New college president has 'vested' interest in education in the N.W.T.

The newly-appointed president of Aurora College says her experience in the North and with post-secondary institutions in other parts of Canada has prepared her to take Aurora College through its next stage of transformation into a polytechnic university.

Glenda Vardy Dell, who originally joined the college in 2019, began her job as president on April 1. It's a promotion from her role as senior advisor to the president, interim director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and vice-president of education and training. 

Vardy Dell began nursing in the North in 1988. 

She and her husband, an RCMP officer, moved around the N.W.T., living in small communities, but also in Yellowknife and Fort Smith. Every time her husband was transferred, Vardy Dell said she had to go looking for a new job. 

"So about halfway through my career, I moved into education from health. And I have continually gone back and forth from health to education," she told Trailbreaker guest host Alyssa Mosher.

Vardy Dell has a PhD with a focus on higher education, administration and leadership, and she's worked for several institutions of higher learning in the south, including the University of Calgary, the University of Prince Edward Island and the University of Northern British Columbia. 

All of those experiences have "brought her back to the N.W.T.," she said. 

Vardy Dell said she has a "vested" interest in education in the territory because she and her husband adopted two Tłı̨chǫ children. 

"I understand clearly what some of the barriers to education are for them," she said. 

Step toward 'arms-length relationship' 

Vardy Dell's appointment represents the first time since the college board was dissolved in 2017 that responsibility for the college's operations will be in the hands of someone who is not also a senior bureaucrat. 

Past presidents Tom Weegar and Andy Bevan, were both assistant deputy ministers in the government. That raised questions from MLAs and critics concerned about the college's lack of independence.

Further question arose when the government dismissed Weegar after only a year on the job. 

In a press release last week, the government wrote that Vardy Dell's appointment was a step toward "the intended arms-length relationship between the Government of the Northwest Territories and Aurora College."

The press release also said the transformation of Aurora College will continue to be led by a team from the department of Education, Culture and Employment "in partnership with Dr. Vardy Dell and the college." 

Vardy Dell is aware of other issues facing the college, including the lack of Indigenous knowledge and land-based programming, both identified as barriers to post-secondary success for N.W.T. students in a recent report on post-secondary education in the North. 

Vardy Dell said there are plans to create what she called an Indigenous knowledge holders council, which she said would be the first of its kind in Canada.

"That council will help to inform… the land-based activities, the cultural-based activities, the necessary pieces that [need] to be added to the curriculum."

Pathways to higher education

She also spoke to concerns about how a polytechnic university would meet the needs of students from smaller communities. 

Part of the concern involved student readiness for higher education.

Vardy Dell said part of the transition plan is to develop different "pathways" for N.W.T students entering post-secondary education.

"Our goal at Aurora College is to meet students where they are and provide them some pathways that they may choose to reach whatever their goal is, whether it's a certificate, a diploma, a degree, or even if it's just upgrading that that they want to participate in," she said.

Vardy Dell said the facilities plan for the polytechnic, which was expected in July, would not be completed until this fall.  

The plan would help the territory approach the federal government and other sources for funding to start building college infrastructure. 

When it's completed, Vardy Dell said the plan will address four priorities: a campus in Yellowknife, additional student housing in Fort Smith, additional research facilities in Inuvik and a reassessment of the role and needs of community learning centres.