Shore's a dean, Masi continues

Shore's a dean, Masi continues

Daniel McCabe | The face of McGill's future senior administration is becoming clearer as two more major appointments were approved by the Board of Governors on Monday.

Professor Bruce Shore, chair of the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, will be McGill's next dean of students, while Acting Vice-Principal (Information Systems and Technology) Anthony Masi will become permanent in his current portfolio. Shore's five-year term will begin on June 1, while Masi's appointment will end on August 31, 2005.

A well-respected authority on how to design appropriate educational experiences for gifted children and an expert on what makes these kids gifted in the first place, Shore's research has earned awards from the National Association for Gifted Children and Mensa International. His expertise in these areas has been sought out by Canadian and U.S. government officials and UNESCO.

He says his interest in helping university students achieve their potential is no stretch. "Where do gifted children go when they grow up? They go to university."

Shore says he was something of an accidental candidate for the job. "I originally had no interest in applying for the job. I became interested through the process of searching for a replacement for Rosalie [outgoing Dean of Students Rosalie Jukier]. This wasn't on my planned career path."

Shore says it's early in the game to predict what he'll be doing as dean, but he has some ideas.

"We're desperately short of student residences, so that will obviously be something we need to address."

In addition, Shore says he was intrigued by a recent report issued by the Students' Society which included a call for McGill to find more ways to involve undergraduates in the University's research activities. "If this is a research-driven university, what should undergraduates' experiences be? I would like that dialogue to move up a notch.

"I'm very interested in how we welcome our students. They come from all over the world and once they're here, we expect a lot from them [academically]."

While McGill is a big place, Shore says he wants to do all he can to make students feel that they are part of a community rather than simply consumers of McGill's educational wares. "I want them to remember their time here for the rest of their lives."

Shore tends to be one of the more persistent questioners of administrative initiatives during Senate sessions. Asked if it might feel odd to become a part of the administration, Shore says he doesn't think so.

Despite the occasional disagreements, he paints McGill as a remarkably collegial place. "I've been a departmental chair and there have been plenty of times where I wished I could get more money [from the administration]. I've been the president of MAUT (the McGill Association of University Teachers, which sometimes finds itself at odds with the administration) and I've never been refused a courteous discussion on any topic I've raised with any member of the senior administration. Once I get to Senate [as a dean] I'm not so sure that I won't keep on asking questions."

Once June rolls around, Shore says he'll begin his new position "slowly, carefully and with my ears wide open."

Electrical and computer engineering professor Frank Galiana sat on the advisory committee that recommended Shore as the next dean of students. He says committee members were impressed by Shore's academic accomplishments, but what really stuck with them was his obvious enthusiasm for working with students.

Physics professor Martin Grant sat on the advisory committee that recommended that Masi carry on as vice-principal.

Grant says there was no shortage of testimonials from senior administrators and colleagues "about what a great guy he is to work with. He is a very straightforward kind of guy, someone with a lot of common sense."

Grant says committee members were impressed by the efforts Masi made before he took on the VP (IST) position in coordinating the organization of local area networks in the Faculty of Arts.