Biographies
Brett Fairbairn
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Dr. Brett Fairbairn was appointed Provost and Vice-President Academic at the University of Saskatchewan effective July 1, 2008. As Provost, Dr. Fairbairn is the leader of planning and budgeting; as the Vice-President Academic, he leads the University’s faculty and academic processes.
Brett has been engaged with the University of Saskatchewan for 35 years, beginning as a history student, during which time he served as President of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union. After earning a BA in History in 1981, Brett continued his post-secondary education abroad. Oxford University awarded him a BA Honours in Modern History in 1984 and a DPhil, also in Modern History, in 1988. During this time, he joined the University of Saskatchewan as a faculty member in the Department of History and the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives.
Brett possesses an exceptional level of familiarity with the University of Saskatchewan, gained from various perspectives over the years. He is a seasoned leader, having served as the Director of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, Head of the Department of History, Chair of University Council, and as Chair, Vice-Chair, and member of the Planning Committee of University Council.
Brett is a Rhodes Scholar with a stellar academic career. His research and teaching are concerned with the history and interdisciplinary study of democracy, social movements, and co‑operative enterprises in Canada and around the world. He has more than 80 publications, including his two most recent books, Co-operative Membership and Globalization (co-edited with Nora Russell) and Living the Dream: Membership and Marketing in the Co-operative Retailing System. Brett models his scholarship on the idea of engagement between the academic world and the real-life issues of organizations and communities. He is a strong believer in the duty of citizens to participate in volunteer organizations and has held many leadership roles in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. In recognition of his public and scholarly contributions, Brett was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan in 2002.
From 2002 to 2007, Brett was principal investigator of the largest research project ever undertaken on co-operatives in Canada. Based on the results from that project, he is working on a new, co-authored book entitled Imagination and Cohesion: Co-operative Renewal in Canadian Communities. His current and future research concerns governance and innovation in social enterprises.
A native of Winnipeg and the son of journalists, Brett grew up in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He and his wife, Norma, have three children.
Jim Germida
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Jim Germida is Vice-Provost and Professor of Soil Science at the University of Saskatchewan.
He received his undergraduate training at the University of Maryland and did his graduate work at the Pennsylvania State University where he obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1980. In 1981, he joined the faculty of the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. A soil microbiologist well known for his studies on the biodiversity and community dynamics of microorganisms in contaminated and agroecosystems, he is author of over 110 refereed journal articles and book chapters, and has given many invited presentations at national and international conferences in these areas.
Jim served as Head of the Department of Soil Science from 1997 to 2004, and as Acting Vice-Provost in 2004-2005; he was appointed to a five-year term as Vice-Provost in July 2005.
He has been the co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Microbiology since 1993 and continues as a member of the Editorial Boards of Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Arid Land Research and Management, and Journal of Phytoremediation. He was President of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists in 2001, and is a member of the Council of Science and Technology Advisors and the Scientific and Technology Advisory Board to Environmental Canada.
Martin Phillipson
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Martin Phillipson is Vice-Provost, College of Medicine Organizational Restructuring (Term).
Born and raised in England, Martin received his LL.B from Leicester University in 1989 and obtained his LL.M from the University of Saskatchewan in 1991. He joined the faculty of the College of Law in 1999 having previously taught at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and The Australian National University. His teaching and research interests lie at the interface of the fields of Intellectual Property Law and Environmental Law, with a particular focus on the legal, regulatory and socio-economic implications of the widespread adoption of agricultural biotechnology. He has published internationally on these issues and acted as a consultant to several national governments and the United Nations Environment Programme. He has also been an invited speaker at a variety of national and international conferences on the subject.
Martin served as the first Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Law from March 2008 to July 2011.
He has been the Co-Editor in Chief of Canada’s leading peer-reviewed environmental law journal (The Journal of Environmental Law & Practice) since 2003 and was Faculty Editor of the Saskatchewan Law Review from July 2007 up to his appointment as Acting Vice-Provost in July 2011.
Patti McDougall
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Patti McDougall is Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning and Associate Professor of Psychology.
Patti completed her undergraduate degree at Queen's University followed by a Master's of Applied Science at the University of Waterloo, and a Ph.D. in Human, Learning, Development and Instruction at the University of British Columbia. She joined St. Thomas More College (federated with the University of Saskatchewan) in 1998.
While at STM, she held the positions of Assistant and Associate Dean as well as interim Dean. Patti has been actively engaged in developing interdiciplinary programming and experiential learning opportunities in the humanities and social sciences. She is the recipient of several STM and UofS awards for her teaching and commitment to student experience.
As a developmental and educational psychologist, Patti's research follows two streams. She studies social relationships in childhood and adolescence including such topics as friendship and social status, with a particular focus on studying the long term impact of bullying and victimization. Her work in bullying has led to a role in national organizations like PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), which links researchers and youth-serving organizations in a common goal to stop bullying and promote safe and healthy relationships. Patti also investigates the domain of student experience where she examines youth-adult partnerships, the nature of the transition into university, students' educational goals, and factors that impact student retention. She has authoried and co-authored articles appearing in Merril Palmer Quarterly, Social Development, International Journal of Behavioural Development, and Journal of Experiemental Child Psychology, among others.
David Hannah
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Since 1981 David Hannah has gained wide-ranging experience in a variety of areas of student and registrarial services in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. He has worked as an advisor, counsellor, registrar and college/university administrator; has led the implementation of student information systems at three institutions; and has participated in the start-up of a college in the Middle East and of the Technical University of BC.
Hannah hails from Calgary, where he received his Bachelor’s degree (with distinction) in Secondary Education from the University of Calgary. He continued his studies to complete his Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of Alberta, and his Ph.D. in Higher Education & Student Affairs from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
An avid squash player and Jazz lover, Dave lives with his wife and two teenaged daughters and is pleased to make Saskatoon and the University of Saskatchewan his home.
Rick Bunt
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Rick Bunt is Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Associate Vice-President, Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Prior to that appointment he served for one and a half years as Acting Associate Dean for Science in the College of Arts and Science. He has been a Professor of Computer Science since joining the University of Saskatchewan in 1972, and was Head of the Department from 1986 -1991. He holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and a B.Sc. degree from Queen’s University.
Since his appointment as Associate Vice-President Dr. Bunt has overseen a number of major campus projects, including the renewal of the campus computer network, the installation of wireless access facilities across campus, the implementation of new administrative support systems, and the installation of a campus portal. He is past President of the Canadian University Council of CIOs (CUCCIO) and a member of the CANARIE Board of Directors. His main interests are in renewing institutional systems and processes, change management and ICT governance.
As a Computer Scientist Dr. Bunt’s research dealt with computer systems design and performance evaluation, with a particular focus on operating systems, distributed systems, and mobile computing. He supervised more than 30 graduate students and is active in professional bodies, both nationally and internationally.
