notre quotidien. L’exposition aux niveaux de bruit maintenant courants dans la rue, au travail et à la maison amène son lot d’effets physiologiques et psychologiques. En s’appuyant sur ses recherches et son expérience, la professeure Laroche a abordé certaines considérations politiques entourant ces questions. Elle a aussi donné des conseils pratiques pour nous protéger des effets nuisibles du bruit. La salle était pleine et le public a manifestement beaucoup aimé la conférence.

En fait, la réponse de la communauté aux Conférences du recteur a été très positive jusqu’à maintenant. Cette série a été conçue pour permettre à l’Université de partager son expertise avec la communauté élargie, surtout sur des sujets d’actualité ou des questions d’intérêt public.

La série comprend deux autres conférences. Le 23 septembre 2009, ce sera au tour de Stewart Elgie, professeur à la Faculté de droit, de présenter sa conférence intitulée The Wealth of Nature: how fixing the economy can save the planet (en anglais seulement). Le professeur Pierre Bélanger, de la Faculté des arts, clôturera la série le 25 novembre 2009 avec sa présentation Ce n’est pas une révolution que traversent nos médias. C’est une Web-olution.

Good Ideas Contest

Two weeks ago, I took part in the celebration of the winners of this year’s Good Ideas Contest. Out of the hundreds of excellent suggestions, 10 have been chosen as especially good. I link to them here. At the celebration, those who submitted the 10 best ideas were honoured and presented with a small gift.

Now we intend to implement as many of the ideas as we can, and as soon as possible. A sincere thank you to everyone who participated!

Ombudsperson

We have almost finished the work of preparing detailed terms of reference for the new University of Ottawa Ombudsperson. The preparation has involved extensive discussions with the student associations, who will be sharing with the administration the cost of the new office. We have also consulted the unions representing our professors and our personnel. So far, things have gone very well, and I hope to have everything in place within the next few weeks so that we can start the search for someone to fill the office. The Ombudsperson will have jurisdiction over University-related issues, with the power to investigate and recommend, but only after the parties involved have exhausted all other procedures that pertain to the issue. Any student, professor, staff member or member of the administration will be allowed to seek the Ombudsperson's help, although any matter dealt with by a collective agreement will be beyond the scope of the Ombudsperson's office.

I think it is high time for us to provide for such an officer. Having access to an independent, professional person who will carry out a thorough and objective assessment of matters in issue between members of our community is bound to make us all feel as though the system is a little fairer.

Globe and Mail article

"Keep the running shoes, but hit the pool"

Blogging Blues

I have been “off the air” for the last couple of weeks, completely swamped by daily duties, travel, and too much work. But in truth, there's another reason why I haven't been blogging this last little while. Frankly, I think that although it's only several months old, this blog is becoming boring. As I read through the last few weeks of entries, I discover something that looks more like a sanitized travelogue than a candid and engaging commentary. I know that it can be risky for a university president to be too frank in sharing opinions and observations. But at the same time, I think I have strayed too far from the happy medium that separates the bold from the bland. I have ventured very far into “bland” territory.

So over the next few weeks, I am going to take a break from the blog and think about my approach. I will return over the summer, and will try to achieve a more direct and revealing tone. After all, the whole idea of this blog is to improve the level of communication between me and the members of our University community. It doesn't do much good if the blog is perceived as boring, distant and mechanical.

Meanwhile, if you have observations or suggestions as to how to make this site more attractive without getting me into trouble (or litigation), please send a message.

I’ll be back before long.