Last night in Vancouver, Simon Fraser University honoured four outstanding alumni who have helped to leave the world a better place than they found it.
 
At SFU, our resolve to be Canada's most community-engaged university spans the educational continuum, from students who participate in co-op learning to faculty who apply their research skills to address pressing social, economic and environmental issues.

But perhaps our most significant community contributions come from our alumni, now more than 120,000 strong.
 
The alumni I meet at home and around the globe are living proof of this university's ability to equip and motivate its students to make a positive difference in their communities.
 
Just consider the scope of contributions made by the winners of this year's Outstanding Alumni Awards.
 
John Spinelli, Jo-ann Archibald, Joel Bakan and Svein Andresen are living proof of SFU's commitment to graduating students who are "engaged global citizens."

Between them, they have helped to protect and improve public health; transform Aboriginal education; raise public awareness about child exploitation and corporate misfeasance; and safeguard the global economy.
 
And while these contributions are extraordinary in their impact, I can happily report they are not different in kind from the contributions being made by hundreds of other alumni I have encountered since becoming president.
 
Earlier this week, on a two-day visit to Montreal and Toronto, I met one SFU graduate who is delivering health care solutions to the Middle East; another who is helping grade-school students learn about science; and a third who is using his business knowledge to develop more environmentally sustainable ways to dispose of solid wastes.
 
All of these alumni spoke of the profound influence that SFU has had not only upon their education, but also upon their sense of social responsibility and, indeed, their whole outlook on life.
 
By instilling the value of engagement in our students, SFU is helping to create a phalanx of community-minded citizens who daily demonstrate the power of an engaged university.