Brophy leaving BU for position in Halifax

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/07/2016 (3535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A member of Brandon University’s senior administration will be leaving the Wheat City this fall, it was announced Friday afternoon.

Tom Brophy, who has served as the school’s registrar and associate vice-president of student services and enrolment management for the last three years, will move to Halifax to become the senior director of student services at Saint Mary’s University in September.

Brophy will be replaced by Katie Gross, who’ll take on the role of acting dean of student services, and Andrea McDaniel as acting registrar.

Originally from Newfoundland, a move eastward was a big factor in Brophy’s decision to move, he said.

“Coming from a large family and moving to the Halifax area, I have a lot of family in Ontario and a lot of family in Newfoundland so that brings me to the crossroads between the two,” he said.

St. Mary’s has about double the student population of BU.

Brandon University Students’ Union president Nick Brown said his group “loved working with Tom over the past couple years.”

“It’s going to be a big loss to the university with him leaving,” he said.

Brophy oversaw several initiatives on campus, including the Indigenous Peoples’ Centre, the Success1 Transition Year program, and BU’s commitment to the Indigenous Education Blueprint, signed last winter.

“I take the boy scout approach, you always want to leaving things better than you’ve found them and I certainly think we’ve done that. I really feel comfortable that in the interim (the school is) being left in good hands,” he said.

Brophy was in charge during the controversy this past spring over the school’s use of a “behavioural contract” to restrict a student from speaking about a complaint she made that she had been sexually assaulted.

Brown said Brophy “wasn’t involved” in what led to the behavioural contract.

“It was not his policy, it was not his actions directly,” he said.

BU president Gervan Fearon called Brophy an “outstanding individual,” who contributed to the school’s recent success in enrolment, student success and international recruiting.

“It’s always a positive item when other universities look towards the talent we’ve got here in Brandon and at the university,” he said.

A release from BU announcing the departure noted Brophy’s “broad portfolio,” including recruitment and retention, academic advising, counselling, career services, accessibility services, residence life, international services, registrarial services, and academic skills services.

That portfolio will be divided up as the school moves to replace Brophy.

“These changes allow us as an institution to stand back and ask ourselves what’s best now for the institution and for the future, and we’ll have consultation with BUSU as well to make sure we’ll looking broadly across the university as to what are the needs and to make decisions accordingly,” Fearon said.

“I would like to see two people come back to replace the jobs he was doing, I think it’s too much for one person to do. He’s done it as effectively as he can but he’s got the longest job title on campus. It’s a lot of effort, lot of work to do,” Brown said.

» tbateman@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @tombatemann