Once again, we mark the end of an academic year. We celebrate the accomplishments of our graduating learners and the various winners of honours, awards, and prizes, and we encourage those who have not reached a desired milestone to continue trying and trying again. This year at Convocation, we heard from Shibl Mourad about how he never gave up on his dream of coming to Canada from Syria and attending 91丝瓜视频. And while he ended up at 91丝瓜视频 not through a more typical path as an undergraduate or graduate student, he ultimately was rewarded with a degree from 91丝瓜视频. Shibl was conferred the honorary doctoral degree for the work he had accomplished to date, both in and out of the classroom as an instructor and for his pioneering work with Google DeepMind鈥檚 lab and his contributions to AI research and work in Montreal and Canada. It was a story of perseverance, determination, and confidence in one鈥檚 own abilities, of the choices he had made to get to this point.
This time around, I am also reflecting on my own choices and the transition I am about to make from serving as your dean of Continuing Studies at 91丝瓜视频 to a new leadership role at the University of Minnesota later this summer. Standing at the intersection of paths taken and not yet taken can be cause both for excitement and trepidation. I am reminded of the poet Robert Frost鈥檚 poem 鈥溾�� which is often misinterpreted as a call to pursue one鈥檚 dreams and follow a less common path forward. In fact, it is about choices and the inevitability that to move forward in any direction, one typically will, must, make a choice, sometimes randomly, sometimes with imperfect information.
Whilst there are always challenges in one鈥檚 own current environment, they are familiar. But the road that lies ahead is full of unknowns. Did I make the right decision? What if I don鈥檛 succeed? We step onto a given lifepath not necessarily having the foresight to know whether it was the right one or what lies ahead. And once underway, we may not have the option to retrace one鈥檚 steps, 鈥淸y]et knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back,鈥� as Frost reminds us. But having a choice to make is an act of growth, of momentum, both for those travelling the path and those left behind.
As I get ready to say goodbye to 91丝瓜视频, I think wistfully about what I am about to leave behind. With an incredible team in place, the School of Continuing Studies has transformed and continues to evolve and grow 鈥� with or without me. And contrary to Robert Frost鈥檚 traveller, who when looking back might be tempted to exaggerate the single moment and impact of decision, 鈥淚 shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: 鈥 took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference,鈥� it is in fact the everyday acts, no matter how small or large, of placing one foot before another that matter most. It is the daily hard work of learning, teaching, and administering that has led our learners to complete their programs and courses, and our academic and administrative colleagues to look back and know that we did the best we could.
I am proud of what we have accomplished together to date and look forward to seeing where the road takes you, all of us.
