Fred Longstaffe is hanging up his hat as Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at the end of his term to return to teaching and research.
Longstaffe announced today he would not seek a second term in his administrative role. His term ends on June 30, 2010.
Fred Longstaffe
“It was a very difficult decision and something I’ve been thinking about for just about a year now,” says Longstaffe. “By last fall I had more or less realized I have to choose between my lives if I was going to continue to pursue them at the highest possible levels.”
As Provost, Longstaffe’s portfolio includes academic units, Faculty Relations, the Office of the Registrar, student recruitment at the undergraduate and graduate level, Institutional Planning and Budgeting, the university library system and Information Technology Services.
“I’m torn to leave that behind because there are so many exciting things to do,” he says.
Over the past 16 years he has served in a range of academic administrative roles and has maintained an active research and teaching portfolio in the area of stable isotope science. He is currently supervising or co-supervising 20 graduate students.
“I have a super group of people that make the job as easy as it can be,” he says. “Looking at the increasing complexity in both of those roles … in the end I decided that I couldn’t continue to do the dual role for too much longer.
“Now is the time to get back to full-time teaching and research, which is a great passion of mine as well.”
Longstaffe still has an ambitious year ahead, promising to focus his efforts to support President Amit Chakma and Western’s aspirations for the upcoming year.
Among his many priorities for 2009/10, Longstaffe remains committed to making stage two of graduate expansion a success; ensuring the operating budget serves the needs of the university; and moving forward with the second phase of the Long-Range Space Plan.
Over the long term, he will continue to throw his support towards bringing a concert hall to the university and he is hoping to lay groundwork for the creation of a Western-based Advanced Study Institute, a venue for researchers at Western to collaborate with international experts and focus on a major issue.
Chakma has appreciated Longstaffe’s counsel during the transition to Western as president.
“While I am disappointed, I respect Fred’s decision and the reasons for it,” says Chakma.
“Fred sets high standards for himself and he does not feel he can continue to balance both of these demands equally well. Having personally faced this same crossroad in my career, I appreciate the difficulty of his decision.”
A Senate-appointed committee will soon begin the search to find a successor.