Tim Rahilly
Tim Rahilly’s “gift of the gab” and childhood habit of negotiating everything had his mother recommending a law career.
But in his first year of college in hometown Montreal, the new president and vice-chancellor of Mount Royal University took a psychology elective.
“I sat through class thinking, ‘This is all common sense, when are we going to get to the hard stuff ?’ I aced the exams while other people were carrying on about their marks. It just came naturally to me.”
Rahilly, who has a PHD in psychology, took over the helm of MRU in May after serving since 2010 as vice-provost of students and international at Simon Fraser University.
While his academic career launched as a part-time lecturer at Mcgill, a stint in the airline industry began with a job posting he read out to students.
“I was poor, needed the money to pay my student loans, so I took a job in human resources with Air Canada.”
The airline started a management university where Rahilly trained employees in leadership, group dynamics and team management.
When his partner, who was doing his medical residency, moved back to Vancouver, Rahilly followed. But tiring Air Canada workdays spent travelling as far afield as Asia sent him back to the world of academia.
Rahilly, 54, was drawn to MRU because he loves teaching: “I believe passionately in the mission of post-secondary education.”
That includes supporting students as “whole people,” a core principle at MRU.
This year, after provincial cutbacks, Rahilly acknowledges part of his focus will be balancing MRU’S budget with other priorities determined after conversations with campus communities.
Besides academic excellence, he will emphasize programs supporting students’ physical and mental well-being.
“I had a very hard time in school. I had dyslexia, though I didn’t know it at the time, and I struggled academically,” says Rahilly. “But I came alive in university because I discovered my passion. I discovered I was a competent human being. I want to ignite that passion in others.”