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BU staff jobless after switch

Northern education program goes to UCN

By: Nick Martin

Posted: 07/7/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Seven professors and three support staff at Brandon University are out of work after the northern education program officially moved this past weekend to the University College of the North.

The long-awaited move saw the Brandon University northern teacher education program (BUNTEP) shift to the faculty of education at UCN.

"Nobody had to be out of a job," BU vice-president of finance Scott Lamont said. All 10 had the option of changing employers, he said, as did four education professors who chose to leave BU for the UCN faculty as of July 1.

Some of the 10 who were officially unemployed as of last Friday afternoon were old enough to retire and may have done so, Lamont said.

"The real driver was a policy change by the province to do this kind of work through UCN," he said.

BU's faculty association lamented the passing of a program Prof. Bill Paton said had seen professors travelling throughout northern Manitoba for the past 38 years to educate about 650 northern teachers. BUNTEP graduated its last cohort of new teachers at BU's convocation last month.

Advanced Education Minister Erin Selby was not available for comment, but an aide said the switch is a natural transition that should see UCN graduating a significant number of new teachers in spring 2014.

"The education of teachers in the north is a natural fit for UCN," said Selby's aide. "These programs are running out of a variety of communities where students from northern communities can earn a degree or enter the integrated stream to earn their education degrees through UCN close to or in their home community."

BU education professors have long complained they did not want to switch employers, citing allegations of a lack of academic freedom at UCN, where community college programs far outweigh university programs and there is an extra level of governance -- an elders council.

UCN is running a deficit of about $5 million, and there has been considerable turnover in university faculty. Critics have said non-aboriginal faculty have been leaving, along with aboriginal professors who had come to Thompson or The Pas from outside northern Manitoba.

Last week, the UCN governing council chose interim president Konrad Jonasson as permanent president over candidate-search finalist Helen Allen, who had far more academic credentials.

Jonasson said in a recent interview that UCN is looking for aboriginal scholars from the north who understand the north and are committed to staying in northern Manitoba.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Comparing qualifications

A Legacy Bowes consultant's summary of the two finalists for the job of president of University College of the North was provided by a source who asked to remain anonymous. Interim president Konrad Jonasson was chosen over Helen Allen.

Jonasson has three certificates from the former Keewatin Community College, now part of UCN, and is on leave from an MBA program he started at Royal Roads University, but does not have a university degree. He has worked at Keewatin Community College and UCN for 25 years.

"He is committed to growing the number of Regional Centre partnerships UCN has with northern communities and will work with COPSE (Council on Post-secondary Education) to secure additional funding to support expansion," the consultant said.

Allen has a masters in social work and a doctorate in education from McGill University. She grew up in northern Ontario, and has had 24 years in post-secondary teaching and administrative positions, most recently as vice-president of education and student services at Vancouver Community College.

Said the consultant: "She has spent time in the First Nations communities of Pikangikum, Sandy Lake, Deer Lake and Mishkeegogamang in northern Ontario and Norway House and Cross Lake in northern Manitoba. Her commitment to Aboriginal education has been woven throughout her career.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 7, 2012 A12

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