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Algoma U presidential search attracts 30 expressions of interest

Phelps Group, the Toronto-based executive search firm that’s helping Algoma University look for its 11th president, has contacted more than 400 potential candidates across Canada and the United States.

Phelps Group, the Toronto-based executive search firm that’s helping Algoma University look for its 11th president, has contacted more than 400 potential candidates across Canada and the United States.

Armando Plastino, chair of the university’s board of governors, said at a board meeting last night that the initial prospects were identified through advertising and Phelps’ own extensive contacts.

A teleconference took place this week, linking the search firm with Algoma U’s search committee.

Close to 30 expressions of interest have been received, Plastino said, although the Sault’s location in Northern Ontario and compensation are seen as challenges to the recruitment drive.

Phelps will present a long list to the search committee on December 11, complete with candidate names and profiles.

The search committee will narrow that to a short list of seven or eight candidates and interviews will start in the new year.

Phelps’ recruitment ads for the position state that all qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, priority will be extended to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Some criteria mentioned in the ads hint that the university may also be interested in hiring from within this time.

“The position’s responsibilities will require a comprehensive understanding of the university’s history, its unique covenant with Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig, its many stakeholder relationships and partnerships in Sault Ste. Marie and across Ontario, as well as its organizational culture,” the advertisements state.

“He/she will champion the success of Anishinaabe and other First Nations students in Ontario and across Canada, and will have enjoyed successful working relationships with First Nations people in previous positions, possessing an intimate knowledge and understanding of their cultures, beliefs and history.”

The current president, Dr. Richard Myers, served notice on May 20 that he will not seek renewal of his five-year term, which will end in June, 2015.  

The university’s draft audited financial statements for 2013-2014 were presented to the board last night but were shunted into a closed meeting after pointed questions were asked about a $541,000 liability incurred in a human resources-related matter.

Sean Dwyer, Algoma U’s vice president for finance and administration, said that the liability related to a vice president for academic and research who no longer works at the university.

The matter was disclosed last night in a note to the draft financial statements.

Rose Linklater, who represents support staff on the board of governors, expressed concern that it was the first she had heard of the half-million-dollar expenditure: it had never been brought to the attention of the board of governors or its executive committee, she said.

In May of this year, the Algoma University Senate met behind closed doors to discuss whether the vice president for academic and research was performing the duties and responsibilities of his position, moving that a secret vote of nonconfidence be held.

In other news, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association is interested in transforming Algoma University’s Shingwauk Auditorium into a national-level archival center to educate the public about the history of the former residential school.

A theatre would operate within the auditorium, which would be remodeled to depict the experience and memories of residential school survivors.

The Algoma University board of governors has agreed to look further into the idea.


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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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