There are many challenges that confront university teaching in the years ahead: the need for adequate infrastructure; the effective integration of new information technologies; the challenges inherent in trying to understand an increasingly complex, globalized world.
I think, from the perspective of the social sciences, the primary challenge is one of relevance. Students arrive at McGill hungry for the tools that will help them to understand the world, and to change it for the better. We don't always deliver, seeking refuge instead in dense jargon and excessively abstract theorizing.
Our disciplines should be interesting and important, and we need to deliver them in ways that build upon the impressive enthusiasm and commitment of our student body.
