Message from

Michael Benarroch, President and Vice-Chancellor and Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

Dear UM community, 

Thank you to all who have participated in the consultation process for the University of Manitoba’s strategic plan so far. We are excited to share the Where We Are Today report for your review and input. 

The report explains the key themes, priorities, and challenges that emerged from the consultations throughout February and March. The document not only highlights what we have learned so far, but also starts to identify some ways in which our new strategic plan may move things forward. This document is not a draft of the strategic plan, but it is an important milestone that will help us set the aspirational goals that we will work towards together over the next five to ten years.

We invite you to read the report and tell us whether the priorities we captured resonate with what the community said. We also need your help to bring these priorities to life in innovative and creative ways. What are the aspirations of our community within this priority framework we’ve built together? What are we reaching for? What do we want to achieve? What are the big ideas we want UM to be known for that will have lasting impacts?

The UM Strategic Plan website includes details on opportunities to provide feedback on the Where We Are Today report, including through participation in small group community consultation sessions and a link to the online form to provide your thoughts on the key themes and priorities, and share your bold ideas for the future.

Your comments will be presented back to the community later in the summer on where we see the university heading and what we aspire to be as we move forward with drafting our next strategic plan.

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed to this report through the town hall, community consultation sessions, and survey. Over 1,000 community members (made up of nearly equal parts students and equal parts faculty and staff) completed the online form in March and more than 1,000 community members participated in 60 community consultation sessions held throughout February. 

We want to hear all your voices to enhance our scholarship, grow our research enterprise, elevate the student experience, advance Reconciliation, and deepen our community engagement. 

Let us know what you think and continue to dream big.

Sincerely,