Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAnd how do you feel looking back on when COVID really hit, when you had to make those decisions in March of 2020? How do you feel looking back on your decision making and how you guided people through it? Do you feel you did a good job?<\/i><\/p>\n
I think we did. I take, of course, full responsibility for anything that happens in that kind of situation.<\/p>\n
I remember really clearly that night when I was talking to the president of the University of Victoria at the time, and we were having a discussion about moving online. They were ready to make their decision. This was a weekend meeting of our senior people, and we made our decision together as a fairly large group, and we looked at every aspect that needed to be tackled, from health and safety issues to how do we switch to online learning, how is this going to affect students, how is it going to affect employees? We took the day, we had conversations with the union leadership and the CCSS [Camosun College Student Society], and then we announced that we would transition; we gave people a week to transition. It was a time that I will never forget, that week. The whole world was feeling it at the same time, that time in March where people were called back from vacations, because it was March break around the world, and students, I think, felt a sense of relief to not have to be on campus, but at the same time what does this mean to the rest of the semester? There was just a short period of time left, which was good, because people knew, you can get through anything for a month or two, but we had no idea how long it would go on at that time. In hindsight, yeah, it was the right decision to make, I don\u2019t find it was a difficult decision; the logistics were, the stress on other people, I worried about that. But again, at that time, knowing, well, this is a short period of time [laughs], we can get through it.<\/p>\n
There must have been some sleepless nights.<\/i><\/p>\n
There definitely were sleepless nights, yeah.<\/p>\n
When you came into this job, and looking back on that first interview, a couple things you were really excited about were the new and at the time forthcoming buildings at Interurban, the trades and health buildings. So now they\u2019re both there, how are you feeling about those buildings?<\/i><\/p>\n
Both of them are not only functional educational facilities, they are spectacular buildings in themselves. When I look at students wandering around those hallways, walking past classrooms, seeing students in the classrooms with either new technology or in the trades area with different equipment, it\u2019s that bringing up a level of instruction and the opportunities for students to get together. There are spaces in those buildings that buildings that were built in the \u201870s or \u201860s, or in the case of the Young building, over 100 years ago, they don\u2019t have. So that\u2019s one of the things that excites me the most, is that they\u2019re so functional for the way education is right now, and a disappointment I have is that I\u2019m not going to be here when the Wilna Thomas building opens. When I started, over six years ago, that was something I noticed\u2014that there weren\u2019t spaces for large groups of students or employees to meet and gather. There weren\u2019t enough spaces for students to collaborate and work together; you\u2019ve got a great little coffee shop at Lansdowne, one at Interurban, but there\u2019s no place that has that vibe where you can have people drinking coffee and studying and chatting and then a quiet place and then some collaboration space, and then a large space, so that\u2019s what Wilna Thomas is going to offer the college when it opens, and I\u2019m very excited about that. Buildings are buildings, but it\u2019s what they offer for the culture of Camosun College that makes a difference. I think with the two new buildings and the one on the way, it\u2019ll change the feeling of both campuses.<\/p>\n
Something else that was on your mind a lot in that first interview and I can tell it is right now, looking around your office, is Indigenization and the Indigenization of the college. I think it\u2019s safe to say in the six years you\u2019ve been here, a lot has happened just in society at large in regards to getting these issues out. Really, there\u2019s been quite a shift. How do you feel about how the college has done with Indigenization over the past six years?<\/i><\/p>\n
I think that is one of the things I\u2019m most proud of is where we have gone collectively with responses to Truth and Reconciliation. Camosun College has always been known for Indigenous education. We have a department, Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen, that has been in existence for over 30 years. In 2015, with the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action coming out, that was the right opportunity to take the college to the next level and that was a huge priority when I started, and through steering committees and collective wisdom and collaboration with Indigenous instructors and community, along with non-Indigenous people\u2014because it\u2019s really the responsibility of non-Indigenous people to respond to Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action\u2014we created 39 actions. As of the end of June, we completed the 39 actions. That doesn\u2019t mean the work is completed, because it is not. We are looking at phase two right now of responding to not just the Calls to Action but also UNDRIP [the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples].<\/p>\n
So, looking at where do we go next, where are the big barriers, how can we take them down, where do we move collectively together on this journey? And that work right now is just in its infancy to look at what our phase two will look like. I think one of the highlights for me has been the day that we had Conversations Day for all employees and had a focus on Truth and Reconciliation, and we had Robert Joseph come and speak to all 850 employees that were in the PISE gym. That was a pretty powerful day that I think bonded the employee group together in our Calls to Action, our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation.<\/p>\n
For students, I think it\u2019s been a little bit different than that. We\u2019ve had such success with Indigenizing some curriculum areas, embedding into curriculum that, really, should look at Indigenous issues such as Criminal Justice and a lot of our Health programs, so it\u2019s been looking at curriculum in a different way. And then there\u2019s the little things that have happened, like very small things that didn\u2019t take much to do but they were really significant in their symbolism. So we have elders parking now. We have steps from Na\u2019tsa\u2019maht leading down to where the pit cook area could be, because elders couldn\u2019t walk that slant in October in the rain. So there were some symbolic things that have happened, but also a pretty powerful look at how we can change the lives of Indigenous students but also inform non-Indigenous students so that when they leave Camosun they have a better understanding than when they got here.<\/p>\n
And do you feel that you played a pretty big part in leading the college through the Indigenization of the past six years?<\/i><\/p>\n
I think that people know that that is really important to me. The leadership was shared, definitely shared, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone that knows me that would not know that Indigenization, Truth and Reconciliation, everybody would know that that is important [to me].<\/p>\n
You talk about relationships a lot. You seem to be big on building relationships with staff and students; you\u2019ve been here six years, and I\u2019ve never heard anyone say anything bad about you. That for a president is impressive, because I hear a lot of dirt. So mission accomplished there, you said that you set out to create great relationships and I feel like you did.<\/i><\/p>\n
Thank you. That is critical. I think it\u2019s important for the culture of Camosun. Camosun\u2019s a pretty amazing place, with incredible people, and so it really doesn\u2019t take much to develop those relationships. I think back to when I first started here in the summer of 2015, because people were on vacation and there weren\u2019t a lot of people around, I was able to kind of poke my nose into all kinds of areas of the college and just talk to people, and it was clear by the end of the summer that people that work here love it here. Students that attended school here had an appreciation for what Camosun offered, not only academically but culturally. So that was easy for me to fit in and develop those relationships that are critical.<\/p>\n
Looking back on your time at Camosun, what\u2019s the first feeling that comes to mind when you look back on this job, without thinking too much?<\/i><\/p>\n
The first feeling is here [points to heart]. It\u2019s kind of in your heart. I often say now, because people know I\u2019m leaving, that I\u2019ll leave but Camosun will always be in my heart, because it\u2019s that kind of place. The stories that I have been able to tell in the community about what happens here are very heartfelt. Sometimes I think that\u2019s what my job has been: the collector of stories to share with other people within our community so that they know the asset that they have, because this is an amazing community asset. When you look at 80 percent of our students come from the south island, I think the profile of Camosun just keeps getting stronger, and stronger, and stronger, because when you look at what we do, from Indigenization, internationalization, all the way to the high-tech Camosun Innovates applications that they\u2019ve been sharing with the community over the pandemic, I think the profile of Camosun in the community has also increased because of the things that happen here.<\/p>\n
What do you wish you could have done better at your time here?<\/i><\/p>\n
I think there are parts of the Strategic Plan that need to continue that were perhaps maybe not as important at the time as they are now. I wish we could have done more around the environment, climate change, sustainability. That is a cornerpost in the Strategic Plan, and we\u2019ve done good work but I think I would\u2019ve liked to have done more, especially right now with what\u2019s happening in the world with climate change. I think another aspect that will likely continue when the new Strategic Plan comes out is the continued focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion. We have done really good work on that as far as our policy work and some of the research that we\u2019ve done, and individual work that people have done, but I can see that aspect of the Strategic Plan continuing into the future because it\u2019s so important right now.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s one thing you hope people will remember about your time as president?<\/i><\/p>\n
I think that I cared and I made a difference. You can\u2019t really make change without relationships, and when you look at life in general, what is it all about? It\u2019s about people, and it\u2019s about relationship building, and in an educational institution, you overlay education so that people come together, they have an experience that could enlighten them, help them grow, opens their mind, can make them more successful, but it also creates relationships that are lasting.<\/p>\n
I always believe that learning can\u2019t take place without an emotional connection to whatever the subject matter might be. You have to feel it. And in order to do that, you have to be surrounded by people that are inspiring to you in whatever way that works for you. So I see all the time, I\u2019m in classrooms, I\u2019ve got two more left to go into this term, and that\u2019s what I see, our instructors, watching them have conversations with students, you can see the impact because they\u2019re connected in some way, not just to the subject matter, to the bigger world, or the relationship that they\u2019re having with their students, their teammates or classmates or instructors; it\u2019s the kind of triangle of connection to subject matter to people and then to the instructor. It works like that so well, and those are the stories that I love to tell. And I think that\u2019s the thing I\u2019ll miss the most.<\/p>\n
And there you are with the relationships again.<\/i><\/p>\n
Yeah, you know, I got an email yesterday asking if I\u2019d come to the school of Business to a networking event for students. I wrote her back right away, and I hadn\u2019t even looked at my calendar, and I just said, \u201cYes, I\u2019ll be there.\u201d Then I looked at my calendar and went, \u201cOh, I guess I\u2019ll have to change a few things.\u201d But it\u2019s that part, to see and to listen to students where you know Camosun\u2019s made a difference. I mean, you talk to anyone in the community and people have positive stories about someone that made a difference for their child, or the institution making a difference to them or a businessperson talking about our graduates coming to their workplace, whatever it might be, and those positive stories, they\u2019re out there.<\/p>\n
I love saying \u201cI\u2019m the president of Camosun College.\u201d That\u2019s going to be hard, because I\u2019m going to have to say \u201cI\u2019m the former president of Camosun College\u201d [laughs<\/i>]. That will still make me feel great, but it\u2019s something that I\u2019m so proud to have held, that title.<\/p>\n
What do you say to Lane, the incoming president, that day where you\u2019re both in the office here and you\u2019re going and he\u2019s coming in? Especially considering you\u2019re handing over the keys during a pandemic, still everyone\u2019s looking at international numbers on the edge of their seats, and the world\u2019s getting better but it\u2019s certainly not the smoothest time in the world. So what words of advice do you give Lane? What do you say to Lane when no one\u2019s around and the doors are closed?<\/i><\/p>\n
We\u2019ve met once. He came over for a meeting at the ministry and we spent a couple of hours together and then we have another day planned. I\u2019ve been putting together a document with links, the regular transition sort of document, but on Friday when we had a conversation, it was more about the culture of Camosun, because I think that not knowing the culture of a place can be detrimental to an incoming person, whether it\u2019s a faculty member, a student, you need to know a little bit about the culture and a little bit about the place, so that was our conversation on Friday, just about the culture and what\u2019s important to students and employees here.<\/b><\/p>\n
When we talked for the first time for that interview, we talked about concerts. Here we are six years later, obviously the past couple years you probably haven\u2019t been out to too many. You mentioned wanting to see John Mayer and you hadn\u2019t yet. Have you?<\/i><\/p>\n
Still haven\u2019t. No. Still on my list. I\u2019ve been a fair number of concerts and plays. It seems like a blank right now because of COVID, without doing anything, it\u2019s hard to even remember. I know we have. I also go to a lot of musicals. We haven\u2019t been able to to do that… I remember the last one we saw, which was called Ain\u2019t Too Proud<\/i>, it\u2019s the story of The Temptations, it was really good. But it seems like there\u2019s just been this huge gap. I did see some online, I saw Jim Cuddy online, and he was great\u2014I\u2019m a big Blue Rodeo fan. That was about the only concert I\u2019ve seen and it wasn\u2019t face to face [laughs]. Right in the middle of the pandemic winter, it was perfect, because we set it up, we had our speakers going, we had appetizers out, it was just my husband and I, but it felt sort of like a concert [laughs].<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s next for you? What do you do on the first day of your retirement?<\/i><\/p>\n
Well, actually, the first day of my retirement, we will go to Alberta for Christmas. My daughter and her family live in Edmonton, and my parents and some family live in Calgary, so we\u2019ll do that. And then the plan was to be away for the return of school [laughs<\/i>]. I knew I didn\u2019t want to be in Victoria, so we had planned a trip to Mexico, and we still have it planned; whether or not we\u2019ll be able to go is another thing, we\u2019ll just have to see how things unfold over the next few months. But after that, taking some time just to spend with family; our son and granddaughter live in Campbell River, and parents and family in other provinces. I\u2019m not sure, we don\u2019t have huge plans, my husband has been retired for six years, so he\u2019s looking forward to being able to plan some things together.<\/p>\n
Now, why don\u2019t you want to be here when school starts?<\/i><\/p>\n
Oh, maybe I shouldn\u2019t have said that [laughs<\/i>]. I just thought it might be hard, because I wouldn\u2019t be coming back. I\u2019m glad that I\u2019m moving into retirement, it\u2019s probably the right time. I took a course at Harvard which was for college presidents, and it was really good. One of the things that they said was typically college presidents don\u2019t know when to retire. The lifespan should be somewhere around seven years, maximum 10 years, and they also said a lot of people wait until they know what\u2019s next and they end up waiting too long. Look at the institution and figure out from there when you should retire. It was good advice. So what I did was I looked at when the Strategic Plan was going to be finished. I thought the pandemic would be finished. I looked at our response to Truth and Reconciliation. So I kind of looked at the timing of December and it just made sense at that time, and then that\u2019s how I made the decision.<\/p>\n
I keep joking with my team saying when Wilna Thomas opens, I\u2019ll be at that coffee shop, that\u2019s where you can find me. I\u2019ll be wearing my Camosun College hoodie, so that\u2019s now become a bit of a joke, \u201cOh, that\u2019s where Sherri\u2019s going to be. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re ever getting rid of her.\u201d And it\u2019s kind of fun to be able to look at the place like that. I think Lane\u2019s going to do a great job. He\u2019s someone I\u2019ve known for six and a half years, so no worries there, it\u2019s just that I love this place and it will always be a part of me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThanks,\u201d outgoing Camosun College president Sherri Bell tells us as we pack up after finishing our final interview with her as her six-year time at the college starts to come to a close. \u201cThat actually felt a little cathartic.\u201d As it should: Bell is heading into retirement next month after leading the college through what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21783,"comment_status":"closed","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":[10,258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-november-3-2021"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21744","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=21744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21746,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21744\/revisions\/21746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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