Vianne Timmons
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Slide - 50 Voices, 50 Years Vianne Timmons - 00:00 So my name is Vianne Timmons and I worked at the University of Prince Edward Island, I went there in 1996 and left in 2008. I served as first female Dean of Education at the University and the first female Vice President Academic Development at the University of Prince Edward Island. Slide - Mentors, Colleagues, and Friends - 00:26 So I was hired by President Epperly, Betsy Epperly, and it was as a young woman, an exciting time for me because we had the first female president of the University at the same time the Deputy Minister of Higher Education was a female, the Minister of Higher Ed was a female and the Premier of the province was a female, so I felt like I walked into such a welcoming environment. I worked with President Epperly for three years, she was an amazing mentor to me, I have just fond memories of the work I did and the advice she gave me, she really helped me develop leadership skills, she helped me approach things in a calm, rational manner because I get a little but enthusiastic at times, so she was fabulous. Wade MacLauchlan became the President after her and Wade was also, I worked with him for seven years as his Vice President of Academic Development, he was also fabulous. Wade, my husband said about Wade, my husband Stuart said how can you not like a man who hugs himself when he laughs? Wade had the best laugh and he had so much energy, enthusiasm and love for the University that you had to ride along with Wade. Wade was a visionary and it was a very exciting time working with Wade over those seven years. I also had the privilege of working with many other people, many Deans and what comes to mind is the Vice President of Administration Gary Bradshaw, who recently passed away, was a great colleague and friend and is so dearly missed. Slide - Challenges of Being Dean - 02:10 So my time at the University of Prince Edward Island was so exciting, it was a time of growth and development at the same time we experienced budget cutbacks. So my first year, I was told we would have over three years, ten percent cutback in our operating budget and as a new Dean that was pretty terrifying but we decided as a Faculty, that we were going to seize this as an opportunity, so we developed a two year post BEd degree program and phased out the four year BEd program. We also brought in the very first Master’s program at the University of Prince Edward Island, and I was really excited about that because I saw after that Master’s programs growing in other areas, so we were really the pioneer Faculty for Graduate programming at the University. Slide - Faculty of Education - 03:02 What I loved about the Faculty of Education at the University is the family approach we had, the Faculty were very close, we worked really closely together, I can remember we were doing curriculum revision and we locked ourselves in a classroom and made the determination we weren’t going to leave until we had completed it and it was 9:30 at night when we finally finished. There was a real commitment to students in that Faculty when I was Dean and also an opening and excitement about looking at new programming, we developed a Master’s in Education under Fiona O'Donoghue, she was the lead on that in Nunavut. I taught up in Fort McMurray because we put programs there and in Grand Prairies so it was a real entrepreneur spirit in the Faculty. I loved working there as a Dean. Slide - Research: Family Literacy - 3:59 So I also had opportunity to get involved in research, so I was the lead investigator on CIHR grant and SSHRC grant and was able to work in the area of Family Literacy and also worked with First Nations communities in Prince Edward Island, all over Atlantic Canada in the area of Family Literacy. The project I worked with specifically with colleagues from Nursing and other programs at the University was looking at hildren’s perceptions of health in Mi’kmaq communities and I was, that was a really fun project, I got to work with great researchers like Jennifer Taylor and Barb Campbell and Kim Critchley and we really had a lot of fun and worked very, very hard through that so I’m only naming a few but there were a lot of others involved in those projects, they were again exciting times for us. Slide - Being the UPEI Registrar - 04:59 I also had the experience of being the Registrar twice, while I was Vice President of Academic Development we had some change in personnel and that gave me a very intimate view of how a university admissions runs and a number of other things. I was able to be the Registrar when my daughter graduated from the University so that was a lot of fun, I was on the stage and able to pass that degree over so in a small university you do, you have to be nimble, you have to be quick, you have to step up and step in when you are asked to do so and that’s one of the benefits of being at UPEI. Slide - Internationalization: Ahead of the Curve - 05:41 So when I was a Dean of the Faculty of Education one of the things we did is a specialization in International Education, I remember I said we were very entrepreneurial that was another opportunity we brought for the students, so students could do their practicums in placements all over the world and I realized then the importance of internationalization and became a big advocate. I was, as Vice President of Academic Development, we set up the first Office of Internationalization and first recruiter for international students and we started the whole focus and programming on internationalization and the University embraced it, they were wonderful in supporting this and we had very little funds at the time, so this was a real experiment. Internationalization wasn’t as vogue as it is today and then we were a little bit ahead of the curve on that and I’m really, when I look at the numbers noe, I think there are over twenty percent of international students at UPEI, I’m so excited and I think about those days when were going after one, two, three, four, five students and how that built up over the years. Slide - A Strong Foundation - 06:50 So everything I learned at the University of Prince Edward Island helped in the role as President of the University of Regina. It has, I’m so glad I had those experiences to be Dean, Registrar, Vice President of Academic Development, all of those roles helped me. I had deep understanding of the University and how a university functions, working so closely with the Presidents was a gift that I had so I think it was a fabulous foundation that helped me come to this Institution I am at now the University of Regina and tired and instill same kind of warmth and family nature to the Institution and yet be entrepreneurial and look at opportunities to diversify and grow and so you know I was able to centralize internationalization efforts here when I came and so much of what I learned through failure and successes at UPEI, all of that was a foundation of my experiences here at University of Regina. Slide - Final Thoughts - 07:54 So as Dean of Education I knew we could be an exceptional Education program and I’m proud to say that we are, we were and as Vice President of Academic Development I had hoped the internationalization was one of my dreams that we would do very well in that area and I, myself and other were a part of the start of that but really the University ran with it so well, I also remember what you talk about, things you have to do at a small university as a Vice President of Academic Development, I had also had Athletics report to me so you know I had a vision of having a Kinesiology department to help build up that program and again it’s there now today so the University has done so well it’s grown, it is a fabulous Institution but the most significant thing about UPEI is it’s family. I still when I go back to PEI when I’m walking down the street people will yell out to me Vianne welcome home, that’s how I feel when I step on the campus, that’s how I feel when I step into Chalrottetown, that’s how I feel when I step on the Island, I feel like I’m welcomed home.