Photo by Jeff Luo
U of Winnipeg’s Brian Stevenson chosen to replace Gilbert in August
Stacey Goyan
News Editor
On February 10th, the Lakehead community and curious members of the media filled the senate chambers to see what the “top secret” announcement would be from the board of governors.
The Lakehead University Office of Communications sent out a mass email regarding a special announcement from the chair of the Board of Governors. Many speculated that the announcement would reveal the identity of the new Lakehead president.
When 52-year-old Dr. Brian Stevenson made his grand entrance with his wife and two daughters, they were proven correct.
Stevenson, who is the current provost and vice president academic at the University of Winnipeg, will take the reigns from the retiring Dr. Fred Gilbert in August.
Stevenson was introduced with warm comments from current president, Dr. Fred Gilbert, as well as Board of Governors chair Kevin Cleghorn who discussed the process of the presidential search.
“We’re filling big skates,” said Cleghorn to the crowd gathered.
The search was initiated a year ago after current president Dr. Fred Gilbert announced his retirement.
A 13-member presidential search committee was struck, which included students, faculty, and administration.
“An open public process was the favourite approach of the search committee,” said Cleghorn. However, in November it was announced that the search would be done privately on the advice of Laverne Smith & Associates Inc., the company selected to assist in the search.
“The search committee agreed that it would be a great disservice to Lakehead University stakeholders to insist on a public audition of several candidates if it meant that very good candidates concerned about their career and status in their current roles would simply not come forward.”
Cleghorn stated that Stevenson was the unanimous choice of the Board of Governors. As well, he also noted that Stevenson fit the candidate profile developed through input from the university community.
Stevenson then took the podium to address the Lakehead community. While he admitted a lack of knowledge of Thunder Bay, he said consultation will be his main approach.
Following the announcement, a town-hall meeting was held where Stevenson outlined his ideas for Lakehead and took questions from those in attendance.
During interviews with media, Stevenson admitted that balancing fiscal sustainability and the quality of academics will be his major challenge.
Stevenson noted taking an aggressive approach to sustainability at University of Winnipeg. During his time there, bottled water was banned on campus and replaced with water stations throughout campus.
Stevenson acknowledged that the potential for a law school made Lakehead University very attractive. “I’m going to pursue it with every ounce of energy that I have,” said Stevenson.
Stevenson also noted that he would be willing to re-open discussion regarding wireless internet on campus. The issue of WiFi at Lakehead received international attention and criticism after Gilbert banned it citing potential health implications.
The soon-to-be president also remarked on the importance of politicizing students. Stevenson, who has an extensive background in political science and public policy, has a resume which includes student politics, work with the Canadian Federation of Students, and work with a federal minister.
“I believe the students should be very active, and should always be supporting the university as a community and getting involved and engaging the issues of the day.”
With anxieties still lingering over the strategic plan, which narrowly passed vote in November, Stevenson says he’s willing to seek input on how it is put into action.
“Well I think the strategic plan has a lot of wonderful elements. I just finished the academic plan at the University of Winnipeg and there are a lot of similarities between the two programs. I am also going to engage in a consultative on the implementation of the strategic plan starting in August when I arrive.”