As a boy, I grew up in Angola at a time when telephones and television were rare or non-existent. The reply to a letter one mailed could take 5-6 months, coming by boat of course. It was only after I retired as President of the University of British Columbia that I began to use a personal computer on a regular basis. In the process I have become an e-mail junkie; communicating electronically is now a vital way of keeping connected with colleagues and friends. The internet has also become an essential tool and just recently I’ve just been introduced to “pod-casting”.
When encouraged to start “blogging” as the President of Quest University Canada, I naturally wondered about the value of such an endeavor. Like so many of my other discoveries about technology, however, it is clear that this too can be a valuable tool for communication.
At Quest, we are attempting to work together to build an innovative and cooperative culture which values transparency, teamwork, and a willingness to take “good” risks. And I am fully persuaded that the most important thing we bring to one another is the added value of our interpersonal relationships and the social capital we create together. Having said that, we also live in a time when we must learn to maximize effective use of new technologies to build a sustainable world. My colleagues offered me their encouragement and assistance with my blog – so this is the inaugural posting.
When news of the recent oil spill in the Squamish waterfront hit the media, I took it as a signal that my blog was one way I could model what we are trying to accomplish at Quest. While it was troubling to read about the spill and the potential ecological damage, my thoughts quickly turned to how our future students could both learn from and positively impact the situation. I know they'd be actively involved in containing the danger and beginning to remediate its impact. They would follow-up by looking at the social, economic, political, and legal aspects of what happened. They’d have the scientific acumen to be able to examine the causes and the short and long term implications of the oil spill on the flora, fauna, and overall ecology of the affected areas and begin implementing strategies for minimizing the negative impacts. I can imagine their involvement in proposing improved guidelines for environmental impact management in these sensitive ecosystems. I can also foresee a range of relevant scientific projects for our students to explore.
At the same time I felt our students would go far beyond our angst at the oil spill affecting our shores. They would recognize that what happened here is just one example of the daunting challenges facing the world. From poverty and war to changing ecologies and economies, our students will recognize the interdependence of the world's problems and the need for coordinated global responses. I am more convinced than ever that Quest University Canada is strategically positioned to produce graduates who will be well-prepared to grapple with such complex challenges of the 21st century.
The official welcoming of our inaugural group of students in September 2007 can’t come soon enough for all of us working together on this incredible project. When the students come I am sure one of the first things they’ll want to see is how we as a community are working together on problems such as the protection of the spectacular habitat that surrounds us here in Squamish.
Quo vadis? they will ask, and then they will become part of the answer.
