A musician with a love for social sciences
Ian Sutherland is Grenfell Campus’s new VP (pro tempore)
CORNER BROOK — With the world still not out of the woods when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the state of the province’s financial situation, Ian Sutherland knows it’s not the calmest time to start in a new position.
“It’s a time of heightened change,” said Sutherland, who takes over as vice-president (pro tempore) of Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook on Tuesday.
Then again, Sutherland is used dealing with change. Having served as dean of Memorial University’s school of music for the past five years, he’s annually dealt with budget reductions, tightening and issues around money.
“So, none of that is new.” There might be a bit more work in order to understand the implications of the most recent provincial budget, which calls for cutting the Memorial’s operating budget by $2.6 million.
“A heightened change for sure, but with that, there will be great opportunities as well, said Sutherland, who is originally from Lewisporte.
His parents were educators, so he grew up in a home that was dedicated to learning.
“And they wanted me to have a wide education, he said.
That included starting piano lessons at the age of 10.
“And it turned out I was pretty good at it,” he said with a laugh.
His passion and love for music resulted in him completing both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in piano performance at MUN.
As dean, his focus was on administration of the school of music, but were some opportunities to directly work with students by co-teaching a leadership course and supervising undergraduate experiential learning projects. He’s also done some applied piano teaching.
He still plays the piano and has performed with other faculty members, but now mostly plays for his own personal enjoyment.
“I often will say that I used to be a professional pianist, now I don’t practise enough for anybody to pay to hear me.”
For him, playing the piano is very soul satisfying and therapeutic.
When it comes to performing, he still finds it nerve-wracking; “You learn to manage nerves, but they never ever go away.”
As passionate as he is about music, he has another love and that, perhaps surprisingly, is social science.
Sutherland has a PHD in sociology and philosophy, with a focus on music in society.
“But what really drives me, what really excites me is getting people together to do really cool stuff. Which is my basic definition of leadership,” he said.
So when the position at Grenfell opened up, he saw it as an exciting opportunity to further that interest at a location he finds inspirational.
“I think (Grenfell is) a phenomenal place of learning and research. It’s got a wonderful community feel.”
He’ll be in the role for the next two years.
His focus will be on continuing the commitment to community that is a big part of Grenfell’s strategic plan and something in which his predecessor, Jeff Keshen, was heavily involved.
And there will be a concentration on equity, diversity, inclusion and indigenization.
Sutherland says he also looking forward to seeing some of Grenfell’s major projects, like the centre for research and innovation and the new aquatic centre, come to fruition.