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LEO GROARKE
9780 Riverside Dr.
Windsor, ON, CANADA N8P 1A1
519 253 3000, x5001
October 14, 2013
EDUCATION
1982 / Ph. D. in Philosophy (University of Western Ontario)1977 / M.A. in Philosophy (University of Calgary)
1975 / B.A. Honours in Philosophy (University of Calgary)
employment history
2010- / University of Windsor / Professor of Philosophy; Provost & Vice-President, Academic2009-2010 / Wilfrid Laurier University / Principal & Vice-President, Brantford Campus:
2008-9 / Provost & Vice-President, Academic (Acting)
2001-6, renewed 2006-9 / Dean, Brantford Campus
2000-1 / Acting Dean, Brantford Campus
1999-2000 / Assistant Dean (Program Development), Faculty of Arts & Science/ Arts
1994-97 / Chair, Philosophy Department
1993-2010 / Full Professor, Department of Philosophy
1993-2010 / Adjunct Professor, Religion & Culture M.A. Program
1988-93 / Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
1991-93 / Cognate Faculty, English M.A. Program in Gender and Genre
1989-93 / Adjunct Faculty, Religion & Culture M.A. Program
1983-88 / Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
1991 / Université canadienne en France, Nice: Instructor
AWARDS and recognition
2014 OPUS (University of Windsor Organization of Part-time University Students) Winner of the “Friend of Students” Award
2012- / Fellow, Centre for Research on Reasoning, Argumentation and Rhetoric (University of Windsor)1995- / Listed in Canadian Who's Who (University of Toronto Press)
2010- / Honourary Member, Golden Key Society
2013 / Reinventing Brantford, short-listed for Ontario Speaker’s Book Award
2011 / Reinventing Brantford, Canadian Interviews Best Non- Fiction Books 2011 List
2008 / Organizational Leadership Student Association Certificate of Recognition
2006 / Ontario Volunteer Award (Grand River Valley Education Society)
2004 / Wilfrid Laurier University Student Union Academic Award of Excellence
1989-90, 1996-7, 1998-9 / Wilfrid Laurier University Merit Award
1997-8 / Northrop Frye Fellow, Victoria University (University of Toronto)
1990 / Visiting Fellow, Calgary Institute for the Humanities, University of Calgary
1979-81 / Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship (University of Western Ontario)
1979-81 / Ontario Graduate Scholarships (declined)
1978-9 / Finnish Government Scholarship (for study University of Helsinki)
1972-3 / Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (Alberta Government)
institutional leadership: major administrative roles
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I Provost and Vice-President, Academic, University of Windsor
Overview
I arrived at the University of Windsor in the spring of 2010. One of the first issues I addressed was recruitment, admissions and enrolment management. I conducted an initial review with my Associate Vice-President, Academic. Next I brought in two external experts (Arthur Stephen, a former Vice-President at Laurier, and Ken Steele of Academica) to conduct a second review. I organized a third review with internal stakeholders to gain support for the restructuring of admissions and recruitment.
Major changes in this area include the establishment of a new reporting structure with the appointment of an Assistant Vice-President, Records & Admissions; the amalgamation of our recruitment and admissions operations; an ongoing review of scholarship funding; an overhaul of international recruitment; the creation of a new International Student Centre, and the building of a Welcome Centre expected to open in 2015.
Operationally, I have established a systematic approach to enrolment and recruitment. It begins with targets sets with deans of the faculties in the fall (in part set to match budget targets); extensive research on the results of the previous year; and very directed, monitored plans for recruitment in three areas: domestic undergraduate; international admissions; and graduate enrolment.
This took place within a new approach to resource allocation I introduced (“activity-based budgeting”). It creates a less ad hoc approach to budgets which encourages faculty and departmental initiative and decision making within an accountable framework; ensures that annual accounting presents an honest, accurate and transparent picture of the University’s finances (where and how resources are generated and costs incurred); and provides clear fiscal incentives that supports those doing what the University needs to manage its budget issues in the best way possible.
A key component of this approach has been a Strategic Priority Fund (between $1.5 and $2 million per year) which I managed. It is designed to support new initiatives and has become a major vehicle for positive change within the University.
Other Key Initiatives
· Streamlining institutional procedures and reducing bureaucracy. This included the restructuring of the Provost’s Office to give it a flatter, leaner, and more agile organizational structure (creating a more efficient office with two less positions); simplifying faculty relations procedures; reconfiguring program approval; reworking equity and hiring guidelines with the Office of Equity, Human Rights and Accessibility; streamlining international student admissions; reconfiguring GA/TA resource allocation practices; and reconceptualizing academic integrity processes.
· Reorganizing key components of the University: including key research areas, Information Technology Services, an interdisciplinary studies unit, and – in fractious circumstances – our schools of visual arts and music to make our downtown developments possible.
· Chairing a committee the “Downtown Steering Committee” for two major downtown projects.
· Overseeing, with the support of others, new quality assurance procedures in keeping with provincial changes.
· Developing a number of key teaching and learning initiatives: including an Office of Open Learning, Teaching Leadership Chairs, a Provost’s Committee on Teaching and Learning; and a major forum on the future of university teaching.
· Trips to China and India to establish international partnerships.
· Searches for eight decanal positions (Engineering, Nursing, Business, Law, Human Kinetics, Science, Graduate Studies, Arts and Social Sciences) and a new Executive Director of Information Technology Services.
· Strategic leadership in the development of new curriculum and research initiatives at the University.
Committee and Procedural Responsibilities
· As Provost I was a member of: the Senate; Senate Steering Committee; Program Development Committee;
Resource Allocations Committee; Joint Coordinating Committee (with Administration and the Windsor University Faculty Association); and the Search Committee for the new Vice-President, Research. I attend all Board of Governors meetings ex officio.
· I chaired the search and renewal committees for senior administrative positions in my area (including Associate Vice-President, Academic; the Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning; the Executive Director, Information Technology Services; and numerous decanal searches), Deans’ Council, the University Space Planning Committee, the Downtown Steering Committee (managing the development of the University’s Downtown Campus), the Strategic Priority Fund Adjudication Committee, and the Provost’s Budget Committee.
· I approved all major program proposals, academic appointments (tenure and promotion reviews are chaired by my Associate Vice-President, Academic, with recommendations coming to me), faculty budgets, and faculty strategic plans.
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II Dean/Principal, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford Campus:
Overview
From 2000-2010, I was the senior administrator of a new university campus in Brantford. When I arrived in 2000 the campus was struggling. In the wake of a very difficult first year, the University was considering the closure of the campus. I and a very dedicated team managed to turn the campus around.
By 2010, enrolment had increased from 40 to 2200 full-time students, with an enrolment of over 3000 students by 2015. First-year applications during my tenure rose from 60 to almost 4200. During many of these years, Brantford experienced the largest percentage increase in applications in Ontario. During this time the campus expanded to include thirteen additional buildings, including academic facilities, unique heritage residences, athletic facilities, a Student Centre, a bookstore, and food services. Within a few years of my arrival, the campus became a revenue generator for the University. Drawing on relationships I developed with the Mayor’s office, City Council, local businesses, non-profits and other interest groups (and with the support of the President), Laurier Brantford became a campus that transformed an impoverished downtown into an official “University Precinct”: a regional centre for educational and cultural activities and a national model for comparable initiatives.
Key Initiatives
• Introducing a complex series of organizational changes required as Brantford evolved from a campus of five to more than one hundred full-time employees.
• Establishing and sustaining a secure partnership with the City of Brantford which continues to provide a basis for the University’s work in Brantford.
• Raising, without an alumni base, some $25 million for campus development from major donors and a broad base of individuals in the community; corporations; and local government.
• Establishing business plans to fund $20 million in capital projects.
• Successfully securing $27 million in provincial and federal capital funding, out of an approximate $72 million (total) raised for capital projects.
• Orchestrating the introduction of Arts, Social Science and Science programming, including a range of innovative interdisciplinary programs.
• Securing and establishing strong partnerships with Nipissing University, Mohawk College, and Conestoga College.
• Negotiating 20-30 articulation agreements with colleges.
• Successfully working with the Students’ Union on a variety of important issues (program development, the establishment of a student service at Brantford, the building of the Student Centre, the introduction of a number of ancillary fees for Brantford, the restructuring of Student Services).
• Developing an ongoing relationship with the Six Nations and New Credit reserves; establishing an aboriginal Student Services advisor, an aboriginal lounge, and spearheading aboriginal initiatives for the University; and
• Overseeing the development of a comprehensive set of student services, including the writing centre, learning services, health services, residence life, athletics and recreation, aboriginal services, career and personal counselling, and judicial affairs.
Committee and Procedural Responsibilities:
I chaired the Brantford Campus Curriculum Committee, Merit Committee, Admission Committee, the Brantford Divisional Council, and the institution-wide Undergraduate Scholarship and Bursary Committee.
I served on numerous governance and senior executive committees including the Senate’s Executive, Finance, Promotion, Student Appeals, and Bylaws and Regulations Committees; the Executive and Governance and Property Committees of the Board, and the President’s Group; as well as search committees for the President , the Director of Financial Services, the Vice-President Academic and the Assistant Vice-President Student Services/Dean of Students; and selection committees such as the University Award for Teaching Excellence and Grants Committees.
I approved and reviewed all major requests and decisions in all areas of the campus’ operations (academic matters, student services, residences, athletics and recreation, fundraising and development, government relations, etc.).
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III Acting Provost, Wilfrid Laurier University
Overview
During the 2008-9 academic year I was seconded from my position in Brantford to serve as Acting Provost/Vice-President Academic. This was a position I accepted to deepen my understanding of university administration.
Key Initiatives
• Streamlining institutional procedures and reducing bureaucratic waste, for example by reducing the number of direct reports to the Provost (from 25 to 14); building a new organizational structure that made that possible.
• Re-organizing the management of union contracts for full- and part-time faculty; planning for a multi-campus structure at Laurier.
• Re-positioning the office to emphasize its leadership role.
• Restructuring Information Technology Services.
• Redefining the role of the Deans in development.
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OTHER LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS
Labour Relations
At Windsor and previously at Laurier, I have been responsible for managing faculty labour relations. This has included setting policy; managing important issues at the individual and institutional level; and issues of leave (medical or academic), grievance, arbitration, human rights, equity, discipline, and remuneration. In 2002 and 2005 I served as the Chief Negotiator for Wilfrid Laurier University in collective bargaining with the Faculty Association, (successfully negotiating the 2002-5 and 2005-8 Collective Agreements). As they arise, I have successfully dealt with the many complex issues involved in the management of labour relations at post-secondary institutions.
Government Relations
At Windsor my role was primarily internal, though I worked with the Ministry and the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario on compliance issues and on operational matters (such as, for example, successfully lobbying the government to change the BIU weighting for our Movement Science program). I supported the President in his dealings with the government.
At Brantford I was actively engaged in the external representation of the campus to local and provincial governments. This included meetings with all the Ministers who held office during my tenure and extensive work with local politicians and the community. Political lobbying was one of the prime ways in which we achieved provincial funding for the campus, both for students and, ultimately, for capital projects.
Curriculum and Program Development
Program development has been a key component of my administrative career. During my career, I have made significant contributions to the establishment of many successful graduate and undergraduate programs. My role has included conceptualizing and/or designing programs; mentoring others who have wanted to do so; establishing and sustaining inter-institutional agreements to make them possible; planning or adjustment to ensure the financial viability of new programs; the piloting of proposals through institutional political challenges; and the fostering of an institutional culture that welcomes and supports new curriculum initiatives. Some of my priorities have been the development of interdisciplinary programming, the integration of liberal arts and professional programming, experiential learning, and college/university partnerships.
New programs I have built or provided significant support for include:
• Bachelor of Arts. English (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Contemporary Studies (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Leadership (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Journalism (minor, major, honours; with certificates from Conestoga or Mohawk College)
• Bachelor of Arts. Health Studies (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Health Administration (honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Human Rights and Diversity (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Human Rights and Diversity with Human Resources Management (with certificate from Mohawk)
• Bachelor of Arts. Psychology (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Youth and Child Studies (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Criminology (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Law and Society (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. History (minor, major, honours)
• Bachelor of Arts. Digital Journalism
• Bachelor of Arts. Engineering (development ongoing)