University of Saskatchewan

Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic

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Biographies

Brett Fairbairn

Fairbairn
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

Jim Germida

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.

Ernie Barber

Ernie Barber
Dr. Ernie Barber was appointed in an acting capacity as Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning for a two-year term, effective July 1, 2008. He previously served for one year as the Acting Provost and Vice-President Academic.

For eight years (1999 to 2007), Dr. Barber provided exemplary leadership to the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Agriculture as the Dean. In 2006, his vision and leadership led to a renaming of the College, now known as the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, to recognize an expanded mandate for responsible development of natural resources and utilization of the associated bioproducts. Previously, Dr. Barber served as Head of the Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering in the College of Engineering for five years.

Dr. Barber is an influential and committed citizen of the University of Saskatchewan and the province of Saskatchewan. With respect to University service, he was a member of the University’s Bargaining Committee for the Faculty Association Collective Agreement, Chair of the Management Board of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, and Designated Dean for the virtual College of Biotechnology. Externally, Dr. Barber has served on a number of boards and provincial committees, some of which include AgWest Bio, the Saskatchewan Agrivision Corporation, the Saskatchewan Action Committee on the Rural Economy (ACRE), and the Saskatchewan Farm Leaders’ Advisory Group (FLAG).

Over his 30-year career, first with the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and then with the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Barber has led productive research programs as a specialist in engineering for livestock production. He demonstrated a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research and to extending the results of research to the livestock industry.
Dr. Barber has taught undergraduate and graduate students and was honoured with a University teaching excellence award, as well as being named “Professor of the Year” by both agriculture and engineering students. He has been honoured with four awards by the Canadian Society for Agricultural Engineering, including being named a Fellow of the Society in 2001.

Ernie was raised on a small mixed farm in central Alberta. He is married to Phyllis, has two children (Kyle and Kristie) both living and working in Saskatchewan, and two grandchildren (Drew and Brooke).

David Hannah

David Hannah

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

Rick Bunt

Rick Bunt is 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 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. His main interests are in renewing institutional systems and processes, change management and ICT governance.

As a Computer Scientist Dr. Bunt’s research deals with computer systems design and performance evaluation, with a particular focus on operating systems, distributed systems, and mobile computing. He has supervised more than 30 graduate students and is active in professional bodies, both nationally and internationally.