PORT HAWKESBURY: The long-serving principal of the Nova Scotia Community College Strait Area Campus is leaving the position at the end of March.
“Fortunately I’m staying with the college, it’s just moving to a different role,” Tom Gunn told The Reporter. “I had a wonderful time as principal. I had a great team to work with so I feel very fortunate.”
Gunn noted that much of his family is living in the Halifax Regional Municipality right now, and the move made sense at this point in his life.
First appointed principal of the Strait Area Campus in 2008, Gunn will become the NSCC’s new dean of the School of Trades and Transportation, a role he will be taking over on March 30.
Although he will be leaving the region, Gunn said this new job will have an impact on the local campus.
“For me, I’ll have the responsibility of trades and transportation which impacts the Strait Area Campus a lot because we have two academic chairs involved in that here,” he explained. “The Nautical Institute will be part of my portfolio as well. For me, it’s a change of roles but I’ll still be very involved in the Strait area and Cape Breton as well.”
The NSCC’s Vice-president of Campuses and Communities is starting the process of finding a permanent replacement, and in the meantime, Academic Chair Chris Goyetche will serve as interim principal until her retirement at the end of June.
“Then the hope is to have a new principal in place in June some time,” Gunn said. “It’ll be a pretty seamless transition I think.”
Looking back on his 12 years as principal, Gunn pointed to a number of successes, including the current construction of new residences.
“We’re still targeting a date of October or November when it opens,” Gunn noted. “When the job is finished, then we have to get the furniture in. We’re kind of targeting that we may take limited applications in the [next] year for that residence.
“We’re happy with the progress. We’re a little bit behind schedule but not too bad and things seem to be going well.”
Gunn added that all this would be impossible without the support of the community, staff and students.
“For the campus, it’s certainly time for fresh ideas and for a new start,” Gunn said. “I’ve been very grateful for the support I’ve had in the community, and with the staff and students here, it’s been a wonderful, wonderful group to work with. The campus has done really well and the college really believes a lot in the potential here and the opportunities here.
“It’s a wonderful to be able to see young people come and their lives get transformed through education, and then they go on to build careers and support their family, so it’s a wonderful organization to be a part of.”
For more on the new residences at the local campus, check out: https://prwpuploads.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/new-nscc-strait-area-campus-residence-will-help-school-and-region-grow/.