THUNDER BAY – Lakehead University’s 2018 strategic plan is in full swing, school president Moira McPherson revealed on Wednesday at the annual report to the community luncheon.
Two years in the planning, McPherson said it provides a blueprint moving forward to implement priorities over the next five years.
“Our strategic plan is based around five themes,” she said. “Of course at the top of those themes is a commitment to academic excellence. That covers everything from learning to student experience, research scholarly and creative activity.
“So we have many strategies that will take us to the next steps in that area. But our strategic plan also articulates how we’ll work with our local and global communities, how we’ll continue to be a leader in access and equity, and how we will really thrive in entrepreneurship and innovation so that we prepare our students for the world that is ahead of us.”
McPherson had plenty of good news to deliver in her first state-of-the school address since taking over the presidency earlier this year, having served on an interim role after the departure of Brian Stevenson at the end of 2017.
She highlighted the university’s economic impact on the community, pointing out that Lakehead contributes up to $1 billion to the local economy and, with the Orillia campus factored in, about $1.4 billion to the Ontario economy.
“It’s huge,” McPherson said. “One of our priorities for our university is to serve the communities that we’re situated in. We want to have an impact on the economic, social and the health and wellness of those communities and clearly you can see the economic impact.
“But it’s much more than the economic impact in terms of our own priorities.”
Lakehead University Student Union president Farhan Yousaf said from a student perspective, he likes the direction the school is headed.
“We saw the impact of Lakehead University, an economic impact of $1 billion to the City of Thunder Bay. That’s huge and it’s only growing day by day. We have new students coming in. We also saw the projects by students here, great innovation all the way around, so I think the university is headed in the right direction and I hope that it continues to grow.”
