40 days in: President Florizone updates on the 100 Days of Listening

If we’re counting weekdays, Richard Florizone has just crossed the 40-day mark in his Dal presidency.

“Everyone has been so welcoming,” he says, reflecting on the individuals and groups he’s met with to date. “I’ve been struck both by the diversity and the thoughtfulness of the people and ideas I’ve encountered. The eagerness of everyone to discuss their work at Dal and their ideas for our future has been really inspiring.”

Learn more: 100 Days of Listening

He says he’s tried to focus his first couple of months on making connections both within and around the Dal community. When asked to name a few highlights, he cites touring the Agricultural Campus with his family during Open House and welcoming new Dean David Gray; accompanying students and faculty on a recent Ocean Tracking Network shark tagging expedition; taking part in the Halifax Pride Parade; and attending his first New Employee Orientation and New Academic Staff Orientation.

Follow Dr. Florizone on Tumblr

If you’re wondering what Dr. Florizone is up to day-to-day, wonder no longer: you can follow along on his 100 Days of Listening Tumblr feed.

Tumblr is a social media website that’s sort of like a cross between blogging and Twitter.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” he says of his foray into social media. “Tumblr is new to me, but I’m enjoying it. It lets me share some of my experiences: photos, quick thoughts, links or ideas I find interesting.”

Whether he’s attending an Iron Chef competition featuring Food Services’ chefs, meeting with government officials and university presidents, or reading up on Dal’s history, Dr. Florizone has been posting updates almost daily since the Tumblr launched earlier this month.

Keep up with Dr. Florizone’s travels at 100daysoflistening.tumblr.com

Contribute to the 100 Days

With the goal of gathering insight and data to inform Dal’s future direction, the 100 Days of Listening is a crucial part of Dr. Florizone’s first months as president.

Since launching the 100 Days in July, Dr. Florizone has been inviting people to share their thoughts online, responding to 10 guiding questions about academics, research, the student experience and more. So far the team has received more than 300 submissions from faculty, staff students and the community. (Below is a word cloud of terms used in the submissions to date.)

The 100 Days will be ramping up this fall, adding a number of in-person consultation sessions to the mix.

“My hope is that with a lot of different opportunities to contribute, everyone feels they can take part,” says Dr. Florizone. “It’s only with people’s insight and input that we can better understand the opportunities and issues facing Dalhousie and determine how to shape our university’s future.”

In September and October, there will be four open consultations across Dal’s four campuses, as well as two sessions (September 10 and 11) focused largely on student input. These sessions with feature an introduction from Dr. Florizone, followed by facilitated, roundtable discussions around the 100 Days guiding questions.

Learn more: Current schedule of events at the 100 Days website. (Registration is required for some sessions.)

Dr. Florizone’s team is also working with the Dean’s Offices to arrange meetings with faculty members in each of Dal’s 12 academic faculties, along with the libraries and our College of Continuing Education. There will also be meetings with staff from the various administrative units and employee groups across campus, and internal and external stakeholders as well as key university committees and related organizations. These include: the DSU Council, the Board of Governors; the executives of the DFA, the DPMG and our NSGEU locals; Senate committees; the President’s Administrators’ Forum; and the Dalhousie University Community Committee.

What happens when the 100 Days wraps up? Dr. Florizone explains his team will be collecting the feedback (formal and informal) across all the various engagements and will report back on the key themes and insights. These findings, along with the data collected, will help inform further strategic planning for Dalhousie.

Learn more about the 100 Days of Listening at its website.