I’m delighted to be writing my first message of 2018 as it is already shaping up to be an exciting year for the CAP and our members. On April 21st, our Board of Directors is holding a strategic retreat to begin working on our 2019-2024 Strategic Plan to guide our organization over the next five-years. We’ll be consulting extensively with our membership to ensure we’re setting goals that will benefit you and the Association. Highlights of our next Strategic Plan will be presented during the 2018 Annual General Meeting in Halifax.
If you’re looking for ways to get more actively involved in the CAP’s future direction, I encourage you to consider putting your name forward for one of our vacant Council positions. A list of vacancies and nomination forms can be found on the CAP website. You can also reach out to our portfolio directors for opportunities to become more engaged. Our directors are always looking for committee members and volunteers to help with various projects.
This year we’re stepping up our efforts to expand our membership and representation. In addition to recruiting new individual members, the CAP is focused on expanding our institutional and corporate membership. I invite you to submit names and contact information for any organization you think should be affiliated with the CAP so we can reach out to them about membership opportunities.
The first annual International Day of Light (IDL) will take place May 16, 2018. This global initiative provides an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy. As Canada’s central Day of Light point of contact, we will be hosting the official Canadian Day of Light website and will be sending a student representative to Paris, France to help out at the official UNESCO IDL launch. More details will follow in the coming months.
Lastly, we continue to work on the planned changes to improve the Governance of the CAP to meet the needs of all of our members. As you know, the Board has approved the establishment of a Student Council which will report directly to the Board, and have restructured the CAP Advisory Council to have a Chair elected from and by the members of the Council to improve/expand the functionality of this group as an Advisory body to the CAP Board of Directors. If you have any questions about these changes please contact us. Your feedback helps make us better!
Stephen Pistorius, Ph.D., P.Phys.