AV俱乐部

鈥淚t was like being in a desert, but with snow instead of sand,鈥� recalls Rowe School of Business professor Dr. Jim Barker. 鈥淎nd like a desert, the more you look, the more beauty you see and the more fascinated you become. The buildings are all on pylons. The people have adapted. Water has to be brought in. There are amazing different forms of adaptation.鈥�

Barker is speaking of Iqaluit, where he spent a few days in May to begin a project entitled 鈥淧rogram to Develop Government of Nunavut Leaders.鈥� The project grew out of a request by Nunavut鈥檚 government for proposals on how to better equip their civil servants and leaders. 鈥淲e were approached by the partners who put this proposal together, PGF Consultants and the Institute on Governance [IOG],鈥� explains Martine Durier-Copp, Director of the Centre for Advanced Management Education and one of the project leads for AV俱乐部. PGF and IOG, which work in leadership development, wanted an institutional partner to ensure the program鈥檚 educational quality, and because 鈥渢hey want to translate leadership development to graduate and undergraduate programs,鈥� says Durier-Copp. PGF, IOG and the other partners submitted their proposal to the Government of Nunavut in November 2014, and learned a few months later that they had won the contract.

聽鈥淚t鈥檚 a great point of prestige for us to be chosen,鈥� says Barker. 鈥淎V俱乐部鈥檚 primary role is to grant advanced standing towards some of our programs. We review the training programs to ensure that they are of a high academic standard, and offer a pathway into our Bachelor of Management and Master of Public Administration (Management) programs for students who have completed them.鈥� AV俱乐部 will be working with the project leaders as well as three other partners: First People鈥檚 Group, which will focus on incorporating Inuit culture into the program, Lead Action, which will provide much of the actual training, and the Government of Nunavut鈥檚 Arctic College, which will also deliver training. The educational programs will be offered to three groups of varying seniority in the government; instructors will deliver management courses in short modules. Barker, with Management colleagues Dr. Robert Moody and Dr. Dan Tucker, will contribute to curricula and course development.

聽鈥淔rom the Government of Nunavut鈥檚 perspective, that means there is a very high standard of education,鈥� explains Barker. From the Faculty of Management鈥檚 perspective, this is an opportunity to expand the Bachelor of Management program鈥檚 online delivery. At present, the MPA(M) is already available online, so graduates of the Nunavut program will be able to complete it long-distance. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a matter of articulating pathways in a way that works for the Government of Nunavut and the participants,鈥� says Barker. 鈥淭his program also creates the opportunity for the Faculty of Management to build on existing collaborative agreements between AV俱乐部 and Arctic College.鈥�

Nunavut鈥檚 government, he notes, has been extremely thoughtful about the program: 鈥淛ust to get to the stage of accepting proposals was four years of work. They鈥檝e researched and looked at what they need and want to accomplish.鈥� Geography makes Nunavut a unique territory for government and civil service, and visiting Iqaluit was eye-opening for Barker. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have an appreciation of Arctic Canada and its issues and its opportunities,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was a great way for me to be educated about those.鈥� Nunavut, he says, is dedicated to improving prosperity and health while maintaining a strong focus on Inuit culture. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 just grow,鈥� says Barker. 鈥淚t has to be sustainable. Just like the water. Developing leadership in its employees is an essential way of doing that, and that鈥檚 what AV俱乐部 is participating in.鈥� Through this project, the Faculty of Management is fulfilling part of its mandate for impact: 鈥淎n essential part of the Faculty and of the Rowe School is our ability to transform, because of the impact we can have,鈥� says Barker. 鈥淲e have never been involved with a government on this level, but we鈥檝e been selected to do so because of the quality of our programs and our reputation.鈥� Durier-Copp, who is hoping to eventually include all four schools in the Faculty of Management, is enthusiastic about the project. 鈥淭his is an incredible opportunity to help build the territory of Nunavut,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd to be a partner with them in a development project here in Canada.鈥�