HOW WE ENGAGED

SFU: What’s Next? was built to be flexible and iterative, and to address the diverse needs and preferences of community members.   

The development of this process was guided by the advice of a pan-university advisory team, conversations with groups across SFU and external specialists, as well as previous projects and engagements such as the Steering Committee on Personal Safety report recommendations.

This project was also supported at various stages by internal and external partners, including the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, SFU’s Office of Community Engagement, SFU Public Square, Kirkwood Consulting and Nahanee Creative.

WHAT WAS CONSIDERED  

In recent years, a number of consultations have been held to learn more about how SFU communities—including students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners—feel about various aspects of the university’s operations.

A few examples are:

• Diversity Meter,

• the SFU Community Engagement Strategy,

• the Aboriginal Reconciliation Council Report Walk This Path With Us,

• and the Student Experience Initiative. 

Those reports were reviewed as part of SFU: What’s Next? to ensure that existing input was represented.

HOW YOUR INPUT WAS USED

SFU: What’s Next? defined and clarified the SFU story—bringing together who we’ve been, who we are now, and most importantly, how we want to move forward as a university community. The outcomes of this process have been used to define SFU’s vision, purpose, commitments and priorities.

There are many people with a connection to SFU who needed to be heard. The input gathered through each conversation was documented and grouped into common themes.

Themes were shared with the community, along with ThoughtExchange conversations, notes from round table discussions, town hall recordings and survey results. They were also presented to the Senior Leadership Team for review and discussion, and the Senior Leadership Team made recommendations to the President and Provost for final decision.