The New and Emerging Leader Award recognizes early-career ARUCC members or associate members who demonstrate exceptional leadership potential and model the core competencies germane to one or more areas of Canadian registrarial professional practice.

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2024

Danny Freire (Saskatchewan Polytechnic)

Danny Freire is an exceptional thought leader who incorporates Strategic Enrolment Management principles into the work that he guides. Renowned for his forward-thinking approach, Danny consistently envisions the future while steadfastly enhancing processes and elevating the student experience in all that he leads.

Upon assuming the role of Director, Enrolment Services, Danny inherited three critical initiatives which had previously stalled; an admissions policy review, international admissions review and the implementation of MyCreds. He wasted no time in setting a clear direction for progress and through his collaborative leadership style, he effectively guided the team towards success of these projects with the launch of MyCredsTM lite within months of his arrival and the development of an inclusive admissions policy and an enhanced international admissions practice within his first year.

Danny's leadership exemplifies resilience, collaboration, and a steadfast commitment to driving positive change. His visionary approach and dedication to teamwork make him a truly deserving candidate for the New and Emerging Leadership Award.

 

Angela Kuzyk (Athabasca University)

Angela Kuzyk has held a variety of roles with increasing responsibility at Athabasca University and joined the Office of the Registrar in 2019. In 2021, she became the Interim Registrar and using her exceptional leadership skills has brought a renewed energy and direction to the department.

Angela, in her role as Interim Registrar, has demonstrated exceptional leadership and made a significant impact on the Office of the Registrar (OR) in a relatively short period. Under Angela's guidance, the OR has undergone significant positive changes, including restructuring middle management, introducing Assistant Coordinator positions, implementing new processes and systems, and fostering collaboration and innovation within the department. These changes have positively impacted staff by offering opportunities for advancement within the department and easing the workloads of the Coordinators. Students also benefit from decreased wait times for certain administrative tasks and a simplification of administrative processes.

Angela's collaborative and effective change management approach has garnered support from stakeholders, leading to a more inclusive and forward-looking work environment within the Office of the Registrar at Athabasca University.

 

2022

Melanie Nott (Bow Valley College)

Melanie Nott has been the team lead for Registrar Services at Bow Valley College since late 2018. Her team have one of the most diverse portfolios in the college, supporting application, registration, tuition, graduation, and general inquiries for 17,000 students in eight schools and six campuses.

Although Melanie has been in leadership for a short time, she has accomplished a great deal as a collaborative and pragmatic leader. She has a natural skill for hiring talented individuals and provides extensive opportunities for employees to develop their own leadership skills on committees and projects.

Melanie has been instrumental in leading a collaborative project of multiple teams through exercises in identifying their strengths, scope, future state, and contributions. This project took two years with extensive staff turn-over. The result was a more cohesive relationship between all units, improved student experience, and better employee ownership of their jobs. The ongoing result of this is unified training so a consistent student experience is offered across all these learner-facing areas.

Melanie Nott is a promising and talented emerging leader who will go far in her higher education career, and who is an asset to Bow Valley College.

Jolaine Frigault (Université de Montréal)

Jolaine Frigault, Head of Sector at the Registrar’s Office of Université de Montréal, deserves the New & Emerging Leader award for her commitment to the pursuit of our sector’s mission and the way she has led institutional projects that fundamentally change the way we work and ensure sound, equitable and fair management of student pathways at UdeM. Among other things, the success of the Student Electronic Record and the Creation of Schedules and Room Assignments projects relied on her mobilizing leadership, her ability to adapt and to stay the course toward a common goal while remaining attentive to stakeholder concerns and making necessary adjustments. Her work has served to promote the Registrar’s Office within the university and beyond. This influence has had a positive impact on our profession by demonstrating our ability to serve the University through participation in solving issues which face current and future students.

 

Past New & Emerging Leader Award Winners

 2021

Chris Brunskill, Wilfrid Laurier University