David Marshall

Jul 1, 2005

David Marshall – President, Mount Royal College

Although the decision to grant Mount Royal College university status was delayed this spring by the provincial government and the proposal criticized by other educational institutions, David Marshall, MRC’s eighth president appointed in September 2003, continues to champion the quest with fervour.

Undaunted by the challenge of directing the college to become Alberta’s fifth university, Marshall is still focused on offering business and nursing university degree programs for the 2006-07 school year. Prior to joining MRC, Marshall was president and vice-chancellor of Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont., for 13 years and dean of its Faculty of Education for five. During this time, he was instrumental in steering the former college into a university, much the way he is now with MRC. Marshall, 56, who received his doctoral degree from the University of Alberta in 1980, is a member of the Chair Academy’s international advisory board, the board of directors of the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration and the board of Calgary Children’s Initiative. Marshall’s impressive career history in education and his extensive publishing on the subjects of leadership and administration were no doubt instrumental in the January 2004 creation of the Dave Marshall Leadership Awards by his former employer, Nipissing University. – DH

What are the government’s concerns about granting Mount Royal College university status? How will you address them?
The government’s concerns at this point are essentially an analysis of the effects of establishing a fifth university in Alberta and creating a unique kind of university in Alberta. Those are the only concerns they have at this time and that’s why the minister has taken the time to reflect and examine that issue over the next five or six months. We have certainly prepared a lot of papers that have been published nationally and internationally over the past year, talking about changing the post-secondary environment. There’s a spectrum of roles and responsibilities for organizations. Developing that is different from the historical straight split between a college and a university. There’s room for a new kind, and different kind, of post-secondary institution in Calgary and Mount Royal is ready to be that place.

Who do you think is the greatest Albertan ever?
I’m particularly proud of Emily Murphy. She is my great-great aunt. She is the first woman police magistrate in Canada and she led the “Famous Five” in the Persons Case, which established status of women as persons under the BNA Act. She was married to my grandmother’s uncle and moved out here in 1903 or around there somewhere and she then began a campaign to ensure the property rights of married women and then in 1911 Alberta passed the Dower Act.

In 100 years, will you warrant your own chapter in the history books, a footnote to great events or a single Google hit?
First of all, in 100 years there won’t be any Google. There’ll be something different. We’ll have brain implants or something. I won’t be anything; Mount Royal will have a chapter in the history of Alberta and I’ll probably have a photo pasted on a wall somewhere in Mount Royal, the wall of presidents or something like that. Mount Royal will absolutely have a significant chapter in the history of Alberta.