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Meet new Senate Chair Alan Pinder

Dr. Pinder took over as chair on July 1

- July 16, 2014

Alan Pinder, photographed outside of the Life Sciences Centre. (Danny Abriel photo)
Alan Pinder, photographed outside of the Life Sciences Centre. (Danny Abriel photo)

Given that he teaches evolutionary history, Alan Pinder is no stranger to how things change over time. But heā€™s still a bit surprised, looking back at his career, that he now finds himself taking on the role as chair of Senate, the universityā€™s primary academic governing body.

ā€œLook around this office: how much reading do you see on governance?ā€ he says with a laugh, gesturing at the piles of Biology books that line the walls of his Life Sciences Centre office. ā€œItā€™s not my experience, so itā€™s somewhat intimidating, but Iā€™m building on a lot of great work done in recent years.ā€

Dr. Pinder is no stranger to Senate, of course. He just completed a three-year term as vice-chair, student affairs, a role that oversees the non-program elements of Dalā€™s academic experience. That includes everything from plagiarism policies to student accommodation, from course evaluations to academic discipline procedures. Prior to that, he served as a Faculty of Science representative and sat on Senateā€™s Nominating and Discipline Committees. Ā 

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ā€œI came back from sabbatical and there was an opening for the Faculty of Scienceā€¦ I was told it was an opportunity for me, and it sounded interesting,ā€ he says. ā€œI knew Senate was the senior academic decision-making body at the university, but otherwise I didnā€™t know much about it, which is probably the same as a lot of people at Dal. And from there, if they find youā€™re willing to get involved, people start to take notice.ā€

The value of governance


Since then, heā€™s developed a great appreciation and respect for Senate and its work. Senateā€™s membership includes more than 50 faculty representatives, seven student reps and the universityā€™s academic administrative leadership. At times, grey areas can emerge between the responsibilities of Senate and the administration ā€” ā€œSenate sometimes is taken to task for things that arenā€™t part of our jurisdiction,ā€ notes Dr. Pinder, ā€œand sometimes administration is seen as responsible for things that are actually Senate policiesā€ ā€” but itā€™s through Senateā€™s eight standing committees that faculty senators make decisions that shape and set directions for Dalā€™s programs and academic life in general at the university.

ā€œThe value [of Senate] is the faculty can govern, to a large extent, what we do,ā€ explains Dr. Pinder, who in his role as chair oversees the agenda and overall function of Senate. ā€œThe faculty bring forward much of the programs, the research directions, the academic policies that we have here at pilipiliĀž»­. We may not always agree with our individual faculty colleagues across the hall or across campus, but we do have a say in the general direction of the university.ā€

He says the biggest challenge is making sure faculty appreciate and understand the role they play in how decisions are made at the university.

ā€œI see this as an important part of what faculty should spend time on,ā€ he says. ā€œItā€™s often something people donā€™t have time for, unfortunately, because there are so many other demands on time. But if we want faculty to be self-governing, if we want faculty to have a major hand in making decisions at the university, then you have to be willing to get involved.ā€

A career in evolution


Similar to his transition into Senate, Dr. Pinderā€™s teaching and research has undergone its own evolution during his 26 years at Dal, moving from studying the respiratory physiology of vertebrates and into the realm of marine biology. (Heā€™s currently undergraduate program coordinator of Dalā€™s Marine Biology program.)

ā€œIā€™ve 'gone marineā€™ relatively recently,ā€ he explains. ā€œI was working on amphibians, and then started breeding them, looking at juvenile stages and early developmental stages ā€” including eggs ā€” where diffusion is the only mechanism for exchange. Then from breeding amphibians I got into breeding fish, including Atlantic Salmon, then got into clownfish ā€” a marine reef fish ā€” and now Iā€™m doing research on coral reefs in Honduras.ā€

Serving as chair means his time with Senate will now increase to 60 per cent from its current 40 per cent as vice-chair. This means more time bringing faculty members together to come to key decisions ā€” but perhaps a little less time spent wearing his favourite fashions: an impressive collection of colourful T-shirts featuring all sorts of creatures, from turtles to puffins.

ā€œ[It comes] from being a biologist and preferring to wear T-shirts,ā€ he says, with a smile. ā€œAnd thereā€™s a lot of really neat biology t-shirts out there, so why not use ā€˜em?ā€