The new president of Yukon University has a burgeoning love affair with the Yukon.

Dr. Lesley Brown will take over the reins at the university in mid-August.

Until then, she’s keeping busy making the transition from life in Calgary to rookie northerner.

She and her spouse, Paddy McLean, were house-hunting in Whitehorse last week ... and getting a crash course in the tricky and frenetic business of the local real estate market.

“Housing is a bit of an issue,” she conceded in an interview, showing a gift for understatement.

She and McLean are juggling their move at the moment, and it’s a complicated process.

“There’s lots of moving parts.”

Like many others, Brown said she fell in love with the siren call of the Yukon...and Whitehorse...while visiting on business.

In 2019, Brown explained she was in Whitehorse attending a conference. It was her first visit to the city, and she liked pretty much everything she saw.

Unlike most of the other attendees, she lingered behind to sample more of that tantalizing Yukon ambience.

After that, she couldn’t shake the desire to come back.

“I haven’t worked in the North before,” she said. “But since then I wanted to. I think I have a strong sense of the North and its communities.”

She and McLean are also outdoors enthusiasts who enjoy a variety of activities such as snowshoeing, skiing, mountain biking and fat biking.

That’s a good first step in fitting in.

“We both enjoy winter activities,” Brown said.

It helps that Brown is also a fan of the model of education being deployed by the university, and that it became the first university established North of 60 in 2020.

“The model of education is interesting,” she said.

Brown referred to what the university does as a hybrid program that offers an intriguing and practical mix of education stream from college to university.

She’s also a fan of the multiple campus model and community connections.

“There is lots of learning here,” she said.

Brown has been involved in post-secondary education for more than 20 years, both as an instructor and and as an administrator.

She said that gives her an unusual perspective, and the ability to merge the points of view from both sides.

She feels quite capable of merging those tensions into something facing in the same direction.

“I understand the primary business of the university is education,” she said.

Brown was most recently provost and vice-president, Academic at Mount Royal University (MRU) in Calgary.

In this role, she oversaw all facets of educational programming and research at MRU, which evolved into a university in 2009.

Under her leadership, Mount Royal University experienced significant growth in student enrolment, faculty research success, and academic programming, including the establishment of a long-anticipated Bachelor of Social Work program. 

Before this, Brown compiled an exemplary record at Alberta’s University of Lethbridge, serving as a faculty member and an administrator in a number of roles including vice-president Research (interim), associate vice-president (Research) and vice-provost (Academic). 

In addition to being a proven leader, Brown is an accomplished scholar in the field of Kinesiology, with a research specialization in balance and fall prevention in the elderly and people with Parkinson’s disease.  

“Yukon University’s exceptional potential to broaden its scope of impact through teaching excellence, research and student success, along with its deep commitment to Indigenization, reconciliation and community education, is what attracted me to this opportunity,” she said in a news release announcing her appointment.

“As I moved through the interview process, it became very evident that Yukon University is poised to influence the future of Canada’s Northern and Arctic regions and its people.

“I am so honoured to step into this role.”

Brown steps forward to lead YukonU as it settles into its new university status and the board prepares to launch a new strategic plan, created with input from students, faculty, staff, First Nations and stakeholders across the territory, to guide the institution for the next five years. 

Dr. Maggie Matear will continue serving as interim president until Brown assumes her duties. At that time, Matear will resume her role as vice-president, Finance and Administration.

Matear took on the role after the sudden resignation of former president Michael DeGagné in 2020 – after fewer than three months on the job.

He cut short his expected five-year commitment to succeed the long-serving Karen Barnes as the university president to become president of the Indspire charity.