U of O welcomes new dean
photo by Alex Martin
Research set to be new focus of the social science faculty
WHILE UNIVERSITY OF Ottawa students enjoyed time off during reading week, the faculty of social sciences took the time to welcome Marcel Mérette as its new dean.
“[The transition] is going very well, fortunately,” said Mérette. “It’s fun, but it’s very busy.”
The position was left vacant when former social sciences dean François Houle left in 2009 in order to become vice president academic and provost with the university administration.
Mérette, a former professor, vice-dean of research, and interim vice-dean of graduate studies in the faculty of social sciences, was eager to express his anticipation for the new position.
“To become the new dean of the faculty of social sciences is an honour I accept with a lot of humility,” he said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues and students.”
Filling the position of dean was a decision not taken lightly. The application process lasted over six months until Mérette was officially announced as Houle’s successor on Feb. 15.
“It’s a competition for internal and external candidates,” said Mérette. “You [had] to submit your CV and submit a letter of intent. Then there is a [hiring] committee. They selected a few and made interviews. Out of the five [people who were interviewed], three were selected for the final step, which was a presentation in front of the faculty. It’s a long process.”
Mérette holds a master’s degree in political analysis from Université Laval and a doctorate in economic science from the Université de Montréal. For the first year of his deanship, however, Mérette expects he will not be able to teach as much as he has in the past.
“I would like to keep teaching,” said Mérette. “It’s always good to keep in touch with the students.”
Because he is no stranger to the administrative system at the faculty, Mérette has a clear idea of what areas of the faculty need improvement. Rather than adding more programs, Mérette plans to improve the ones already in place. Considering the financial challenges currently faced by the government of Ontario, opportunities for large-scale program expansion will not likely be available.
“We don’t expect [the past growth] to continue because the financial context is very different,” said Mérette. “[Now is] the time to make sure that we do [consultations on] our new programs and make sure that they’re doing well. [We want] to improve the quality, not necessarily the quantity.”
Mérette has plans to focus on departmental research in hopes of bringing new funds into the faculty—not solely from the provincial government, but potentially from the federal government and international organizations, as well.
“We need to focus a bit more on research now, because the funding from the government will probably not grow very much,” he said. “One way to get new funding would be through research [grants].
“We have a large number of professors who are hungry for research,” continued Mérette. “So I think that for our faculty, one of the challenges is trying to facilitate their capacity to do their research. And if they do well, then it will probably be easier to get funding [for more research].”
Mérette knows that the years ahead will be filled with challenges, but with the help of the U of O’s strategic planning, he hopes to improve the quality of education at the faculty of social sciences.
“We have a lot of work to do,” he said. “I’d say that the biggest challenge between now and next year is to make sure that we know what we want, and we are implementing what we need [to in order] to make sure that we can obtain our objectives.”
