Dr. Murray officially installed as GPRC President

“There’s a lot going on around the academic sphere, so I think it’s important to remind our community that we’re here on the scene, we’re proud to be here, and we’re going to continue to do that, especially as we move toward degree-granting.”

Though he was officially installed today, Murray took up the position of President in December 2019, and immediately started work on turning the GPRC into a Degree Granting Institution.

He says in the past three months, they have made some progress in that endeavor.

“We’re moving along really nicely. I think we expect to be submitting our first degree-granting proposal to the Ministry [of Advanced Education] shortly. And then once we get that first one in, I think we’ll regroup as an institution and figure out how to follow up with that.”

He says while this is an important goal for the College, they must also maintain their trades programs.

“Our trades programs are fantastic, I believe our trades programs are the best trades programs in Alberta. So we look forward to that continued support, and making sure that the needs of the region’s economy are well served by the trades and apprenticeship programs that we offer.”

Murray also brought forward five key priorities when he first took on the position and says collaborative teamwork is ongoing to ensure GPRC has a focus on modernization and efficiencies, academic excellence and degree-granting, economic and community development, inclusion and student experience, and innovation and partnership.

“It’s a team effort, so I think the leaps we are taking are being done collaboratively and with everybody involved. So it’s mainly ensuring that we’re listening to people within the college community and externally about how we go about delivering on those priorities and making sure we’re building a resilient institution for the future.”

Murray says the past three months with GPRC has been great, especially when it comes to meeting and interacting with people, both internally and externally, who are excited about the institution and the direction it’s headed. He says he’s also felt very welcome in the community.

However, Murray adds that he took on the role at a difficult time, with a new funding model being presented, and the release of a new budget. He says his team is working hard to understand the budget, plan for the future of the school, and work to introduce new planning and budget processes to help the school adjust to the changes.

“I think we’re still moving through the budget process, I mean it’s still fairly recent since the budget was announced, and we’re still evaluating that impact. It’s not just about budget it’s also about the new funding formula and the negotiation of our investment management agreement with the province. So once that process becomes clearer and we move through, I think we’ll have a far clearer picture of what the impact on GPRC will be.”

During his speech, Murray put out a “call to action,” in an effort to have more people engaged and involved in the college.

“We’re all stronger, I think, when people are engaged with GPRC. I spoke at length in the speech about the impact we have in the community and what we intend to be doing. And so the hope is that people can rally around that call to action, to work with us and find common ways and collective ways to help prosper our economy, serve our community, and serve the college.”

Murray says he wants the school to expand on its community engagement, while also providing a high-quality education for students, so that graduates can leave the school, find good jobs, and contribute to the economy.

by Liam Verster

Dr. Murray officially installed as GPRC President

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