Dr. Alex Clark will have a residence in town and vows to work with the community.

Alberta’s Advanced Education Minister is denying the government pressed Athabasca University to axe its president while defending the province’s role in setting directives for postsecondary institutions.

The leadership change follows a long-running dispute between the school and Alberta’s United Conservative Party government, which has been pushing for the online university to abandon its “near-virtual” strategy and ensure more staff are based in the small community that shares its name.

Dr. Alex Clark replaces Dr. Peter Scott to become the 11th president in the school’s history

Alex Clark replaces Peter Scott as AU's president after a turbulent year

After a long power struggle with Alberta’s government over the direction of Athabasca University, Peter Scott was on leave after his wife’s death when told of his firing.

After months of scrapping with the United Conservative Party government over the role Athabasca University should play in economic development for the Town of Athabasca, university president Peter Scott has been fired.

University of Athabasca's board of governors said Wednesday that Alex Clark will immediately replace Peter Scott, who was appointed president last January, after Scott clashed with the Alberta government's desire to have more of the school's executives and administrators live in the town.

Peter Scott, the Athabasca University president who openly defied the province's direction to drop the institution's move to virtual operations, was fired by the school's board of governors Wednesday. The board appointed Alex Clark, the university's dean of the faculty of health disciplines, to succeed him.

Athabasca University says “communication and consultation” on its long-anticipated Integrated Learning Environment project (ILE) has been “broad and extensive”, despite claims to the contrary by the Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA).

Faculty and staff look forward to stability as online university makes a modest increase in its local presence.

The Athabasca University Faculty Association, comprised of Athabasca University (AU) staff across many disciplines, wrote an open letter to the AU executive citing concrns and issues with the Integrated Learning Environment.

Athabasca University Board of Governors unanimously voted to accept the new Investment Management Agreement from the Alberta Government Nov. 30. AU president Peter Scott abstained from voting.

The Alberta government has struck a deal with Athabasca University that will see the post-secondary institution increase the number of employees who live in the town that the mostly online university is named for.

Athabasca University has committed to bringing more jobs to the town. Specifically, the agreement stipulates that four of the university’s nine executive members must be based in the town of Athabasca within the next three years and that the university must grow the number of local employees from 252 to 277 within three years.

The whole premise of this article, that AU faces an existential threat because hundreds of staff will be forced to move to a hillbilly backwater, is based on misinformation, a fiction President Scott and his allies are perpetuating.

Leaked minister’s letter shows ‘egregious political interference’ threatening ‘survival’ of Athabasca U, says UT professor.

University on messaging blitz as site visits commence in Athabasca

Province proposes new funding agreement to Athabasca University

Nov 22 Shaye Ganam interview of Minister Nicolaides on CHED Radio

https://podcastaddict.com/episode/148902673