New Brock dean pushing for well-rounded grads
Internationally-respected scientist Jens Coorssen is settling into a new position as Brock University’s dean of graduate studies.
And a big focus for Coorssen is encouraging graduates to be adaptable to diverse future career paths.
“The idea is to continue building graduate studies to further facilitate the existing programs, develop new programs, and certainly emphasize the international face of Brock,” said Coorssen, 53.
“And really put more emphasis on building a bigger PhD cohort across discipline areas, because we are a comprehensive university and we need to increase that PhD core even more.”
Coorssen, a Brock alumnus, left his position as chair of molecular physiology in the school of medicine at Australia’s Western Sydney University. He began his five-year term at Brock last month. He succeeds Michael Plyley, who stepped down as dean when his five-year term expired June 30. Plyley continues at Brock.
Coorssen, who graduated from Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, has had a career that has included appointments in Germany, the U.S. and across Canada before he joined Western Sydney University in 2008. His research has spanned disciplines including cell physiology, electrophysiology, proteomics and lipidomics.
The work has focused on a number of health areas, including injuries to the spinal cord and central nervous system, seizure disorders and cognitive deficiencies.
At Brock, Coorssen said, he’ll be focused on “further integration of programs, and see myself also focusing on needing to de- velop more well-rounded graduate students.”
That said, being an “absolute expert in your discipline area” is still essential, he said. “It’s excellence and rigour, first and foremost.”
However, international statistics as of about three years ago show only about 30 per cent of PhD graduates in the future will actually be employed in academia, he said. This academic year, Brock had 1,649 grad students.
“So we need more well-rounded graduates who are going to find jobs in industry, government and other business sectors — and in education — in ways they maybe haven’t been employed before (including entrepreneurship and starting businesses),” Coorssen said.
“This is going to be a much bigger area of focus, so we need to adapt the graduate programs to give students in each discipline area a broader view of other discipline areas.”
Coorssen was born in Sarnia, and was raised in St. Catharines starting as a young child. He also attended Prince Philip and Dalewood schools.
Coorssen, who lives in the Garden City, said he is waiting for his family — wife Susan and three sons Max and twins Owen and Liam — to move back from Australia after selling their house there.