The Process
In his January Newsletter and also through a followup email invitation on January 20, 2009, President David Atkinson requested that individuals from across the Kwantlen community recommend individuals who would be interested in serving as members of the President's Task Force on Mission and Mandate. Balancing the need for diverse perspectives and representation from constituencies throughout the University with the necessity of a working task force of functional size, the President invited 18 individuals to form the task force.
The mandate of the task force is threefold:
- To develop a draft mission and mandate document reflecting Kwantlen's unique role and many opportunities as a newly created university.
- To distribute a draft document for discussion and to receive feedback from individuals and groups across Kwantlen's internal and external communities.
- To revise and finalize a mission and mandate document for presentation to Senate and the Board of Governors by the end of September, 2009.
The task force first met on March 5 and continued to meet biweekly through the spring (eight meetings were held). The meeting activities included the review of several documents including:
- Previous strategic plans of the University.
- The University Act and associated regulations that delineate the University's general mandate and framework.
Additionally, numerous other materials were brought forward, and workshop sessions were held to outline, compose, edit, and revise the emerging document. To facilitate these processes, a small sub-committee (Ross Laird, Wade Deisman, and Newton Wainman) worked with the President to develop and revise drafts on behalf of the committee. The culmination of that work is represented in the working draft of the Mission and Mandate document distributed to the Kwantlen community by President Atkinson via email on June 1, 2009.
The next steps are the most crucial ones, as they involve the various stakeholders and community partners of Kwantlen in an open and purposeful conversation about the draft Mission and Mandate document. When completed, this document will speak with one voice for a diverse group. It will be the articulation of our shared identity, and will be used to shape the direction and priorities of our future. The Mission and Mandate document will embody our guiding principles.
Accordingly, the Task Force on Mission and Mandate now asks for your help, your voice, your contribution. What do you think? Does this draft document sufficiently represent your vision of Kwantlen? The task force has attempted to articulate that vision -- not merely where we are now, but where we want to go -- and now it is your turn. Over the next few months (see the calendar for details), the task force will be collecting information and feedback through several channels:
- Open, community meetings at various locations.
- Presentations to any group, upon request.
- Uservoice, a simple and seamless online feedback system.
- Social media tools such as email, Google groups and Twitter.
- Traditional avenues such as regular mail.
These various systems for gathering feedback are a means of recognizing that the requirements and preferences of the Kwantlen community are diverse; no single feedback system will serve the needs of everyone. Whichever method (or methods) you choose, please join the conversation.
How to Join the Conversation
Please use any of the methods listed below. Each is designed to be straightforward, simple, and effective.
Uservoice
Uservoice is an online system for gathering feedback. One of its great advantages is that you can see what other people have posted, where the conversation is going, what's important. And you can vote for items or themes that are important to you. If you are comfortable with the Internet, and are familiar with websites and how they work, you will find Uservoice to be an effective means of sharing your feedback. Here are a couple of suggestions about how to use the system, along with a request:
Suggestions
Sign up for a uservoice account (you can't vote or share your feedback otherwise). There is no cost, and the signup process is identical to many other sites that you may visit: you provide your name and email address, you get a confirmation email, you login (Please see A Request, below). If you already have an account with any one of several popular services (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Myspace, OpenID, etc.), you may signup using those credentials.
Uservoice shows you similar feedback as you type your own request, so there is no need to duplicate content that already exists. Simply add your vote to other requests or comments. You may also add as many comments as you like to the various contributions that are of interest to you.
If your feedback is entirely new, please create a new topic. This will allow other people to see your feedback and to vote on it.
The more votes an item has, the higher on the list it goes. Accordingly, the front page of Kwantlen's Uservoice system will always show you the most important topics.
Please use your real name when signing up for Uservoice. It's very important that the system be open and transparent. Feel free to use your Kwantlen email name, which is typically in the form jill.smith. But you are also free to use any type of name formatting that you like: initials are fine, as in jill.s, or j.smith. The important thing is that you identify yourself to the community, as you would do in the other feedback venues, such as group meetings or town hall events. If you are uncomfortable using your real name in the Uservoice system, please use another method of feedback (such as regular mail). Several are listed below.
Sandy Kuzyk, Executive Assistant to the President, has kindly agreed to collect and forward all responses to the document that arrive via email. If you prefer (for any reason) to submit your feedback via email, please send your response to Sandy.
If you use the popular micro-blogging service Twitter, we encourage you to follow the Kwantlen Mission and Mandate Twitter account. Updates will be posted regularly, and you are welcome to join the online conversation as it evolves.
Google Group
If you prefer a traditional, threaded forum for your feedback, please join the Google group which has been set up for this purpose. Here you can participate in narrative-based conversations, review and comment upon the draft document directly, and add your comments. The Google group requires a Google account. As with Uservoice, please use your real name.
Regular Mail
You are welcome to send your feedback via regular mail. Please use the following address:
Office of the President
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
12666 - 72nd Ave
Surrey, B.C.
V3W2M8
Town Hall Meetings
Several informational presentations are planned for the next few months. These events are listed on the calendar page. The aim of these sessions is to provide in-person venues for receiving feedback from Kwantlen's many communities.
Meetings By Request
If you are a member of any type of group within the various Kwantlen communities, and you would like a member of the task force to speak with your group, please contact a member of the task force committee. We will be happy to arrange for an informational session. Alternatively, you may also contact Sandy Kuzyk.
What Happens Next?
Over the next several months, feedback from the various streams will be gathered, collated, and considered by the committee. Every person's feedback will be heard, though no single person will shape the final document. In September, the document will be completed and submitted to the Senate and the Board of Governors.
