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“The three words that will characterize our operation are mentor, mentor and mentor,” Georganas says. “I will be running around with my service directors to identify those colleagues who are in a very good position to launch major programs and initiatives.”
Georganas is especially interested in establishing international liaisons, such as funded collaborative research projects with investigators in Europe and the United States.
These activities stem from some of the directions put forward in Vision 2010, the planning exercise that determined much of the new job’s mandate. This exercise, which began last year, includes enhancing the University’s leadership role in promoting Canada’s official languages, and its international profile.
Georganas says these goals will be complemented by seeking research partnerships in other francophone countries. But he wants to do even more. He would like the University to become more proactive in seeking technology transfer prospects by approaching researchers directly rather than waiting for them to come forward with proposals.
“I like to go after big projects by encouraging people to organize themselves, put in a good application, and win proposals.”
For Georganas, this kind of success by faculty members will provide the resources necessary to meet the goals of Vision 2010, which include making the University one of Canada’s top five research universities and raising the proportion of graduate students to 20 per cent of the student population.
Where Vision 2010 makes serving the community a priority, Georganas suggests making a much broader effort to communicate research news, as well as reinforcing and expanding the ties between the University and local organizations that share its research interests.
