As summer approaches, I want to express my gratitude to faculty and staff for their hard work and dedication this year. Despite the challenges we’ve faced, there is much to celebrate, thanks to the collective efforts of our incredible team.
This past year, our students excelled at challenge-based curriculum activities, including earning two medals at the Skills Canada competition, 14 medals at Skills Ontario, and placing first nationally in the Map the System competition.
We all play various personal and professional roles in our lives. In my personal life, I am a mother, grandmother, daughter, and dog mom. I’m a mother to three daughters and a (proud!) grandmother to 6-month-old Meadow... and Rudy is my 7-year-old canine kid. I provide ongoing support to my mother, who courageously raised three of us on her own. It is my turn to be there for her. The multiple roles that we find ourselves in require us to provide guidance and leadership in different ways over the years.
Imagine a system where various professionals seamlessly collaborate, ensuring the best possible outcomes. Within the Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness (FHSW), this vision is becoming a reality through our commitment to Interprofessional Education (IPE) — a transformative approach to education where traditional boundaries between programs are eliminated.
Last month, we launched a new and exciting academic year. We welcomed thousands of new and returning students to Humber, as well as faculty members and staff who play such a key role in the journey of learning and discovery. A lot goes into ensuring students start their year smoothly, and I want to thank all of you for creating such a welcoming and vibrant learning environment for our students.
Did you know that nearly 50,000 Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada, across various sectors, contribute more than $32 billion to the Canadian economy? And Indigenous Peoples, particularly women, are five times as likely as their non-Indigenous counterparts to start their own business?
I always look forward to the spring because it is student capstone project season at Humber. As a critical part of Humber's polytechnic identity, these culminating projects allow students to apply the learning outcomes from each course and showcase the skills they've acquired throughout their program. Capstone projects often involve an industry or community partner, which enables students to network and demonstrate their career-readiness directly with individuals in their sector.
Have you noticed the structure that looks like a flower outside the parking structure at North Campus and wondered what it is?
The Ontario Graduate Certificate has been bridging employability gaps for more than three decades, attracting domestic and international students into career-focused credentials that catapult them into the workforce. In the early 1990s, Humber was the first college to offer graduate certificates to university graduates who were looking for specific, job-related training after completing an undergraduate degree. At that time, growth was driven by domestic demand for education with direct links to industry through work-integrated learning opportunities.
At Humber, our goal is to provide learners with the education and skills they need to succeed in their chosen field. Our alumni make significant contributions in their local communities and around the globe with their knowledge, skills, and commitment to humanitarian efforts.
Such is the case with our Paramedic diploma program and International Development (ID) graduate certificate – two programs uniquely positioned to prepare graduates to work in emergency response and humanitarian relief fields.
Humber has made a strategic commitment to increasing accessibility for all students by adopting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles in teaching and learning. We have also committed to increasing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) as seen by the work of our EDI Task Force, its sub-committees, and the EDI mindset that is embedded in our Humber Learning Outcomes. We reach more of our students by welcoming them to the learning community, by showing them that we see them, and that they belong.