Bernie Boudreau is in for a busy year, but the newly appointed dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies is up to the challenge.
Dr. Boudreau, who comes to Graduate Studies from the Department of Oceanography, has had a long and successful career in academia. He has three masters degrees (one from Texas A&M University and two from Yale), a PhD from Yale and is an expert in ocean sediments. (âI study, âthe bottom,ââ he explains.)
His career began in the private sector before ending up at ±«Óătv in 1988. He served most recently as chair of the Department of Oceanography and has been in his new position as dean of Graduate Studies since July.
The role puts Dr. Boudreau in charge of a faculty that deals with approximately 3,500 graduate students each year. While this number has increased substantially in recent timesâup from 2,500 ten years agoâDr. Boudreau would like to see even more attention paid to graduate students in the coming years. Â
Grad students, crucial to Dal's success
Not everyone realizes the importance of graduate students to a university, he says. Grad students not only provide significant amounts of support to faculty members, but also tend to carry out much of the research conducted within departments. Quality and quantity of research, in turn, is a big part of ±«Óătvâs reputation; Dr. Boudreau points out that ±«Óătv is currently ranked 193 on the Time Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, placing ±«Óătv in the top one per cent of schools in the world.
âI think we can do even better,â he says, adding that given the comparable size of ±«Óătvâs financial endowments, he could easily see us climbing that list.
One way to do so, he says, is to provide the financial support needed to recruit top-tier graduate students from around Canada and the world. The challenge is that government funding for graduate research is not always as strong in Nova Scotia as it is in other provinces.
âI have this feeling that if weâre going to make ourselves better, we have to find the resources within ourselves,â says Dr. Boudreau, who was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Attracting and keeping the best
One method for achieving that, he says, is by using Faculty resources to top up fellowships for graduate students to give them the support they need to pursue their research at ±«Óătv.
âI want to make sure we realize that we have to increase our internal economy to fund graduate students to stay on the list of top universities,â says Dr. Boudreau.
So as the new academic year arrives, Dr. Boudreau will be keeping busy, with an eye to the daily workings of the faculty as well as to the future of graduate studies at ±«Óătv. In addition, he will continue to teach and conduct his own research on the side.
Not that heâs complaining.
âThe university has been very kind to the Department of Oceanography,â he explains, âso I thought it was time to give some back.â