Vice-President's Advisory Council

Laurelle LeVert, Associate Vice-President Saint John

Dr. Laurelle LeVert (BA Hons; MA; MA; PhD) is the Associate Vice President (Saint John) with oversight responsibility for student services, athletics, domestic recruitment, retention and student persistence, internationalization and the development UNB SJ’s health agenda as a member of the Tucker Park health cluster.  Prior to joining UNB Saint John in 2012, Dr. LeVert was the Registrar and Director of Student Services at NSCAD University and prior to that held a number of student affairs roles at the University of Toronto, ranging from the Faculty of Engineering to Dean of Residence at Loretto College.  She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of King’s College, Halifax, her Masters in Classics at Dalhousie and a Masters of Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto.  She did her PhD in Medieval Studies at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto. 

Christopher Callbeck, Assistant Vice-President, Financial & Administrative Services

Chris Callbeck has worked at UNB Saint John for over 20 years.  He holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Acadia University, is a Chartered Accountant and has earned a Certificate in University Management through the University of Manitoba.  Previous to his position at UNB, Chris was employed with Coopers & Lybrand (now Price Waterhouse Coopers).  Chris provides professional financial, human resource and physical asset strategic planning and implementation for the University.

Joanna Everitt, Dean, Faculty of Arts

Dr. Joanna Everitt received her M.A. and Ph.D. from The University of Toronto after completing her Honours BA from Carleton University. Between her undergraduate and graduate degrees she worked for three years at Queen’s Park as an Assistant to a Member of Provincial Parliament.  Before arriving at UNB Saint John in 1997, she taught for a year at The University of British Columbia and held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University. Prior to becoming Acting Dean of Arts in 2008 she served for two years as Chair of the Department of History and Politics. 

Dr. Everitt specializes in Canadian politics, gender and politics, political behaviour, media, public opinion and voting. Her research specifically examines voting behaviour in Canadian Elections, gender differences in public opinion, and the impact of media coverage of male and female party leaders on leadership evaluations. She is the co-author of Advocacy Groups: The Canadian Democratic Auditpublished by UBC Press (2004) and co-editor of Citizen Politics: Research and theory in Canadian political behaviour Oxford University Press (2002).  She has also published dozens of articles in national and international journals and edited collections.

Ruth Shaw, Dean, Faculty of Science, Applied Science and Engineering

Dr. Ruth Shaw (BScDA, MScCS, PhD [UNB]) was appointed Dean of Science, Applied Science and Engineering at UNB Saint John in 2008. To this position she brings an outstanding record of teaching and research, administrative experience, and extensive service on both campus and university-wide committees. She has worked at UNB Saint John since 1980, joining the faculty full-time in 1994.

During this time she has taught more than 90 undergraduate and graduate courses. She has received an Allan P. Stuart Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching (1998), and Merit Awards for 1998-99, 2000-01, and 2007-08.  Dr. Shaw has been the recipient of several internal and external grants: UNB Research Fund, Environmental Research Fund, Canada Foundation for Innovation, two Computing Research Association Canadian Distributed Mentor Project Grants, and three NSERC grants.  She has over 50 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. Her recent research is in developing efficient algorithms for parallel processing.

Regena Farnsworth, Dean, Faculty of Business

Dr. Regena Farnsworth is the Dean of Business and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business.  She received her PhD in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management from Texas A&M University, her MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington, and her BA in Economics and Business Administration from Chapman University in Orange, California. 

Prior to joining UNB Saint John in 1999, Dr. Farnsworth was a faculty member in the College of Business at the University of Texas.   During her teaching career Dr. Farnsworth has taught numerous graduate and undergraduate courses. She has served on the Vice President’s Excellence in Teaching Committee, as Vice President Saint John of the Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers, co-chair of the Joint UNB and AUNBT Committee on the Assessment of Teaching Competence, and as a member at large on the UNB Saint John Faculty Senate. 

Dr. Farnsworth's recent research interests include human resources management issues in the hospitality and tourism industry and emotional intelligence in the workplace.  Her research has been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Human Resources Management: Ideas and Trends in Personnel. 

Bruce MacDonald - Associate Dean of Graduate Studies

Dr. Bruce MacDonald was appointed the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in July 2010. He received his BSc from Acadia University, MSc from the University of New Brunswick in Saint John and PhD from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Prior to joining the Biology department in 1992 he was a Professor of Research and NSERC University Research Fellow at the Ocean Sciences Centre, Memorial University.  Before becoming the Associate Dean Dr. MacDonald served for two terms as the Chair of the Biology Department at UNBSJ.

Dr. MacDonald teaches in the areas of Ecology, Marine Ecology and Oceanography. He was a recipient of a UNB merit award in 2009 and the departmental award for excellence in teaching in 2010. His area of research involves the physiology and ecology of marine species and how they function in the marine environment including their possible uses as bio-filters to reduce the potential impacts of some pollutants released into the local environment . Dr. MacDonald has been a Principal Investigator in two of Canada’s National Centres of Excellence (NCE). He has served on the Executive for national scientific and academic organizations such as the Canadian Association of Underwater Sciences (CAUS) and the Canadian Council on University Biology Chairs (CCUBC).

Kevin Bonner – Director of Student Services

Kevin Bonner is a graduate of UNB Saint John and UNB Fredericton. To complete the bi-campus experience, Kevin has worked in Student Services on both campuses since joining UNB in 1990. He is Past –President of the Atlantic Association of College and University Student Services and a member of the national association. Kevin has a special interest in student career and employment issues, and he has been actively involved in local, regional and national groups exploring senior year and graduate transitional issues.

Mark Bishop - Registrar

Mark has been employed with UNB for eight years, six spent on the Fredericton campus as an academic advisor and Associate Registrar, joining UNB Saint John as Registrar in January of 2010.  He has over thirteen years of experience working within the post-secondary environment, particularly in recruitment, admissions, advising and administration.  Mark's educational background and experience is in youth development and counselling, and he is a strong believer in the purpose and place of post-secondary education in that development.

Karen Keiller - Director of Information Services and Systems 

Karen Keiller is the Director of Information Services and Systems which includes library and student technology services in the Hans W. Klohn Commons, information technology and networking, and educational and classroom technology.  She received her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Western Ontario, and her BA (honours) in Geography from the University of Winnipeg.  Prior to joining UNB Saint John in 2010, she headed up library technology at the Univesrity of Manitoba, was the acting University Librarian at the University of Winnipeg, and has held positions as information literacy coordinator, access and collection development coordinator, and reference librarian at Red River College and the University of Winnipeg.  Karen is a frequent speaker at library conferences on topics usually related to new technology in libraries and teaching and learning.  As chair of the Student Technology Fee Committee, she championed the iPAd Pilot Project and the UNBSJ Mobile App. 

Peter McGill, Director of Saint John College

Peter has been employed with UNB- Saint John for 3 years. He received his Masters in Business Administration from St. Mary’s university, Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1984, and his Bachelor in Business Administration from UNB in 1971.  He was employed at the New Brunswick Community College- Saint John Campus, for 32 years, prior to joining UNBSJ. He taught Business administration courses at the College, and later, taught part-time at UNBSJ over an 18 year period. He served as Dean of studies at NBCCSJ for many years and for the last 8 years, as Principal of NBCC-Woodstock and NBCC-Saint John.