New President

Meet the new CNC president

Oct 1, 2019 | 11:32 AM

PRINCE GEORGE – There’s a new face at the head of the College of New Caledonia. Dr. Dennis Johnson is originally a BC product but his most recent job was at Sask PolyTechnic, where he held the post of Provost as well as the VP of Strategy and Business Development. He says, like CNC, the SaskTechnic has many satellite campuses and that model appeals to him.

“Access is important to me. Community colleges are really a transformative type of institution,” he says. “It’s getting access for those who might not otherwise engage. How we do that? It’s too early for me to say but I’ll be working towards improving and increasing access.”

He says he will be visiting every one of the CNC campuses in the weeks ahead as he starts to get a feel for the region.

The College’s current strategic plan expires in June of next year and that’s where Johnson’s business development background will come into play.

“We had a strategic approach to most things. Evidence-informed approach whether it was high-level strategic planning or operational decision making, it was all about doing the due diligence and not making uninformed decisions.” Johnson also instructed at Okanagan University College and Thompson Rivers University and took on leadership roles at Thompson Rivers before moving to Saskatchewan.