Reflections of the King's president

William Barker, the outgoing president of the University of King’s College, reflects on his tenure at Canada’s oldest chartered university. (Photo: Jillian Coubrough)

William Barker smiles and points to the antique gold frame hanging on the wall across the board room - recalling when he was interviewed for the job of president of Canada's oldest chartered university.

"I was actually sitting in this chair next to me, and I could see my face in that mirror."

Seven years ago, as he sat with his reflection staring back at him, Barker was asked what his vision was for the University of King's College, founded in 1789.

"I came in with no vision," he says. "It would have been a mistake for me to have a vision. I needed to listen to people and find out what their vision was before I could form one."

His listen-then-lead approach is what carried him through conflicts that arose during his tenure. Barker recalls a panic in 2008 over budget problems. A year later, The Chronicle Herald brought unwelcomed attention to King's "projected $1.1-million deficit."

"You have to deal with fairly tense situations .... I've learned my role is to try and help provide stability within the institution. My metaphor is a little bit on the shepherd side - not that my faculty and students are sheep, far from it. They're more like a pack of wolves," he jokes.

The bad 2009-10 year actually turned out to be a good year, according to Barker. Enrolment, and government grants were all up and, while the school is still facing a deficit mainly for maintenance of the old buildings, it is "in a low-debt situation compared to a lot of the other universities."

"Our reputation is terrific ... the very important thing to remind ourselves, is we've been around for 200-plus years and we're still going strong."

Barker says his interest in university administration comes from his love for university life and his drive to make things happen. He started working on small committees before rising to department head at Memorial University in St. John's N.L.

The new president will be chosen by a search committee and take office next June. Kim Kierans, vice president of King's, is on the committee and helped revise the candidate criteria.

"Circumstances have changed in so much that it's a tighter financial world," says Kierans. "What we're stressing is financial management and leadership in that area, which will be important to get us through these rough times."

According to a summary of the recent O'Neill report on post-secondary education in Nova Scotia, universities are facing government funding cutbacks, tuition increases and falling enrolment rates.

After this year, Barker will spend his one-year administrator's leave working on research and eventually return to both King's and Dalhousie to teach English.

As for his replacement, "I would hope whoever comes along is super observant about the nature of the institution, respectful of the way that it is, but also that they see things that the people at the institution don't necessarily see."

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