Audio Transcript: Dr. Paul Van Geel’s Initiatives as Department Chair (2010-2014)

Dr. Paul Van Geel: So I started at Carleton in 1994 and [Dr.] Jag Humar was the Chair, and then Halim Abd El Halim took over as Chair, for, I believe, two terms as well. And during that time, I served as the Associate Chair in the department for Graduate Studies and I did that for a couple of terms, I’m gonna say 8 years or so- maybe more. And then when the department was looking for a new Chair after Dr. Halim was going to step down, I thought it’d be useful for me to put my hat forward. I mean, it’s a service position, I think.

You’re there to serve your colleagues in the department, the staff in the department, and most importantly, the students, so I took on the position of Department Chair. I think I was well-suited for the position, given that I had a Civil Engineering background, and was heavily involved in the Environmental Engineering program. And I looked at it with opportunity, I was excited to try and leave my mark on the department, so there was a couple of initiatives that I undertook, that were unique.

We had set up an Advisory Committee for the department, consisting of industry practitioners and a lot of our alumni that have been in the industry for a few years to several decades. And the primary goal there was to get feedback from industry as to what they liked about our graduates, and what they liked about our programs, and what areas they thought we could improve. So their input was quite valuable. We were the first department in the Faculty of Engineering and Design to have an Advisory Committee.

And for the following accreditation process, it was invaluable that we had that in place, because our department, I think, excelled in that, that accreditation cycle, because we had the Advisory Committee, and since [then], the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board has requested that all engineering programs have [an] Advisory Committee.

And the other aspect that we went to that committee for is I became involved in advancement to try and fundraise. And we asked them for input into fundraising, and how they thought it would be most appropriate, because I was looking to them and alumni for raising funds for the department, and together, we came up with the idea of a student experience fund. And the idea was, you know, the hands-on experience of students being able to go on field trips, and to interact with professionals that are working in the field. To bring people in to talk to students in your class, to have career panels, etc. that was, you know, very valuable.

And it’s one thing that we don’t receive funding for explicitly in the department, so we would… At the time, we were in good financial shape in the department, but I thought ahead that in the long term. You know, the university, when it makes cuts, it’s that kind of discretionary funding that might not survive, and I think that’s true for today.

And so now we have a half a million dollar student engagement fund that we continue to build, and we live off of the interest, and we support student activities for the concrete Toboggan, and the Troitsky Bridge Competition, and for tours, to pay for the bus, to go and see the wastewater treatment plant, etc.