Faculty leader honoured with national award

Faculty of Arts and Science Dean Barbara Crow has been honoured with the Angela Hildyard Influential Leader Recognition Award from the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada.

The award recognizes recognizes an influential leader who has continually demonstrated innovative and impactful leadership in advancing the mission of, and achieving outstanding contributions to, their institution and/or to higher education. Dean Crow was also recognized for demonstrating a commitment to the advancement of institutional vision, mission, values and major goals, improving the educational experiences of post-secondary students at all levels, and promoting and supporting equity, diversity and inclusion within institutions.

“I am honoured and a bit taken aback - I have nominated many students, staff and faculty for awards,” says Dean Crow about the recent honour. “I know how much work it is to put in award applications, and I thank the nominators for their thoughtful reflections on the contributions on my leadership. I was deeply touched by how they characterized how I lead and what we have been able to achieve together. One of the best parts of the award was reading the nominations.”

Stéfanie von Hlatky, Associate Dean (Research), who was one of the nominators for the award, says working as an Associate Dean has been the most professionally fulfilling experience of her career, adding she’s joined a team of people who are extremely competent, but also very kind and this is the climate Dr. Crow has set in the Dean’s office.

“The key to Dean Crow’s influence as a leader is her ability to inspire change by cultivating a leadership style that is defined by generosity, empathy, and impressive listening skills,” says Dr. von Hlatky. “That’s how she has built consensus around her ideas, and it has served our community of students, staff and faculty members well.”

Heather Woermke, Associate Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration), also provided a nomination letter for the award and says Dean Crow’s contributions to Queen’s University have been meaningful and far reaching. “I have had the pleasure of working with the Dean in my role as Associate Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration) and as the Executive Director of Finance and Operations in FAS. Barbara is a courageous, positive, visionary leader who takes a ‘people first’ approach to her work. She creates and sets a bold vision, and then creates conditions for people to deliver, thrive and succeed.”

Woermke also pointed out the Dean’s support for equity, diversity, and inclusion within Queen’s. She said she actively supports equity, diversity, and inclusion and since joining the university, 70 per cent of faculty hires within FAS have been from equity deserving communities, due in no small part to Dean Crow’s commitment to ensuring diverse candidate pools are brought forward for consideration.

“On hiring committees in which I have participated with Barbara, she has been a vocal advocate for equity deserving populations,” Woermke says. “Barbara has established programs such as an Indigenous Predoctoral fellowship program and committed funding for initiatives like the creation of the Queen’s University Association for Queer Employees. The impact of these initiatives reaches far beyond the Faculty of Arts and Science, contributing to the University as a whole.”

Nominator Wendy Craig, who has worked at Queen’s for 29 years in the Department of Psychology talked about Dean Crow from the perspective of a faculty member, as well as her interactions in her role as Head of the Psychology Department (2015-2020).

“She is an inclusive leader who advocates for students, staff, and faculty; she has a bold vision and has had a positive impact on the Faculty of Arts and Science, the university, and beyond,” says Dr. Craig.

Dr. Craig talks about Dean Crow co-creating with students, faculty, and other stakeholders, the first ever Strategic Plan for the Faculty of Arts and Science shortly after arriving at the university. In creating the plan, Dr. Crow demonstrated her ability to create partnerships, cooperation, and collaboration across a variety of stakeholders with sometimes competing interests. This plan has been central to her leadership and her work in the Faculty.

“The strategic plan has been central to her success as a leader - it defined her priorities; it enabled planning and vision; it demonstrated her collaborative and supportive leadership style; it informed faculty and staff recruitment and retention, it informed budgets, and curriculum and has contributed to fostering excellence in teaching, research, and student achievement,” Dr. Craig says. “Dr. Crow is most deserving of this award. She has demonstrated incredible leadership through what have been some of our most challenging times in the university and brought stability and consistency, and transparency. She has the vision and has been strategic in all that she has done. She supports and mentors people and their professional development.”

Dean Crow says one of the reasons she is being honoured is her work advancing the mission of FAS. “I have worked with a strong and dynamic team committed to enhancing academic creativity in and deep commitment to research, teaching and service. Through our work together, we have been able to diversify our faculty complement, course offerings, and think differently about the place and role of Queen's in the post-secondary sector.”

To learn more about the award, visit the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada website.