In March 2019, Professor Phil Oxhorn left his position at McGill as Associate Provost (International) to become the Dean of International Education at Vancouver Island University. Phil Oxhorn was the Founding Director of ISID from 2008-2016. Prior to that, he was Director of the Centre for Developing-Area Studies, ISID鈥檚 precusor, from 2005-2008.
Leading the effort to create the Institute for the Study of International Development and lay a strong foundation for its consolidation as one of the premier North American institutions for research and teaching in international development was one of my most rewarding professional experiences. It offered me an unequaled opportunity to work with colleagues from across McGill as we grappled with some of the fundamental challenges in higher education today. Challenges such as trying to break down our internal silos to promote interdisciplinary teaching and research, prepare our students to be successful global citizens in our ever-shrinking world, and reaffirm the relevance of our work to the larger public through the promotion of evidence-based policies and the diffusion of our research to audiences outside the academy.
Our success within McGill was intrinsically linked to the networks we were able to build externally, which was also a source of great personal satisfaction for me. Through ISID, I had the privilege of working with a truly impressive array of leaders from the private, public and non-profit sectors鈥� what I would call 鈥渃ivil society鈥濃�� in the pursuit of our shared goals. These networks included two former Canadian Prime Ministers and a former Prime Minister of Senegal, the heads of major international foundations and humanitarian organizations, and senior officials from a range of international and Canadian organizations working in international development. Closer to home, ISID provided me with the opportunity to work with the members of Canada鈥檚 Truth and Reconciliation Commission and prominent Indigenous leaders, not to mention the dozens of people from around the world who participated in our series of executive education programs. It would be an understatement to say I learned a lot in the job!
As I assume a new set of responsibilities as the Dean of International Education at Vancouver Island University, I will be guided by three key lessons from my experience at ISID. The first is the need to work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders, both within VIU and outside the university, in order to best advance common goals. Second, successful programing must reflect the unique strengths of the institution and the ways they can be leveraged into a range of innovative programs that can help meet the needs of disadvantaged groups through genuine collaboration as equals based on mutual respect. Finally, by thinking outside the box and daring to do new things in novel ways, we can create opportunities that we never would have dreamed possible.
