Noel Burke, Dean of the School of Extended Learning, announces, with regret, the retirement of Lance Evoy who will be leaving his position as Director of the Institute for Community Development as of May 31, 2010.
A community organizer, popular educator, and committed social justice activist, Lance Evoy was invited to join Concordia University and establish the Institute for Community Development in 1993. Lance had long envisioned the creation of an Institute which would connect university and community actors and resources, and would support the building of democratic community structures by providing innovative programming that responded to issues of social and economic justice facing local communities.
Lance’s leadership and vision were soon put to work in the creation of the Summer Program in Community Development, which over its 15 years, brought upwards of 12,000 citizens, community workers and activists, from around the world, to the Loyola Campus for an annual week of training and reflection. He played a key role in the development of the Graduate Diploma in Community Economic Development, in collaboration with the School of Community and Public Affairs where it is now housed. Lance has also been a driving force in bringing to Concordia renown thinkers and community activists, resulting in the creation of a number of community-based initiatives and programs such as the popular University of the Streets Café.
Over his 17 years at Concordia University, and his 40-plus years as an activist, Lance has worked untiringly to foster collaboration and understanding between and within both the university and the broader community sector. He has embodied in an authentic and very concrete way Concordia’s values of citizen engagement and social responsibility.
On behalf of the School of Extended Learning, the Concordia community, and the thousands of citizens and community organizations who have benefited from programs he has helped create, Dean Burke would like to thank Lance Evoy for his years of outstanding service to Concordia University and the Montreal community, and wish him a satisfying retirement and much success in the many projects he will surely be undertaking in the coming years.
Posted on October 30, 2009
