Drop in between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Brass Taps, University Centre

Dear faculty and staff,

This is my first opportunity to reach out to all of you in my role as interim president and vice-chancellor. I am honoured to take on this role and serve the University. I have been back at Guelph now for over 18 years as a department chair, associate dean, dean, vice-president of research and innovation, and now in this role.

As acting and now interim president, over the past three months I have gained even more confidence and excitement about the future of the University of Guelph. Our collective capability has us on a trajectory to build to be in the top tier of Universities in Canada.

As we near the end of the fall semester and the conclusion of the calendar year, I’d like to take time to reflect on all that we have accomplished in the past year. It has been a year filled with change. We navigated through some extraordinary external and internal challenges and we found ways to overcome so many of these challenges, usually by working together.

I want to thank you all for your hard work and your ongoing dedication to the mission of the University of Guelph. In particular, I want to thank you for what you do for our students. Their experience here, the quality of their programs, what they will remember about being a student at Guelph is tied directly to what each of us do, day in and day out. As part of the leadership team’s sincere gratitude, I’m happy to share that we are including Monday, Dec. 23 as part of our campus holiday closure. To review our campus closure dates, please visit this page. As the year comes to a close, I would love an opportunity to connect, to say thank you in person and to hear from you about your challenges and your successes.

Please join me for a drop in coffee break on November 28 in The Brass Taps between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. I hope you can make it and I look forward to seeing you there. Please RSVP online by November 22 to help us to plan for numbers.

Questions can be directed to the Office of Ceremonies and Events at uofgevents@uoguelph.ca.

Thank you,

Rene Van Acker
Interim President and Vice-Chancellor