mm c 0' c K NE Y: B Oi LE iv“: 3- IoBECOME PR

. ‘ .AT ER“

by Marsha:L.isaudét st

Ronald James Baker was born into a poor Cockney family some lS-ZO years before W.W. II. He left school at age l5 to run what he describes as a ‘”‘very, veryflbad” dance band. He came to Canada with 'the RAF during the war to train as a navigator. He sarved with the Canadians in England and Germany but de- cided to come back to can=' ada within a week of leaving the RAF.

Ron Baker attended the U- niversity of British Columbia where he obtained his B.A.- and M.A. He was with UBC and Simon Fraser University for 22 years before he came to P.E.I. He was a student and faculty member at UBC for l6 years. He was the first appointment at Simon Fraser and was a planner there for 6 yea rs. .

“A new university is a habit for me” states Baker, as one of the reasons for being attracted to UPEI. He had previous experience with 2 new universities and about 6 new colleges. “It looked to me a very, very interest- , ing job, to put together two institutions that really did not want to be put together, in many ways”. The fact that it was PEl's only university also seemed enticing.

Ronald Baker resides in Charlottetown with his famil- y. Life on the Island Was very different for him at first.. ' ’

.Never living permanently

in anything but a metropol- itan area (e.g. London or _ Vancouver), Baker said there were a lot of differences at first. But he-has_learned to ' really like island life.‘

President Baker is a lover

50f ballroom dancing. He grew* UD with people-connected;

with vaudeville shows in ‘ Eng. He taught ballroom dan- cing_at the ace of fifteen. He and his’wifev claim to-be very fond of ballroom danc- ing .‘He comments that “ we'- re very out of date, anything

after the 1990's we don't know.” .

He is a fanatic reader, reading about a book a day. He once participated in squash, soccer and field hoc- key’but just doesn't seem to be able to find the time to participate in these sports or any others with his pre- sent position. President Baker likes to try his hand at photography. Watch for some of his work in upcoming issues of the SUN.

PRESIDENCY DlFFlCULT T0 DESCRIBE

President Baker was asked to explain what the job of. president entails. He said it was. “territilx deftcult to describe“. Lt is essentially "keeping the different parts of the University community and public in touch with one another.” President Baker abs‘eXpected to deal with 'nationall(e.g. Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) and regional (e.g. Association of At- lantic Universities) bodies; to deal with the government; to work internally within the university to see that curriculum proposals to 'the_Senate are discussed in the different faculties;

and to maintain communic- ations with the Student Union, Faculty Association, ‘Faculty and the Non- Academic staff.

President Baker is responsible for administ- ration. He is ultimately reSponsible for appoint- ments, promotions and dismissals. He sees, essentially, that procedures are followediproperly. Some of his responsibilities occur only occasionally (e.g. fund-raising campaign) He works on negotiations for pay and promotion scales. He attempts to see that the resources for the - university are used as they should., He tries to see that different areas within the university are working properly. ,

President Baker is respon- sible for keeping thingsv developing and for looking to the future to see what U.P.E.l. will‘be like in 'five years. The President

, moves around a great deal.-

The President is ’

The UPEI Sun, Friday, Oct. 7, 19771 Page 3

SCHOOL AT 15

ESIDENT 0F U.P.E.|.

responsible, in the legal sense, to the Board of Governors. The Board appoints and dismisses the President. The Board is the financial governing body. President Baker is responsible, in another

sense, to the Senate. The Senate is the academic governing board. The Pres-

ident must try to see that ‘decisions of the Senate are carried out. Ultimately, though, the President is responsible to the Board of Governors. Although President Baker communicates with the public through TV and radio (media), he feels his position is NOT one of public relations. Through- out Canada, presidents of universities are less in- volved with public relations than in the U.S.A., where institutions depend more on private donations and fees than do thOse in Canada. Canadian universities are really public, “no matter what we're called,” stipulates

Open to both men and women

October 13, 1977.

foreign service exam.

exam centre nearest YOU.

Competition 78-4000

CAREERS

Right now the federal public service is recruiting '78 grads.

. We hire all kinds of people——from marine biologiSts to industrial relations specialists. In the coming year, we expect to have a greater number of job opportunities for graduates in accounting, auditing, computer science, economics, certain engineering special- Izations and all areas of administration. “

For information and application forms, see your campus placement office or your nearest Public Service Commission regional staffing office. Your application must be postmarked no later than

If you are interested in a career in any of the administrative areas,

you will be asked to Write a general examination. If you are applying to the fort'gn service, you must write the

Foreign Service Exam: October is, 9 am. General Exam: October 18, 7 pm.

Check with your campus placement office for the location of the

President Baker. TENURE NOT NEARLY AS SIGNIFICANT

Tenure, as the tradition-/ al concept, in President Baker's mind, is virtually gone. The concept of tenure, i.e. that one can remain on the job unless it can be shown that one is no good at it, is applied more and more else- where. Fair employment practices extend protection to the employees. Now- adays, the difference between someone who has tenure and someone who doesn't, when it comes to getting rid of someone, is very, very small. Years ago it was extremely easy to get rid of someone NOT on tenure.

Tenure is not a major issue now, according to President Baker. It was once necessary because, throughout history, attempts were made to stop academics from telling the truth as their studies led them to be- lieve it should be taught.

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