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From the PresidentSearch
| From the President |  |
Working with students to build leaders
We
all help our students become leaders. Faculty members, whose work brings
them in daily and close contact with students, are obvious role models.
But non-academic employees are equally important. The responsibility of
mentoring our students does not end at the door of the classroom, laboratory
or studio. Mentoring is a responsibility we all share.
The university has developed a number of initiatives that help students
become leaders, and your involvement in these programs is critical for
success. A good example is MUCEP (the Memorial University Career Experience
Program), in which students work in academic and non-academic departments.
They work with you and learn from you by doing important work. Many of
them also become friends, which is especially important for students from
rural Newfoundland and Labrador because they can be quite lonely during
their early weeks of they studies at Memorial University.
Another example is the suite of leadership programs developed by Dr. Lilly
Walker and her team in Student Affairs and Services. Just last month they
sponsored a highly successful Student Leaders Forum in which over 80 students
from the St. John's campus participated.
Leadership skills are often tested in unpredictable ways. In the wake
of the September 11 terrorist actions in the United States, Memorial University
responded to the needs of some 500 stranded travelers. Just after the
travelers arrived, student volunteers from our residences took the initiative
to set up a daycare center for the infants and children of the exhausted
passengers. This required leadership and teamwork, both of which our students
had learned from you. In the subsequent days, there were many other instances
in which students, faculty and staff showed tremendous leadership and
creativity.
We can be proud of what our students and alumni accomplish every day.
You teach them to be successful and I thank you, on behalf of the university,
for your contributions.
Axel Meisen
PRESIDENT AND VICE-CHANCELLOR