The voice of the community to the University of Alberta now hails from St. Albert.
Local communications consultant Peggy Garritty was installed as the U of A's new chancellor last week. It’s largely a ceremonial role and a volunteer one at that, but one that the well-versed leader is eager to tackle with resolve and grace.
So what is a chancellor exactly?
“It's something I've been learning a lot about because I think we all hear that word ‘chancellor’ and don't really understand what that role is. It's actually a legislated role. It is really about bringing the voice of the community to the university,” she began.
“I think of it as a bridge because it's trying to connect with people in the community, understand what's on their minds, what issues concern them, and bringing that to the university – and at the same time, trying to share with people in the community so many stories that the university has to tell about the incredible things that go on there: the research, the teaching, the things that happen with students, the variety of students and what they bring.”
The chancellor is the ceremonial head of the university, and that person also chairs the senate while serving on the board of governors and representing the university at ceremonial events such as graduations.
Garritty is no stranger to the university, holding a Master's degree in Sociology. Her new office at Convocation Hall is a source of great joy, too. After her post-secondary education, she worked for the provincial government in the Departments of Education and Advanced Education.
“You get a sense of policy work and how provincial governments work. I was there for quite some time.”
She established PG Communications in 1993 and has been involved in some major provincial and even national projects. She wrote both the Romanow Commission report on the future of health care in Canada and the Mazankowski Report on health care in Alberta.
And that’s not all.
“Actually, while everyone's talking about equalization, I actually wrote the last report, that was the last major review that the federal government did of the equalization program way back when. That was my business: primarily a writer and helping take really complicated issues – there is nothing more complicated than equalization – and trying to put that into words that more people could understand.”
In between all of those high-level reports, she also held the post as the chief reputation and brand officer at ATB for a decade or so. That job, she noted, was also about communications and the corporation’s role in the community.
One easily gets the sense that Garritty knows how to act as that very valuable bridge between institutions and individuals, and help them to work together through improved communications and mutually beneficial relationships.
Although she is still only a week into her four-year stint, she has already faced the challenge of working to bring people together during a time of great physical distancing.
“It's been an interesting time for me. On March 6, that's when I learned that I had been elected ... and then within a week everything shut down. You think how everything changes almost in the blink of an eye,” she reflected. “But because it was a fair amount of time between then and my installation, people at the university – Chancellor (Douglas) Stollery, the existing president, the new president, the board chair, and the staff and different people – they've all been so generous with their time. I've really been able to learn more and more about what the role is and what the issues are that the university is facing and how the university plans to address some of those on a go-forward basis.
“I feel like I'm as well informed as someone can be when they haven't actually done the job. Now, it's just about juggling time. I'll put a lot of my business stuff on the backburner, especially for this next little while, while I'm really getting up to speed.”
