Appointment of New Academic Dean

At the Board of Governors meeting of Monday, June 9, Diane Gauvin was unanimously approved as the new Academic Dean (as per clause 4.11 of Bylaw 1) for a five-year term commencing November 15, 2014. She will take up her duties in the interim as outgoing Academic Dean Robert Kavanagh winds down toward his retirement on November 14.

Diane has been with the College since 1998 when she began as a teacher in Business Administration. In 2000, she became Chair of the department, showing leadership in the area of student success, program development, staffing and registration which led to significant improvement of Key Performance Indicators. In 2005, she became Dean of Social Science and Business Technologies, where she oversaw 7 programs, 9 profiles and 15 disciplines in both the day division and Continuing Education. She collaborated with faculty members, deans, directors, managers, professionals and support staff in the development and implementation of numerous projects that support the college’s mission and objectives.

She was instrumental in the development of the First Nations’ Kiuna Institution as a Centre d’études collégiales, and provided guidance to its Director to ensure that all ministerial requirements were met. On the international front, she developed agreements with institutions in France and Mexico and managed most student travel studies projects offered at Dawson. As well, she developed and implemented Dawson’s first Alternance Travail-Etudes programs and represented Dawson on several external committees including the Comité consultatif de l’année préparatoire des HEC, the Comité consultatif sur l’évaluation de l’efficacité des systèmes d’assurance qualité des collèges of the Commission d’évaluation de l’enseignement collégial and the ACCC Indigenous Education Committee.

She also taught International Business at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. Prior to her teaching career, Diane worked in management in the airline industry. She holds a Masters of Business Administration from McGill University (Strategic Management and International Business), a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University (International Business and Marketing) and a DEC from Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf.

We know the Community will support Diane as she takes on her new duties.