![\"Sherri](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CREDIT-CAMOSUN-COLLEGE-AUDIO-VISUAL.jpg\")
<\/a>Bell says that her immediate plans at Camosun do not involve any great change; rather, it will be a time of learning for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be a bit presumptuous if I started saying I was going to change this and that,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cRight now I need to listen, and talk to people, and learn. I know enough about Camosun, our school district has a very close partnership with Camosun, and because I live in the community, I know the college. But I don\u2019t know it the way I need to as president, so that will be the first order of business, and then we can look at aspects that we can grow and develop and look at together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell replaces Kathryn Laurin, who had her contract terminated last year for reasons that were never made public. Bell says that she was not nervous entering the position after Laurin\u2019s termination.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I wasn\u2019t,\u201d she says. \u201cNot at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) Lansdowne executive Shayli Robinson was on the interview committee (at the time she was CCSS First Nations director) for the presidential search. She says that during the process, Bell was the candidate who \u201cstood out most\u201d to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on her experience in the K-12 system working strongly with the community, she has worked with students who come to Camosun and are some of our most vulnerable students,\u201d says Robinson. \u201cBecause of this experience, I feel she has a deep understanding of the issues that face our institution, especially those relating to budget cuts which will affect many of our fundamental programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachael Grant was also part of the interviewing committee during the presidential search (at the time, Grant was CCSS external executive; as of May 1, she is no longer in that position).<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s very excited to get going, she\u2019s very passionate,\u201d says Grant about Bell. \u201cWe can expect a lot of new initiatives, a lot of fresh energy. I\u2019m very excited to see what she has in store for Camosun students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Bell says that she is a \u201cvery student-centred\u201d leader and insists that when she looks at decisions that are best for the college they will be decisions that are best for the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny kind of decision, you have to look at it through the lens of, how is this going to make a difference for student learning and student success? Their experience at a college is very important,\u201d says Bell. \u201cYou can get a lot of information online, you can take classes online, but to be at Camosun, you have to walk away not only with just knowledge, but you have to have had an experience that\u2019s going to have impacted your life in a really positive way. That\u2019s what I want students to know about me: that\u2019s what I come in to the job looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Look for an in-depth interview with Sherri Bell in our September 9, 2015 issue.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sherri Bell is the new president of Camosun College. Bell, who will enter the position on July 1, has extensive experience in the public education system, working most recently as superintendent of schools for the Greater Victoria School District, where she\u2019s been for the past 19 years. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled,\u201d says Bell. \u201cI am absolutely thrilled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-may-13-2015"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10587,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10585\/revisions\/10587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}