Harvey Weingarten's blog

So what do University Presidents do over the summer? Part III. The Calgary Stampede

Harvey Weingarten — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:44:14 -0600

During the summer, as president of the University of Calgary I get an opportunity/obligation that is not shared by any other university president -- I get to participate in the Calgary Stampede. Held every year for 10 days in early July, the Calgary Stampede attracts over a million people to an event that, for some, defines Calgary and its spirit.

So what do University Presidents do over the summer? Part II. Planning

Harvey Weingarten — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:55:25 -0600

July 7, 2008

Planning Essential responsibilities of a university president, or any CEO, are development and modulation of the strategic plan, communication of the plan, aligning organization resources around the plan, and the effective execution and evaluation of the plan.

So what do University Presidents do over the summer? Part I. Convocations

Harvey Weingarten — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:45:45 -0600

June 9, 2008

Around the middle of April, university people are often asked: “So, what are you going to do over the summer?” This question is motivated by a commonly-held belief that the work of the university shuts down for the months between the end of classes in May and the beginning of the new academic year in September. Since this belief is tied to teaching responsibilities and, typically, university presidents do little if any teaching (a symptom of what is and what is not expected of university presidents), what we do from May-September is a source of wonder to many.

A Paperless University

Harvey Weingarten — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:47:57 -0600

May 22, 2008

Gave a speech to a conference on sustainable cities about what the University of Calgary was doing to demonstrate its comprehensive and deep commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainability. Presidents are often asked to speak publicly about the values and priorities of their universities. If you’re interested, you can read the full speech at http://www.ucalgary.ca/president/activities/talks. While the talk emphasized success stories, I also pointed out that we still had a long way to go. Here is the most poignant example I gave of this; I admit that it blew me away.

Catching Up

Harvey Weingarten — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:43:11 -0600

May 1, 2008

Well, it’s been a while since my last entry. No, I haven’t been on an extended vacation. Rather, since I last wrote, among other things, we have gone through a new federal budget and a provincial election, throne speech and budget; recruited and appointed two new vice-presidents; made significant progress on two big capital projects; finalized and received Board approval of the 2008-09 U of C budget and had a protest about credit cards. Here is the précis.

The Sustainable University II: Maintaining our physical plant

Harvey Weingarten — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:08:07 -0700

February 12, 2008

Big universities maintain considerable physical plants to support their teaching, research and service mandates. At the University of Calgary, we have about 75 buildings spread over 10 sites; altogether about 8.8 million square feet of real estate. This does not count our campus in Qatar.

The Sustainable University I. Budgets

Harvey Weingarten — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:21:36 -0700

January 23, 2008

I am often asked what it would take to avoid the cycles of boom and bust that have characterized Canada’s public university system over the last several decades. Often, this question is posed as: “What can we do to make public universities sustainable?”

Lessons from China

Harvey Weingarten — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:05:31 -0700

December 19, 2007

The things I have read about “blog etiquette” suggest that it has been too long since my last blog entry. Sorry about that, I will try to be more reliable in 2008.

Convocations

Harvey Weingarten — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:24:13 -0700

November 16, 2007

Held our Fall convocations this week. Over the course of the year, about 5500 students graduate from the U of C in about 12 separate convocations.

I attend every Convocation and I am often asked, because they do take up a lot of time, whether I find them tiring or tiresome. I don’t. In fact, they are high points of my year. Graduates are the most important product universities produce and there is something quite comforting and uplifting about seeing thousands of students walk across the stage having completed this stage of their education. I also get greatly encouraged by the hundreds of stories I am told around convocation season by students and parents about how their university experience changed their lives.

Presidential Get-Togethers

Harvey Weingarten — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:11:54 -0600

November 1, 2007

Twice a year, the 90 or so presidents of Canada's public universities get together to plot how the world should be and scheme how we can convince others, especially governments, to see the wisdom of our plotting. These get-togethers often remind me of the comments of William F. Buckley (I'm pretty sure it was him) who opined that he would rather live in a country run by the first 50 names in the Boston telephone book than 50 faculty members from Harvard. I wonder what Buckley would think of a country run by 50 university presidents.