Farewell to two close colleagues

Greg Moran

On June 30, Dr. Greg Moran will leave the position of Provost and Vice-President (Academic) to take a year of study leave. Greg’s decade as Provost was marked by great progress for the University in a wide array of areas: rising entering grades and retention rates for undergraduate students; strong growth in graduate programs with outstanding support for graduate students; after a decade of decline, strong growth in faculty hiring and total faculty complement after 1998; new Faculties—Health Sciences and Information and Media Studies—with very popular new undergraduate programs; New Academic Choices, a major renewal of the undergraduate curriculum; rapid growth in external research funding, both for individual and collaborative grants; and a highly successful fundraising campaign linked tightly to academic priorities. Perhaps most important of all, Greg developed a complex yet transparent multi-year planning process which allowed us to match budgetary allocations to academic priorities, whether our resources were being cut, as in the mid 1990s, or enhanced, as they are now.

All of these initiatives were furthered by Greg’s vision and commitment, whether he was taking the lead or supporting others with a common goal. His leadership style is one we can all learn from. He is a team player, who works to help others achieve University objectives without seeking individual credit. He was an invaluable source of counsel, advice, and encouragement to me, the other Vice-Presidents, the Deans, and all with whom he worked. He believes in people and his door was always open, from early in the morning to late in the day. He pursued the University mission of excellence with admirable integrity and tenacity. I believe he has been the finest Provost in the country; he is certainly very highly regarded by his peers across Canada. For ten years, whenever I had a particularly tough problem to resolve, I have walked the ten steps from my office to his, confident that I would get wise counsel, true to our Strategic Plan and University values. I will miss him.

Jan Van Fleet

Jan Van Fleet is stepping down as University Secretary on June 30 after nearly 40 years at Western. She arrived in 1966 to work in the Lawson Library, the Admissions Office, and Graduate Studies, and became Secretary of Senate in 1980. In 1983 the latter position was combined with that of Secretary to the Board, so that Jan became the coordinator and advisor on governance to our two governing bodies, a position she has held for 22 years. In 1991, the Board decided she should be given the title of University Secretary.

Governance is critical to our bicameral University: good governance can help us define and pursue our objectives, poor governance leads to a loss of purpose and accountability. Jan has contributed significantly to good governance at Western since 1980. In her Senate role, she has helped countless faculty and students to understand the workings of Senate, so that they can pursue their objectives within Senate rules. At the Board level, she has assisted volunteer Board members, including nearly a dozen Board Chairs, to formulate and achieve Board objectives, while respecting the workings of our bicameral system, and in particular the very special role of Senate. She has presented to both bodies in an orderly manner the staggering volume of agendas, motions, and background material that our University generates. She has given fair, impartial, and wise counsel of governance and procedural issues to Presidents, Board Chairs, and Board and Senate members. During my ten years at Western it has been a joy to work with her.

Jan is the Dean of University Secretaries, widely regarded as the best in the country. All of us at Western owe her a profound debt of gratitude, and our campus community offers her our very best wishes for a happy and healthy retirement.

 

To share your views please reply to Paul.Davenport@uwo.ca

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