The following message was sent from President Loren Agrey to Burman University faculty, staff, and students on September 13, 2017.
Dear campus family,
As many of you may have heard by now, the Government of Alberta announced that they will be allocating $80,000 to Burman University for student mental health support. We are truly grateful for this generous contribution to funding.
Before we were aware of the government’s funding, the Office of Academic Administration submitted a Comprehensive Institutional Plan (CIP) to the Government of Alberta in June 2017. One of the goals outlined by the university in the CIP is “to develop a comprehensive student mental health strategy” by August 2018. The university committed to begin two priority initiatives: (1) Retrain university counsellor and train relevant units (e.g. Student Services staff and residence hall deans) on mental health issues and (2) sensitize campus community on mental health issues.
Burman University will continue to move forward with the goals and initiatives outlined in the CIP, including the goal and initiatives regarding student mental health. With the Government of Alberta’s contribution to our overall funding, administration plans to work closely with Student Services and the Student Success Centre to determine areas of improvement in our current initiatives and to identify new possible initiatives.
We invite faculty, staff, and students to share their ideas and suggestions regarding student mental health support with Student Services or the Student Success Centre. Through collaboration and dialogue, we can identify programs and initiatives that will benefit members of our campus family who are in need of this support. Let us be good stewards of the funds that the Government of Alberta has allocated to our university by working together to achieve the goal and initiatives outlined in our CIP and more.
To see the Comprehensive Institutional Plan in its entirety, please click here.
Sincerely,
Loren Agrey, President
Inquiries: pr@burmanu.ca