Report released on Peter Lougheed Leadership College

The Peter Lougheed Leadership College

In 2015, the Peter Lougheed Leadership College accepted its first cohort of 45 students. At this year’s spring convocation, they will graduate with their degrees and certificate. Their aspirations for the future vary widely — some are heading to medical school, others are running in the upcoming municipal elections, and several are working on various start-up ventures. Yasmin Rafiei, the University of Alberta’s latest Rhodes Scholar, will soon take her place at Oxford University.

The variety of these students’ aspirations underscores the purpose and vison of the Peter Lougheed Leadership College, a vision that Peter MacKinnon, former president of the University of Saskatchewan, highlights as a core strength of the college in a report we release today. In his report on the PLLC, Dr. MacKinnon also stresses that there is a tangible “esprit de corps” among the students, teaching fellows, mentors, and staff of the college which comes out of a shared passion and commitment to the program.

The University of Alberta commissioned this report from Dr. MacKinnon late last fall as part of routine review practices. The goal was to assess the PLLC and the progress that has been made since its inception. The college is still new — we are in process of accepting applications for only the third cohort to begin fall 2017 — but with the first 2015 class heading to graduation and the second cohort halfway through the program, a review now allows us to reflect, course-correct where needed, and fine-tune strategic planning for the future.

In preparing the report, Dr. MacKinnon visited the University of Alberta, held 25 meetings and heard input from 67 individuals in person and a few others via phone and email. He heard that both academic and co-curricular programming is of high quality — and that the U of A has a major opportunity to become a leader in the field of leadership studies and programming. He notes the alignment between these opportunities and goals outlined in the For the Public GoodFor the Public Good.

Given the early stage of the program’s development, the report also notes potential challenges that we will need to address to ensure that the college’s future potential is fully realized. An initial response to the report has been drafted by Martin Ferguson-Pell, Vice-Principal of the PLLC. We are releasing that response today along with the report. The report is now in the hands of the PLLC leadership team, who will continue to work with deans, college staff, and others to examine in more depth the concerns flagged in the report and put in place strategies that will continue to serve students in the PLLC well.

My thanks to the leadership of the PLLC, their teams of teaching fellows and mentors, and the deans of the faculties which host core academic elements of the program. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the college and its students through these first two years of the college’s existence. And my very best wishes to the first graduating PLLC class for their continued success in their future endeavours.

David H. Turpin, CM, LLD, FRSC
President and Vice-Chancellor