Photo: Liam Verster

By Liam Verster

Grande Prairie Regional College

GPRC’s new President and CEO wants to put the school on the map

Dec 11, 2019 | 5:07 AM

The new President and CEO of the Grande Prairie Regional College has plans to make the school the education hub of Northern Alberta.

Dr. Robert Murray took on the role on Monday, December 2nd, and is already working on making GPRC a centre for post secondary excellence.

Murray’s first project to improve the school is to become a degree granting institution, an initiative started by his predecessor. However, Murray says the process of earning the status is complex and they are still in the early stages. He says they want to make sure they go about this in a way that doesn’t just produce degrees, but respected, good degrees, that meet the needs of the community, the students, and the labour force.

“Really we’re in that process right now of learning and listening about what those potential degrees can look like. And then of course there’s also a really significant internal process that has to take place around potential shifts of academic governance. So, the ways that things are structured right now are not necessarily the best structured, or meet the needs of what a degree granting institution will need to look like.”

He says they need to work out the future pieces around internal processes, including academic, financial and external relation sides, in order to support those pieces.

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However, Murray says once they have that status, it will make the school very appealing for people from not just the Peace region, but all over, to come to Grande Prairie to pursue post-secondary education.

Along with following through on earning the degree granting status, Murray is bringing five initiatives to the table, that he says will help make GPRC stand out as a post-secondary institution.

“The first is around modernization and efficiency, and a lot of this is being driven by the budget necessity and the fiscal necessity. But it’s frankly an opportunity to look at the way that the college does things and has historically done things, and processes that can be modernized or streamlined, to help improve our internal processes, moving into a 21st Century institution. Which I think is incredibly important.

“The second is around academic excellence and degree granting, but part of that is around balance. GPRC’s reputation and impact in the community has mainly been built around trades, apprenticeship programming, as well as the transfer programming. So, we want to make sure that while we are looking to the future with degree granting, we don’t want to lose what has historically made GPRC great. And making sure that we are still aligning the needs of the institution with the needs of the labour market in the community

“The third is around economic and community development, recognizing that we play an incredibly important role in the future economy in the Peace Region, and letting it be known that we’re going to be active partners with our municipal partners and external stakeholders about driving the economy forward. Helping to attract investment, and making sure that things like research development, innovation, talent and labour, that we are actively involved in those conversations with our regional partners and our provincial partners, and the role that we play. And also with regards to the community, that we are in and of the community, that we plan an important community support role by virtue of GPRC’s place here. So making sure that we are continuing that and expanding that footprint.

“The fourth is around inclusion and student experience, that this is to be and will always be a safe, welcoming environment for all students who want to come and learn. But part of that experience will be around rigour, and quality, that we want students to leave here and say ‘that was a great academic experience, I loved my time there, but boy did they push me.’ But part of that inclusion agenda is also taking very seriously our calls to action on Indigenous engagement and reconciliation, and learning from our Indigenous communities how we can, as an institution, better ourselves in that Indigenous piece.”

“And then the last piece is around innovation and partnership. A mind to disrupting, a mind to doing things differently, solving problems creatively, and really welcoming the opportunity to work with external partners, both informally and formally, around furthering our programming and making sure that our students are finding pathways to success and experiences that they wouldn’t have elsewhere.”

Murray goes on to say that they are trying to accomplish this all with the new provincial budget, which has caused some uncertainty to both students and staff, but at this time has not caused any disruption to the day-to-day activities. Murray does say the future regarding provincial grants and funding is uncertain though, and he will continue his predecessor’s tradition of partnering with local groups and organizations, to help mitigate the impacts any cuts could cause on the school or students.

Murray, originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, worked in Edmonton before becoming the new President and CEO of GPRC. He was the Canada Managing Director for the Government Practice at Dentons Canada. Dentons is the worlds largest law firm, and Murray was on the advisory services side, managing government and policy practice. He says the experience and skills he gained in that position will be transferable to his new job.

“Certainly around being able to step into situations, very quickly learn the environment that we’re dealing in, be able to create change management, solutions and strategies to be able to advance. I think right out of the gate, one of the considerations that is building an institution plan around what the future of GPRC is going to look like is, fundamentally, going to be a change management strategy. So, that’s a significant part. And of course, a good chunk of my practice at Dentons was around education and post-secondary education. So, I was working very closely with a number of post-secondary institutions here in Alberta, and understand that landscape incredibly well, in the way these institutions function. So, it’s not as if I’m coming in from completely outside and not having any familiarity with it.”

Murray also has a personal connection with the area. His wife is from Dawson Creek, and she has a lot of family spread out around Peace Country. He says they have a lot of family ties to the area, and spend a lot of time in the area, especially during the summer, when they stay at their lake house at Moberly Lake.

Murray also says what drew him to moving to Grande Prairie and taking the job was that GPRC has a lot of community engagement, which is incredibly unique to a post-secondary institution. He adds that the school also has great foundations set, and is ready to get to the next level, and he’s excited to work with the board and help the school move forward.