Confederation College President Pat Lang Most Proud Of Her Team’s Accomplishments
by Scott A. Sumner
www.thunderbaybusiness.ca
Pat Lang, President of Confederation College is set to retire this July after 11 years on the job. She was born and raised in Noranda Quebec and became bilingual very early in life. In a largely French community if she wanted to play she had to learn French quickly. Lang’s dad worked for the railroad and her mom was a nurse. Pat Lang herself obtained her undergraduate degree in nursing from the University of New Brunswick where it was very common for Anglophones to pursue their education on the East coast. She practiced for a summer as a nurse and then began teaching right away except for one year in public health.
It was fun to sit down and ask Pat some questions about her time at Confederation College
You have had a long career in education?
My entire career has been in teaching. I started teaching nursing in Rouyn Noranda in French. My career has been 41 years this year. My husband was a banker and every time he got a move we just got up and moved so I have been to many communities.
How have you enjoyed living In Thunder Bay?
I have been here since July 2000 and love it. My daughter and her husband live here and we are settled. It was place that was very easy to fall in love it. The people that are here really bring the place alive and give it energy. The college is located in a beautiful setting. The college across NW Ontario is an integral part of the fabric of the communities we serve. I had the privilege to be with all these people and play. I love the college system. I just think if you
want to see a system where everyday people have a chance to change their lives it is through community college education. It is just one of those gifts in life.
Confederation College plays a very important role in Northwestern Ontario?
You see students on the first day of class and they are nervous. It is big building with lots of people in the hallways. You can watch that metamorphous they undergo. They graduate and cross the stage with a sense of pride and accomplishment and a plan for their future. We know our staff has been able to reach out and touch these people to help them accomplish their goals, dreams and aspirations.
We have campuses in Dryden, Fort Frances, Kenora, Sioux Lookout, and Geraldton while next month we open in Wawa and Red Lake. This is the first college I have been where I found truly geographically based learners. If we don’t bring the opportunities right to them they don’t
participate. Our Board has wanted a true community college across the NW Ontario. When I started here 10 years ago we had 3000 full time and about 6000 part time students. Now we have 4000 full time and 8000 part-time students. We have a Board of Governors. The Board is the moral ownership and responsible for the overall strategic direction. We find ourselves in the communities because their long term vision.
You have some excellent new programs that meet the needs of the area?
Our staff of 400 full time and 200 Part time reach out to the communities and find out the needs there on a day to day to basis. Our academic leaders and managers come up with new programs. We know that 85 % of students who choose college in northwestern Ontario chose us and 83 % of our graduates end up working here in NW Ontario which reaffirms we are offering the right mix of programs.
There have been many new physical changes at Confederation College in your time frame here?
We started with the new ACE, Aviation Centre of Excellence, then the Forestry, Applied Media Production, New Paterson Library, renovation for Trades and Technology and now the new health building REACH. Regularly we go out and hold the presidents community panels across NW Ontario and repetitively heard about the expansion of health care worker needs. The new 47,000 square feet REACH building is a beautiful space. It has the latest in simulation equipment. We have simulators that can actually talk to you. If you touch them they say ouch that hurts! Our faculty can program them to a specific case such as a heart attack. There is an apartment there so all our health workers will know what it is like to get help people in a real setting. It was the last area of the college that had not seen a refurbishment. We can also broadcast the cases there into the region. There will also be a court room there to give our students an idea of the structure and what it is like being in a court room with the significance and important.
How have you seen your role as President?
It was really to listen whether it was the community or our staff communicating. It is all about listening. The faculty and staff know me well enough so they would ask me to come and see something. In our dental area they put together a proposal of what a new state of the art
clinic would like and we were able to accomplish that. In our media area before they went to digital they sent me to a conference of the latest and greatest things because they knew once we saw it I would be motivated to help get it. The same thing happened when it was a new
airplane. The staff would come and get me to fly in a new airplane. They knew how to motivate me. It is easy to see when you experience it first hand. We had a time when there was no money to invest in education but we heard loudly from students how important modern is. In
the last 10 years we have seen $62 million in new capital investments here.
Why are you retiring at this time?
I think the time is right. The college is in a good place. The enrolment is increasing. Our staff are dedicated and have energy. We have new community leaders including a new Lakehead University President, new CEO at the hospital, a new CEO at the LIN, new municipal leaders and elections at the provincial and possibly federal level. What a great time for that group to get together as community leaders and build their relationships. The time is right for the college to build a new leader.
What has been your biggest accomplishment at Confederation College?
As a team we have been able to accomplish a lot of things. I am mostly proud of the work all of our staff does on an everyday basis working with students and the community to help everyone realize their potential. That is what has pleased me the most over the last 10 years
What will you do next Pat?
I don’t know what I will do, but it will be semi retirement. It is hard to get from 150 MPH down to 0 MPH in a day. We are going to stay in Thunder Bay. I would like to work part time after taking some time to take a deep breath.
Editors Note:
Best Wishes to you, Pat on the next stage of your life! I am sure everyone would agree that you have done a great job for Northwestern Ontario and should be very proud of your work here.
