[cid:image001.png@01D7C1A2.AAB26640] Message from Dr. Michael Benarroch, President and Vice-Chancellor, and Dr. Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

To our UM community,

We are excited to share with you Our Shared Future: Building on Our Strategic Planhttps://umanitoba.ca/sites/default/files/2021-10/our-shared-future-building-on-our-strategic-plan-final-oct13-2021.pdf, which reflects the work we will do over the next 12 to 18 months to build upon our commitments and priorities. This work will help us prepare for a full planning process, to be launched in 2022, that will result in a new strategic plan for the University of Manitoba.

Since spring 2020, when we presented our final reporthttps://umanitoba.ca/sites/default/files/2020-06/strategic-plan-2015-2020-final-report_0.pdf on Taking Our Place: University of Manitoba Strategic Plan 2015-2020, UM has continued to fulfill all the priorities laid out in the plan.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented our community with immense challenges, but also with opportunities to learn and innovate. Indeed, the resilience we've seen across our university as we adapt to new ways of doing things is nothing short of inspiring. In the coming months and years, we will work together to evaluate what we've learned and to build on innovations that can strengthen our institution beyond the pandemic.

The tremendous goodwill and confidence expressed by you-our community-is empowering our efforts to chart the university's future during continued uncertainty. In recent months, we heard from close to 2,000 members of the UM community about what matters most to them. Because of your feedback, we will focus on post-COVID planning and further our progress on anti-racism, experiential learning, Indigenous achievement and engagement, and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Our unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability and addressing climate change will inform all our plans and priorities.

Undoubtedly, we will need to re-evaluate and finetune these priorities to adapt to changing circumstances, as our university has done for 144 years. In the meantime, we look forward to working collectively to build on our achievements. Thank you for your ongoing contributions to this dynamic community of learning and discovery.

If you have any questions or comments, please direct them to strategicplanning@umanitoba.camailto:strategicplanning@umanitoba.ca.

Thank you for your ongoing contributions to this dynamic community of learning and discovery.

[cid:image002.jpg@01D7C1A2.AAB26640] Michael Benarroch, President and Vice Chancellor [cid:image003.png@01D7C1A2.AAB26640] Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Provost and Vice-President (Academic)