The Challenge

Complex and increasingly urgent challenges such as climate change and poverty. Solving these challenges requires the efforts of individuals from all disciplines who have the knowledge, skills and mindsets required to create change.

The Context

MRU is full of changemakers – people seeking to make meaningful change happen in the world. Students, staff, administration, faculty and alumni are engaged in a range of teaching, learning, research and service opportunities designed to catalyze change and positively impact the world around us.

MRU’s mission describes us as a “community of engaged citizens” and our strategic plan includes goals such as advancing economic, environmental and social sustainability, enhancing community outreach, engaging multiple communities, and enhancing our culture of innovation to name but a few related goals. However, as is the case at most post-secondary institutions our work towards these ends tends to take place in isolation and we are not always aware of the efforts of those in other areas.

The Initiative

The Changemaker Campus Initiative aims to foster a “campus-wide culture of ‘changemaking’ that inspires and empowers us to create meaningful change in partnership with communities”. A major objective of this initiative is to create a culture that permeates boundaries – those between disciplines, between research and practice, between faculty and administration, between campus and community, and between post-secondary institutions, for example.

Through a series of workshops held in late-2015 and early-2016, a steering committee comprised of students, faculty, staff and administration co-created a draft MRU Changemaker Roadmap to help achieve this shared goal. This draft roadmap was shared at a campus-wide open house in February 2016 at which attendees were invited to provide further input and feedback. Although the roadmap would be a living document, the first iteration was completed in Spring 2016.