SFU is only a month into its fall semester, but already the administration is facing a massive overhaul as Philip Steenkamp, VP External Relations, and Jon Driver, VP Academic, will both be leaving their posts by the end of the academic year.
The university now has to fill three of its six vice president positions: VP Academic, VP External Relations, and VP Finance, following the passing of the former VP Finance Pat Hibbitts on June 2. Vice president positions are the highest level of university administration under the president.
Hibbits passed away suddenly this June after serving as a senior executive member at SFU for 14 years. In her position as VP Finance, Hibbits supervised more than 350 staff members in seven departments.
“She was the lynchpin for all operational issues,” said Terry Waterhouse, SFU’s chief safety officer, in a statement from University Communications. “Her clarity was always a guiding force. She was brilliant, intuitive and could make the right decisions every time.”
In an internal communication circulated on Sept. 29, President Andrew Petter informed the SFU community that Steenkamp will be leaving his post as of November 30.
“I will be striking a Search Committee to recruit a new VP, External Relations with the goal of filling this important position as soon as possible,” Petter explained in the email. If the search committee does not fill the position by the time of Steenkamp’s departure, associate VP external relations Joanne Curry will assume the role temporarily.
The university currently has search committees for the VP Academic and VP Finance and Administration positions. The search committee for VP academic is comprised of 21 individuals, including SFU students, faculty, staff, and administration, as well as one external corporate representative of VanCity.
Driver is moving on after eight years in the role of VP Academic, after serving one term of five years and being renewed for another. Driver is leaving the position with two years left in his term, having decided that he has accomplished what he wished to in the role, and plans to go back to teaching in his original department: archaeology.
Said Driver, “I’m quite keen on getting back to teaching and doing more research, which is what I came to the university for in the first place.”
Steenkamp’s more hasty departure is due to his acceptance of the position of VP External at UBC. Said Petter of the loss, “When you have someone of that ability and you have other institutions that have needs, there’s always the possibility that good people have you will be recruited and enticed away by those institutions that would like to hire them.”
Looking back on his time in the position, Driver said his biggest difficulty was the university’s first attempt to establish learning outcomes. This initiative was met with resistance by many faculty members and led to a healthy debate around the ethics and feasibility of enforcing and measuring those outcomes.
In terms of successes, Driver singled out the feat of keeping the university running during tough economic times, and beginning to change the culture of teaching as his two proudest accomplishments.
“We have a much more diverse student body than we would have say, 25 or 30 years ago. That diversity means that people learn in different ways,” said Driver.
“It’s really about getting the whole university, and particularly on the academic side, thinking more critically about how we teach, why we teach, and to focus more on the learner and less on the teacher.”
Both Petter and Driver emphasized the fact that SFU administration has been very stable for the last five or so years, with not much turnover in personnel.
Said Petter, “I don’t think there’s any cause for people to be alarmed or concerned by the fact that this kind of turnover takes place.”
He continued, “It does create opportunities for change [. . .] When new people come in it brings in new ideas, it brings in new energy. Hopefully they build on the legacy that’s been left to them by their predecessors.”
