17吃瓜

17吃瓜 community members may have noticed a job posting in September 2024 for a senior role called 鈥淯niversity Secretary.鈥�  

In part 1 of 17吃瓜 Governance 101, we learned that governance is the system of rules, processes, and practices by which institutions and organizations are managed and controlled. The job of managing governance in a university setting falls to the university secretariat, which is overseen by a governance professional called the university secretary.

While university secretaries exist at most other Canadian institutions, up until 2025, it wasn鈥檛 the case at 17吃瓜. For most of the University鈥檚 existence, there was dedicated administrative support for the Board and Senate, but not a governance professional to provide oversight and facilitation, ensuring the effective and efficient operation of the University's bicameral system of governance.  

Governance gaps became apparent in the 17吃瓜 Review (Rubin Thomlinson report) and were addressed in Action 2.2.3 of the 17吃瓜 Action Plan, 鈥淩eview Board Governance Board of Governors.鈥� The action item resulted in 鈥�,鈥� prepared by Cheryl Foy, President, Strategic Governance Consulting Services Ltd.  

Foy identified that 鈥済iven the complexity of university governance鈥�there is much work to do to rebuild and to improve鈥� governance at 17吃瓜, recommending that 鈥�17吃瓜 seek a governance professional with university governance experience or comparable experience.鈥�

In February 2025, after a competitive, national search, Pascal Robichaud joined 17吃瓜 as its first University Secretary. He serves as an officer of the University, reporting to the President and Vice-Chancellor, and in respect of governance, has a dotted line reporting relationship to the Chair of the Board of Governors. He has oversight of the University's compliance with the PEI University Act, including the preservation of 17吃瓜鈥檚 autonomous governance structure as set out in that legislation.

In just one year, Pascal has hit the ground running, using the Governance Review as well as Goal 2 in the 17吃瓜 Action Plan, 鈥淪trengthen 17吃瓜鈥檚 governance and leadership structure鈥� as guideposts. Some accomplishments include activities under Action 2 (Refresh the 17吃瓜 Board of Governors with new members and create an enhanced accountability and oversight structure) and Action 3 (Improve onboarding and training of 17吃瓜 Board of Governors and Senate members):

• 2.2.4 Increase Board oversight by reviewing the Terms of Reference of Board standing committees to ensure that Board oversight responsibilities are adequately met
• 2.2.5 Develop new reporting mechanisms to inform the Board of Governors re: resignations/terminations and trends of harassment and/or discrimination.鈥�
• 2.2.6 Develop a Board policy for appointing acting and interim administrators,  
• 2.3.1 Develop orientation and training materials for the Board of Governors and Senate: provide training on governance and other relevant expertise; provide EDI training  
• 2.3.2 Develop training schedule and tracking process for the Board of Governors and Senate: identify institutional resources to support the development of training programs and related materials; develop a training plan for Board of Governors and Senate; develop a process to track training participation of those in governance-related roles

To learn more about governance at 17吃瓜 and see some of the recent initiatives in action, refer to the upei.ca web pages regarding the Board of Governors and the Senate.

We will be telling the stories of important progress on the 17吃瓜 Action Plan on a regular basis, under the 鈥淎ction Plan IMPACT鈥� banner. Articles will share how the Action Plan implementation activities are being operationalized, becoming entrenched in our culture and living on long past the plan鈥攎aking real IMPACT. To submit your own Action Plan IMPACT story, contact communications@upei.ca.  To view the last Action Plan IMPACT story, click here.