WestVAC / WestVPR Conference March 6-7, 2014 Inn at Laurel Point, Victoria B.C .
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Mr. Stephen Mandel , Former Mayor, City of Edmonton
Session #1 – PSE in Time of Austerity: An Alberta Perspective 9:00am Thursday, March 6, 2014
Stephen Mandel led the City of Edmonton as Mayor for nine years since being first elected to the role in October 2004. As an accomplished businessman, he brought 30 years of private sector experience to City Hall.
Stephen is known for being a strong advocate for Alberta municipalities, ensuring they receive a fair share of funding to pay for vital infrastructure and community services in a rapidly growing community.
His bold vision to improve the integration of services in the Edmonton region encouraged the Province to create a new governance body responsible for building a more effective regional plan, which has marked a new era of cooperation and growth.
Stephen is a strong advocate and voice for the most vulnerable in society, including low-income families, seniors, newcomers and the homeless. His passion for people was the driving force behind several major initiatives including Edmonton's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities, and the Africa Centre.
Stephen has been a supporter of the arts which he believes are a critical factor in the confidence and character of a city. He also committed to preserving Edmonton's reputation as a global environmental leader, stewarding green and sustainable initiatives.
He has been married to wife Lynn for 40 years. They have two grown children and one grandchild.
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 1
Dr. Thomas Chase , Provost and Vice-President (Academic), University of Regina
Session #2 – Challenges and Opportunities of On-line Learning 11:00am Thursday, March 6, 2014
Dr. Thomas Chase assumed the role of Provost and Vice-President (Academic) on 1 July 2011.
He holds a PhD from the University of Glasgow (Scotland), where he held a doctoral fellowship in the Department of English Language . His research centered on theories of hyponymy and their application to the semantic classification of large samples of the English lexis, and is included in The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary , which was published in 2009 by Oxford University Press.
He became Provost at Regina after having served from 2009-2011 as Vice-President (Academic) and Provost at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. At Royal Roads he was centrally involved in developing the University's new Strategic Direction, the reorganization of its academic administrative structure, and the renewal of many of the University's academic programs.
Prior to his work at Royal Roads, Thomas Chase held a series of academic and administrative appointments at the University of Regina. These include the positions of Co-ordinator of the Linguistics Program, founding Director of the Centre for Academic Technologies, Associate Dean (Research and Graduate) of the Faculty of Arts and, for four years, Dean of the Faculty of Arts. In 2008, President Vianne Timmons named him to lead the team responsible for preparing the University of Regina's new strategic plan, mâmawohkamâtowin: Our Work, Our People, Our Communities (360KB) . He also served concurrently on the management team responsible for bargaining a new collective agreement with the Faculty Association. His academic appointment is in the Department of English.
Holder of the licentiate diploma in organ performance from Trinity College (London), Dr Chase also works on French organ literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing especially on the music of Marcel Dupré. He has performed and lectured widely, including appearances in Vancouver, Quebec City, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, Sao Paulo, Brazil and, most recently, Newark, New Jersey. In summer 2014, he will be speaking on Dupré's contested legacy at the national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Boston. In 2004, the Royal Canadian College of Organists awarded him the diploma of Fellow, honoris causa, in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to organ music as performer, scholar, and visionary."
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 2
Mr. Brian Stewart , Executive Program Director, University of Alberta
Session #2 – Challenges and Opportunities of On-line Learning 11:00am Thursday, March 6, 2014
Brian Stewart is the Executive Program Director of the Campus Alberta Unified Services initiative at the University of Alberta. He was formerly the Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Athabasca University, where his role was to provide strategic leadership to the application of IT to all the University’s activities. Throughout his career Brian has successfully applied technology to improve strategic and market position through organisational performance and operational and administrative effectiveness. He has many sector affiliations and is currently a Director and advisor to several innovative and IT related initiatives. Brian has also published and presented on elearning, IT cost management, strategic IT planning and the use of IT in higher education. He holds an MA in Economics from the University College Cork (Ireland) and an MBA from Athabasca University.
Qwul’sih’yah’maht (Dr. Robina Thomas), Associate Professor, School of Social Work/Co- Chair First People’s House, University of Victoria
Acknowledgement of the Territory 1:30pm Thursday, March 6, 2014
Qwul’sih’yah’maht (Dr. Robina Thomas) is Lyackson of the Coast Salish Nation. Robina is committed to Indigenous education and her research interests include Storytelling, Residential Schools, child welfare, Indigenous women and traditional Hul’qumi’num teachings such as Uy’skwuluwun - to be of a good spirit and mind. She is committed to understanding anti-racism and anti–oppression/colonialism and how these can be lived.
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 3
Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst , NSERC Prairie Chair for Women in Science and Engineering and Professor, Soil Science, University of Manitoba
Session #3 – Embracing Opportunities: Building Partnerships with Aboriginal Communities 1:30pm Thursday, March 6, 2014
Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst is Professor of Soil Science, University of Manitoba and the NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for the Prairies. She was recently awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her leadership in research on pesticide fate in soil and water, her contributions to community-based research in rural communities of Central America, and for her role in mentoring women in science. She is the principal investigator for the $3 million, 6 year CREATE H2O program, a research-training partnership between universities and First Nations communities, with support from First Nations organizations, industry and non-for-profit stakeholders. Dr. Farenhorst received a 2013 University of Manitoba outreach award for building strong partnerships with First Nation communities, including with Sapotaweyak Cree Nation to train youth on water issues.
Dr. Linc Kesler , Director and Senior Advisor to the President on Aboriginal Affairs, University of British Columbia
Session #3 – Embracing Opportunities: Building Partnerships with Aboriginal Communities 1:30pm Thursday, March 6, 2014
Linc Kesler is Associate Professor of First Nations Studies and English at the University of British Columbia and currently the Director of the First Nations House of Learning, a strategic planning and coordinating unit for Aboriginal initiatives across the university. He is also Senior Advisor to the UBC President on Aboriginal Affairs. After twenty years of teaching early modern English, American Indian, and American minority literature and working on American minority initiatives in the US, he came to UBC to be the initial Director of the First Nations Studies Program in the Arts Faculty and was Director and then Chair until 2012. Beginning in 2007, he was co-chair of a succession of committees resulting in the formation of the UBC Aboriginal Strategic Plan, and in his current role coordinates its implementation. Linc's personal work is on the relationship of communications technology to constructions of knowledge in the contexts of both Indigenous and early modern studies, and has been particularly interested in the relationship between electronic technology and Indigenous communities. His Indigenous ancestry is Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 4
Dr. Catherine A. Mateer , Associate Vice-President, Academic Planning, University of Victoria
Session #3 – Embracing Opportunities: Building Partnerships with Aboriginal Communities 1:30pm Thursday, March 6, 2014
Catherine A. Mateer was appointed Associate Vice-President Academic Planning at the University of Victoria in 2006 and reappointed to this position in 2011. She is responsible for academic and enrolment planning, academic program quality, new program development and approval, and inter-institutional relationships. She also has responsibility for the Office of Co- operative Education and Career Services, the Teaching and Learning Centre, and Co-Chairs the Academic Advisory Council of CanAssist. Dr. Mateer is a Registered Psychologist and board- certified clinical neuropsychologist. She has a BA and an MSc from the University of Wisconsin, a PhD from the University of Western Ontario, and post-doctoral training at the University of Washington. She was appointed as a Professor in the Department of Psychology in 1994, is well known internationally, and has received many awards for her contributions to the field of cognitive neurorehabilitation.
Dr. Carl Amrhein , Provost and Vice-President (Academic), University of Alberta
Session #4 – When Worlds Collide: Academic Innovation and Budget Management 3:30pm Thursday, March 6, 2014
Dr. Amrhein is in his third term as Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at the University of Alberta. Dr. Amrhein came to the University of Alberta in 2003 following his 17 years at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Amrhein holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography from Pennsylvania State University (1978) and a Ph.D. in Geography from State University of New York at Buffalo (1984) with research interest in economic geography, labour markets, decision theory, migration, and quantitative methods.
Dr. Amrhein currently is a member of Fulbright Canada: Foundation for Educational Exchange Between Canada and the United States of America; National Statistics Council: Statistics Canada; and director for the German-Canadian Centre for Innovation and Research.
Dr. Amrhein served as Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, Haidian, Beijing, China, during October, 2011. Since 2013 he has been serving as Visiting Executive, Conference Board of Canada.
Dr. Amrhein was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany in 2011
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 5
Mr. Bill Balan , Vice-President (Finance & Administration, Chief Administrative Officer), University of Winnipeg
Session #4 – When Worlds Collide: Academic Innovation and Budget Management 3:30pm Thursday, March 6, 2014
In 2006, Bill accepted the position of Vice President Finance and Administration at the University of Winnipeg.
Previously, Bill served 30 years with the Canadian Federal Public Service, of which 20 years were spent as the Senior Regional Manager in the Departments of Canadian Heritage, Communications and Secretary of State.
Bill’s career in the Canadian Federal Public Service began in 1978 in the Manitoba Regional Office of the Department of Secretary of State. In 1993 he became the Regional Executive Director for Canadian Heritage in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, NWT and Nunavut, which also included managing Parks Canada and Sports Canada operations in the region.
During his 30 years with the Canadian Government he has had extensive dealings with a wide range of issues concerning Canada’s minority groups relating to aboriginal and heritage languages and cultures Official Languages and the integration of new immigrants into Canadian society. He managed specific initiatives including the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg for Sport Canada, the creation of 2 new National Parks and 3 new Heritage Sites for Parks Canada and the development of a national digital Grants and Contributions Tracking and Management System for the entire department.
Currently Bill is the Vice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Administrative Officer at the University of Winnipeg, a liberal arts University with over 11,000 full-time and part-time learners. Over the past 8 years, the University has experienced significant growth, especially from the Aboriginal and new Immigrant communities in Manitoba. His responsibilities include a wide range of corporate, technical and facilities management services essential in the operations of the University.
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 6
Dr. Brett Fairbairn , Provost and Vice-President (Academic), University of Saskatchewan
Session #5 – Program Prioritization 8:30am Friday, March 7, 2014
As Provost and Vice-President Academic at the University of Saskatchewan since 2008, Brett is responsible for strategic planning, budgeting, academic processes, and appointments for a university of 20,000 students and 7,000 staff.
A historian by training, Brett characterizes his research as interdisciplinary social science and history. His work focuses on governance and innovation in organizations; membership and organizational identity; and history of co-operatives and democratic movements in Germany, Canada, and other countries. He has more than one hundred publications including both peer- reviewed and public contributions.
Brett has been a recipient of a Rhodes scholarship, an Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship, and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal for public service. He has been a faculty member at U of S since 1986 and has been chair of Faculty Bargaining Services since 2011.
Dr. Maureen Mancuso , Provost and Vice-President (Academic), University of Guelph
Session #5 – Program Prioritization 8:30am Friday, March 7, 2014
Maureen Mancuso is Provost and Vice-President Academic, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Guelph. A graduate of McMaster University (BA), Carleton University (MA) and Nuffield College, Oxford (DPhil), her primary research interests include political ethics and political corruption, comparative institutions, political leadership, and American politics. She has served as a consultant to the Canadian House of Commons on legislative codes of conduct and conflict of interest, and provided commentary in local and national media. She is the author of a number of scholarly articles and books including The Ethical World of British MPs and A Question of Ethics: Canadians Speak Out.
As Provost she holds broad responsibility for the academic enterprise at Guelph and while continuing to teach regular graduate and undergraduate courses, has led university-wide efforts to re-examine the undergraduate learning experience and to address the challenges of accessibility to post-secondary education.
Most recently, Maureen was named the new volunteer president and CEO of Teaching and Learning Canada, was named a 2011 3M National Teaching Fellow and was selected as a Guelph YWCA Woman of Distinction in 2010.
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 7
Dr. Leo Groarke , Provost and Vice-President (Academic), University of Windsor
Session #5 – Program Prioritization 8:30am Friday, March 7, 2014
Leo Groarke , Provost and Vice-President, Academic at the University of Windsor, began his academic career as a student at the University of Calgary, Simon Fraser University, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Western Ontario. He received his Ph.D. in 1982. Before coming to the University of Windsor, he was Professor of Philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he held a number of administrative positions: Chair of the Philosophy Department, Assistant Dean of Arts and Science, Dean of the Brantford Campus, Acting Provost, and Principal/Vice-President of the Brantford Campus. He was appointed Provost/Vice- President Academic at the University of Windsor in 2010.
Dr. Groarke’s areas of research and scholarly interest include ancient philosophy, the history of ideas, social and political philosophy, informal logic and argumentation theory. He has published many articles and books.
WestVAC/VPR 2014 Page 8