Senior Leadership
Interim President and Provost
Jana Macalik
Jana Macalik, M. Arch, Architecture, LEED ID+C was appointed NSCAD’s Interim President after serving as Acting President since February 1, 2025. For almost two years, Jana has also served as the interim Vice-President (Academic & Research) and Provost, helping faculty, staff and the board develop better work processes, better working relationships and better academic governance through demonstrated and compassionate leadership.
Over the 20 years as an academic, her teaching explores how society is continuously challenged to break down barriers, barriers that stand to separate individuals and ideas. Art and design in their most authentic forms are created to fracture barriers and initiate dialogue with individuals, internally and socially. In her design practice, Jana explores discursive spaces as a link between the tangible and the intangible, representing an extension of society and its identities.
Since 1994, she has been involved in cultural exhibition design and branding applications in communications and architecture. She has over 25 years of experience working as a designer for cultural institutions in Toronto and for multi-disciplinary firms, including Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership in New York, Perennial Inc. in Toronto and Aldrich Pears Associates in Vancouver. She sits on the editorial board of Curator: The Museum Journal.
Presently, Jana is also a doctoral candidate in Higher Education at OISE/University of Toronto, investigating de-differentiation in the context of specialized art & design universities in Canada, particularly the differentiation frameworks that have posed a challenge to the unique model of art and design schools in higher education; among them, the economics of higher education being unfavourable to the studio-based approach. As an Associate Professor, she holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, and is registered NCIDQ and LEED ID+C. Before joining OCAD University, she was a tenured faculty member at the School of Interior Design, Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada.
When her term ends on July 1, 2025, Jana will be returning to OCAD University where she is an Associate Professor of Environmental Design.
Email: president@nscad.ca
Academic dean
Dr. JAcqueline Warwick
Professor Jacqueline Warwick was appointed Academic Dean on July 1, 2024. Dr. Warwick is a Canadian musicologist (PhD UCLA, 2002) who came to Halifax for a position at Dalhousie University in 2003. She has served in leadership roles for more than half of her years at Dal, in the interdisciplinary Gender & Women’s Studies program, the MA program in Musicology, and as the inaugural Director of the Fountain School of Performing Arts.
In this last position, she oversaw the merging of Dal’s departments of Music and Theatre, the development of new curriculum, and fundraising for the Strug Concert Hall and Costume Studies suite in the newly opened Arts Centre expansion. She continues to be an active researcher and writer and is currently working on a book about child prodigies in music for Oxford University Press.
Email: dean@nscad.ca
Dean, Student Affairs and Registrar
Shawn Tracey
NSCAD appointed Shawn Tracey as its new Dean, Student Affairs and Registrar on July 3, 2024. Shawn comes to NSCAD from Saint Mary’s University, where he was Director of Graduate Student Support and Recruitment at the Sobey School of Business. There, he provided leadership and direction on strategic enrolment management, program operations, and student success.
Shawn has a reputation as a consensus builder and collaborator with a strong knowledge of best practices and data-driven decision making. He served as director of Advancement at the Halifax Grammar School, worked at Dalhousie University as an assistant registrar and a development officer, and chaired the Board of Directors for the Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education.
In his first year, Shawn has embraced the role to grow an integrated, student-facing support system at NSCAD, from admission to graduation. The Dean reports to the Vice-President (Academic & Research) and Provost, providing strategic and student-focused leadership to the Office of Student Experience, which houses all these offices under one umbrella.
Chief Financial Officer
Leanne Dowe, CPA, CA
NSCAD appointed Leanne Dowe to Chief Financial Officer on July 1, 2020 after serving as the university’s controller since 2016. She is a chartered professional accountant (CPA, CA) and has more than 30 years of experience as a finance professional including serving as CFO for Gammon Gold and director of finance for both the Arts Club Theatre Society and Forefront Entertainment Group.
As CFO, Leanne provides strategic financial and risk management of the university and serves as an executive resource to NSCAD’s Board of Governors including the Finance and Physical Resources Committee, and Audit and Risk Committee. She is also a board member and executive committee member of Atlantic Universities’ Interuniversity Services Incorporated.
Leanne holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, NS.
Email: finance@nscad.ca
Associate Vice-President, Operations
dan harroun
Dan Harroun was appointed Associate Vice-President of Operations on April 2, 2024, a position that is integral to the facilitation of NSCAD’s planned consolidation at the Port Campus in 2030.
Dan joins NSCAD with a rich background in engineering and project management and brings more than two decades of operational experience to the position.
Dan previously worked with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE) where he was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the HRCE site and buildings. His role involved liaising with regional and municipal authorities like Health Canada, Halifax Fire and the Halifax Water Commission to ensure the safe and efficient operations of schools across the city.
Prior to that, he was the Senior Project Manager for Wood Environmental and Infrastructure, where he facilitated the design, construction, and tendering of building and municipal projects. His most memorable experience was a 16-year stint at Hershey Canada, where he managed the engineering operations of the Moir’s Chocolate Plant; facilitating robotic packaging and manufacturing projects, reducing utilities costs by four per cent and maintenance expenses by six per cent.
He has also worked with the Municipality of East Hants, Ainsworth Inc., SNC-Lavalin Operations and Maintenance, and Eaton’s Crouse-Hinds. Harroun has a Bachelor of Engineering (Industrial Engineering) and a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) from Dalhousie University.
As AVP, Operations, he will oversee Computer Services, as well as the Facilities Management team.
Email: facilities@nscad.ca