AST extends president's term

President committed to increasing AST’s visibility and endowments

Canon Beresford wil serve as AST's president for another three years. Photo provided by AST.

The board of governors at the Atlantic School of Theology has approved a three-year extension to the contract of the current president, Reverend Canon Eric Beresford.

Beresford was originally selected for the position of president of AST in 2004. The president of the school is always chosen exclusively by the board of governors.

Beresford's contract would have come to an end in December 2009 if the board had not chosen to extend it.

The AST's student union president, Kyle Wagner, says he is pleased the contract has been extended because Beresford has a great relationship with the students.

"He's a good administrator and a great professor and I think he has made AST more visible in Halifax and across the country," Wagner said.

"He really makes an effort to be with the students."

AST continues to grow

Beresford says he is proudest of the time he has spent building the visibility of AST and the growth of the student population.

"We grew by nine per cent last year," said Beresford. "I wouldn't expect to do that every year but I would expect to see continuing growth in enrolment."

Beresford has also committed to building the number of endowments the school receives.

"This is a school that hasn't had a history of building endowments. We're beginning to build the relationships with friends who can help us achieve that."

Beresford is the first president of AST not to live on campus. He says what used to be the president's lodge is now used as offices for the Canadian Centre of Ethics and Public Affairs. However, Beresford says his job requires a lot of hours spent on and off campus.

"This is far from being a nine-to-five job," Beresford said. "It's fairly intensive work."

Nicholas Hatt, a former AST student who served on the Senate committee last year, says Beresford has achieved a lot at AST but still has work to do.

"He's accomplished quite a lot and it really seems to me like they're just trying to keep a good thing going."

Putting AST on the map

Beresford said the hardest part of his job is trying to balance the wide range of concerns that exist in an institution like AST.

"It is a complex institution with a lot of layers to it and within those layers there are different hopes and aspirations, different interests. I'm trying to balance those in ways that are fair and generous and really for the well-being of the institution as a whole."

AST currently has 140 students enrolled in degree programs and 14 students in certificate programs. The faculty consists of seven full-time employees, eight sessional faculty and three administrative persons who also teach.

Jane Clattenburg, chair of the board of governors, said Beresford is an active advocate for bringing public attention to AST.

Beresford is "very much working towards making inroads into having the world know more about AST and about putting AST on the map," Clattenburg said.

Clattenburg said the board takes several factors into consideration when deciding who should be elected president, including the president's campus work and off-campus work.

"We looked at community relations, we looked at leadership, we looked at how he relates to the spiritual needs of the school as well as how he initiates new initiatives," Clattenburg said.

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