Trailblazers

by Mike Kennedy

THE INCREASING NUMBERS OF WOMEN WHO HAVE SCALED THE HEIGHTS TO REACH SENIOR LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS OWE A BIG PART OF THEIR SUCCESS TO THE TRAILBLAZERS WHO PRECEDED THEM.

One such pioneer is Lynne Pearson, Dean of the College of Commerce at the University of Saskatchewan. In a career that spans nearly 40 years, Pearson has repeatedly proven her abilities in a variety of top jobs in both public service and academia. When she began her career, women in senior management jobs were few and far between. Over the years, as she rose in the public service hierarchy, she witnessed a huge change in attitudes towards women in the workplace.

“Although women are still not as fully represented in senior executive positions as they probably should be, there are still many more women executives today than was the case when I graduated,” she says. “What’s encouraging is the change in the way these women are perceived. There is much greater acceptance of women in managerial roles, and much more of an expectation that talented women will rise to positions of leadership.”

She also takes pride in noting that acceptance of women within the academic environment has improved dramatically over the years. At the College of Commerce, for example, 55% of the students are female, and a number of women have risen to the rank of Associate or Full Professor. “Traditionally, women faced a disadvantage in academic life because the period when they were expected to be establishing their careers also coincided with their prime childbearing years,” she says. “I’ve been pleased to see that universities today have become much more sensitized to the family considerations that women academics have to contend with – and as a result, I think that female professors can now compete with their male colleagues for advancement on a much more level playing field.”

COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
In the eight years since she became Dean of Saskatchewan’s College of Commerce, Pearson has been focusing on priorities such as strengthening the school’s highly regarded undergraduate program, revamping its MBA curriculum, fostering a higher level of research activity within the College, and developing new programs to respond to the needs of special constituencies, such as Saskatchewan’s aboriginal community.

“We undertook a systematic review of all our programs, and this exercise was very useful in terms of helping us to see where the opportunities for improvement were present,” Pearson says. “As a result, we decided to focus our efforts on several key objectives. First, we resolved to try to elevate our Bachelor of Commerce program from being a good program to an excellent one. Second, we decided to place greater emphasis on strengthening our graduate programs and improving our research productivity. Third, we concluded it would make a great deal of sense to try to differentiate ourselves by devoting more attention to specialized programs that are appropriate for the market we serve here in Saskatchewan.”

The changes to the College’s programs over the past several years have been noteworthy. In 1998, the College introduced a Master of Professional Accounting program – and to date graduates of this course have averaged an impressive 84% first-time pass rate on the demanding Uniform Final Evaluation that is required to attain the Chartered Accountant designation. More recently, in 2003, Saskatchewan launched a new and substantially redesigned MBA program that can be completed within twelve months, and offers students the choice of five different areas of specialization.

Plans are now in the works to develop a doctoral program in accounting that will help satisfy a pressing global demand for new academic talent in the field. One initiative that Pearson is particularly pleased with is the success that the College of Commerce has had in reaching out to the aboriginal student population in Saskatchewan. Following internal studies completed in the early 1990s, administrators at the College determined that there was a need to do more to make its programs accessible to aboriginal students. Corporate support for this endeavour was provided by Scotiabank, which gave the College a $250,000 grant in 1996 that enabled it to establish a new senior management position responsible for aboriginal business education.

Today, for aboriginal students seeking an education that will open doors in the business world, there’s no better place to be than the College of Commerce. At the undergraduate level, through a unique partnership between the College and the First Nations University of Canada, students can complete a Certificate in Indigenous Business Administration that qualifies them to enter the third year of the Bachelor of Commerce program. For those interested in a graduate degree, Saskatchewan offers a specialization in Indigenous Management as one option within its MBA program.

Pearson notes with pride that these efforts have led to a substantial increase in the number of aboriginal students who are choosing to attend the University of Saskatchewan. “We view the aboriginal community as being a very important constituency, and we’ve worked very hard to create a welcoming environment for aboriginal students,” she says. “As a result, the College now has over 140 aboriginal students enrolled –about 10% of our total student population – and the number keeps growing. This is one area in which I think we can say that we have shown some real leadership.”

As for the future, Pearson wants to concentrate on building upon the College of Commerce’s distinctive strengths and supporting future growth and progress in the areas in which it can excel. “Our mission is to make a real difference in the market that we serve through high standards of attainment in our teaching, research, and service to the community,” she says. “It is through that commitment to quality and innovation that we’re able to provide educational value to our students, and to the people of Saskatchewan.”


BIOGRAPHY
After earning degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and Carleton University, Lynne Pearson began her career in the mid-1960s with the City of Ottawa. After receiving her M.A. in Community Development from the University of Alberta in 1971 she continued her career in public service, eventually becoming a Deputy Minister in the Government of Saskatchewan in 1979. She later moved to the federal government, where she served as the CEO of three Special Operating Agencies: Consulting and Audit Canada; Training and Development Canada; and the Canada Communication Group. She also served as Assistant Deputy Minister of Western Economic Diversification. In 1996, she was appointed as the Dean of the College of Commerce of the University of Saskatchewan. In 2002, she was awarded the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Gold Medal for Public Service (sponsored by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada). In 2002, she also won the Athena Award, for being outstanding in one’s profession and for assisting the advancement of women (an award sponsored by the Business and Professional Women’s Club and the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce).

Mike Kennedy is a Certified Management Consultant and President of Kennedy Management Services. He can be reached at mkennedy@idirect.com.