For Wilfrid Laurier University president Max Blouw, the past five years have been all about planning and laying groundwork. But last Thursday, he found out that heโll be around to see plans be completed.
On June 24, the WLU Board of Governors appointed Blouw to his second term as Laurierโs president and vice-chancellor, meaning heโll continue to serve as the eight president in the schoolโs history.
โIโm just delighted,โ said Blouw of his re-appointment. โI love the institution, I think the faculty, the students, the staff are just fabulous. The community is just a wonderful place where weโve got an exciting future ahead and Iโm just delighted to part of it.โ
Blouwโs term as president and vice-chancellor began on Sept. 1, 2007 and is scheduled to end Aug. 31, 2012. His second term will officially began Sept. 1, 2012 and last until Aug. 31, 2017.
Under Blouw, Laurier has grown from a school of just over 11,000 students to its current population of nearly 14,000. However, what the president is most proud of is the plans he and his team have put in place to handle that growth.
โWhat weโve been trying to do and itโs not just me, itโs the senior team, is establish a clear sense of direction and priority for the university,โ said Blouw. โItโs involved quite a bit of master campus planning, academic planning, financial budget planning that was more background that showed up in each budget since Iโve arrived here.โ
Establishing Laurier as a multi-campus university has been an area of particular interest to Blouw during his time at the university. Since 2007, WLU has expanded offerings and enrolment at both its Brantford and Kitchener campuses and has also established offices in both Toronto and Chongqing, China.
โI feel all that was laying the ground work for a new future in the new century of the university and that new future is explicitly as a multi-campus university,โ said Blouw. โI believe that here in Waterloo, the community needs to think of itself increasingly as a multi-campus university. Certainly in Brantford they do, in Kitchener they do, in the Toronto office, in the Chongqing office, they know theyโre part of a multi-campus entity. I believe also that we have a wonderful opportunity now to build some real excellence and areas of excellence at the university over an above what we already have.โ
One of the key projects of Blouwโs first term was the establishment of Laurierโs campus master plan, the first phase of which became tangible just last week. On June 20, Laurier unveiled its plans for a new building known as the Global Innovation Exchange, which replace the schoolโs current St. Michaelโs Campus.
โThat really is part of my excitement at being re-appointed,โ said Blouw. โWe really have areas of excellence that we can pursue and clearly the Global Innovation Exchange building will help us in that. Itโs really exciting to now be on the implementation side of things and weโll see lots of progress over the next little while.โ
When it comes to his vision for his second term, Blouw sees the university continuing to expand in population, however he realizes the importance of being strategic with such growth.
โOn the Waterloo campus, we hope to limit growth to some extent,โ he said.
โWe will be growing, but hopefully more with international students and graduate students, less emphasis on undergraduate students. In terms of undergraduate enrolment, I think in Brantford weโre developing a lot of good programs and thereโs capacity there to grow quite a bit.โ