Diverse voices, common ground
in Faculty of Arts

Dr. Kenneth Norrie

Dr. Kenneth Norrie sees running the Faculty of Arts a bit like governing Canada. In both cases, he says, the challenge is to support and encourage diverse voices while finding common ground between them. Norrie is excited about his new appointment as dean of the Faculty of Arts "for the same reason it would be interesting to be prime minister - trying to forge national identity out of provinces like Newfoundland, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

"The attraction of the federal system is it allows you to do differently the things that are best done differently, and do in common the things best done in common," says the current chair of economics and member of Premier Ralph Klein's Advisory Committee on Quebec. "The essence of the Faculty of Arts is that you have very different cultures . we have to do everything we can to allow these individual nodes to flourish."

It should come as no surprise Norrie identifies recruitment and retention of faculty as the "single greatest challenge" for the arts faculty in coming years. "We've done an incredible job of recruiting faculty over the last few years," he says, "and the quality and quantity of work done by junior faculty has been outstanding. The problem is other universities are similarly impressed, so holding on to our bright stars will be tougher than ever."

Norris says it's also time to revisit the four-year BA to make sure it falls in line with contemporary social needs. "It's about 10 years old, and when it was first introduced, words like globalization and internationalization were not something we talked a lot about . it's time to go for a check-up."

Norrie's track record speaks for itself. He joined the U of A's economics department in 1971, after receiving his doctorate from Yale University, and has since written extensively on Canadian economic history. He served as associate dean of arts (social sciences) in 1989-90, acting chair of the economics department in 1993-94, and has been chair since July, 1997. He's also been a member of the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (the MacDonald Commission) from 1983-85.

Norrie admits he has big shoes to fill when Dr. Patricia Clements steps down at the end of this month, after leading the faculty for 10 years. "I will never in my career deliver anywhere close to the speech she can deliver off the cuff on the value of the liberal arts," says Norrie. "I've heard her do that several times, and it makes me want to sign on and get an English degree."

He says his leadership style will be different from that of Clements, but "complementary," perhaps a touch "less visible," and based more on consensus. "In terms of process, my administration will look very different from Pat's. In some ways that will be good, and sometimes we're going to sorely miss her."

As an economist, reading spread sheets, analyzing trends, managing resources and preparing budgets come naturally to Norrie, and he looks forward to those parts of the job. However he recognizes it will also be crucial to build community relations, an area about which he's only beginning to learn. "The public must be made aware of the essential value of a liberal arts education," he says. "I strongly believe in arts as the core of the university."

Norrie is bracing for a lot of hard work to take the arts faculty into the next century. But he's also aware of how easily administration can take over one's life. And so he's determined to keep his head on straight.

"There is a life out there," he says. "I like golf and music, and I have a family I want to spend time with. You have to keep these things, or you become a crazy person."