Governance

NSCAD University is a public institution governed in accordance with the University Act of Nova Scotia. It operates with a bicameral governance system, with two senior governance bodies: a duly constituted Board of Governors (currently chaired by William Barker) and a Senate (currently chaired by Associate Professor Adrian Fish), both of which include representation from faculty, staff, administration, and students.

Click here for NSCAD University’s Board bylaws.

CONTACT

902-494-8114 telephone

governance@nscad.ca

Board Chair's Announcement Regarding President Dr. Peggy Shannon (Nov. 14, 2024)

NSCAD University President Dr. Peggy Shannon has advised the university’s Board of Governors that she will be leaving NSCAD to round out her career at another art school and to be reunited with her family.

Dr. Shannon has been invaluable in sparking a renewal of our school. She has embraced our vision and taken us forward in laying the groundwork for transformation. Her tenure with NSCAD has built a solid foundation for the future including changes within our senior administration, recruitment of new talent within our faculties, and expanded philanthropic support. She emphasized the need for respect and inclusivity. She travelled widely and enthusiastically spread the word about NSCAD. Under her positive leadership we have, as a community, been encouraged to take firmer hold of our future, and we are grateful for what she has given us. She leaves with our best wishes for this next stage of her work life.

Dr. Shannon will remain as our president for the next months as we begin the transition. We have already begun to plan for interim leadership and have also started, through the Board’s Governance Committee, to create the process for a broadly consultative search for a successor who will advance us in our next phase of development.

The Board is committed to providing our students and faculty with an environment that encourages them to thrive, joyfully and with purpose, in their creative work.

Frequently asked questions about NSCAD's Governance

Can more than two students be appointed to serve on the Board of Governors at one time?

The membership and number of students, faculty, alumni, government-appointed governors and board-appointed governors that comprise the board are detailed in the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Act. The Act is the Government of Nova Scotia’s legislation (assented to in 1969 and revised in 1988). The Act provides Board membership for:

the person who holds the office of President of the College
two persons elected by the Faculty of the College who are members of the Faculty
two persons elected by the Alumni Association of the College
two persons appointed by the council or governing body of the students of the College
six persons appointed by the Governor in Council (Province of Nova Scotia)
at least six and not more than 10 persons appointed by the Board of Governors

If NSCAD students applied for a position appointed by the Board of Governors, their application would be considered, but for all of the reasons supporting good governance of a university (fiduciary duty, skills matrix of a board, impartiality, conflict of interest, etc.), it is not best practice to appoint more than two, which has been the reality for decades. SUNSCAD’s bylaws prescribes which members of its Executive represent SUNSCAD on the NSCAD Board of Governors.

NSCAD students can also become more involved in the university’s future by sitting in one of 13 student positions on Senate, some of which are designated as SUNSCAD reps and some that could be students put forward by SUNSCAD (but not necessarily requiring the student to be on SUNSCAD’s council or executive).

The Seriously Creative Strategic Plan launched in July 2024 includes four committees that will focus on crucial institutional issues that must be addressed with urgency. Each of these committees includes student representation.

Is NSCAD student tuition money in an investment fund?

No. No tuition money is directed to investment funds. NSCAD uses tuition to pay for faculty and staff salaries. Any excess operational funds are invested in short-term interest-bearing GIC’s.

All NSCAD investments are funded through endowments and philanthropic donations, related to scholarships, bursaries and capital planning – not tuition or government grants. These philanthropically funded investments are being managed for the future of the university and to fund current gift programs.

How do you assess investments, directly or indirectly, to ensure that they adhere to NSCAD’s investment policy?

NSCAD’s Chief Financial Officer supervises the performance of NSCAD’s investment policy through Leith Wheeler, the external company that handles NSCAD’s investments.

Both the CFO and Leith Wheeler provide reports to the Board of Governors through a committee called the Financial and Physical Resource (FPR) Committee.

Leith Wheeler delivers investment reports to the FPR Committee twice a year. If there is a possible breach of the investment policy, the CFO raises the issue to Leith Wheeler.

Leith Wheeler follows the UN Charter on no harm investments, and provides ways of removing items using filters that it applies.

What is the Investment Committee and how will it make NSCAD’s investments more transparent to the university community?

In June, the Board of Governors Financial and Physical Resource (FPR) Committee promised to activate an Investment Committee as a subcommittee, to:

Review our investment policy and, if necessary, revise it

Review in detail the way we would like our reports from our investment manager, and how the reports can provide disclosure

Evaluate our policy, as it is, or as it has been revised, to see if it is effectively managed by our manager

Advise the FPR Committee, and the Board of Governors, on current policy

Provide a transparent guide to our policy and our holdings

This new committee includes three members of the FPR Committee (including one student), one external advisor, and NSCAD’s CFO.

Challenges in identifying and procuring a suitable external advisor have handicapped the committee’s work. On September 5, the committee identified an external advisor and the acting Chair of the FPR Committee, along with the Chair of the Board of Governors can now convene the committee. This committee will officially launch at the next FPR Committee meeting.

Do our student representatives of the Board of Governors have access to NSCAD’s financial reporting regarding its investments?

Yes. Student representatives on NSCAD’s Board of Governors have always had access to these reports from Leith Wheeler. Leith Wheeler provides the full listing of securities owned and traded with each report. Student representatives on the board receive exactly the same level of access as any other member of the Board of Governors.

There are two student representatives on the Board and one student representative sits on the Financial and Physical Resource (FPR) Committee. One of the two students will join the new Investment Committee.

Student representatives on NSCAD’s Board of Governors have traditionally been members of the SUNSCAD Executive.

Why can’t NSCAD publicly disclose its investments?

NSCAD is not able to fully disclose publicly a list of investments because our small endowments are invested into much larger pools of money. Public disclosure of NSCAD investments is complicated by certain proprietary aspects of Leith Wheeler’s pooled investment strategies.

Leith Wheeler has provided full disclosure to the FPR Committee and every member of the Committee has access to the list of investments to look for any failure in applying our existing investment policy.

NSCAD is currently actively pursuing the issue of full disclosure with Leith Wheeler.

Do NSCAD’s investments directly fund armaments or instruments of war?

No. NSCAD has no direct investments in armaments. This has been confirmed by Leith Wheeler.

What about indirect investments in armaments?

The Chief Financial Officer, the Financial and Physical Resource (FPR) Committee and its subcommittee, the Investment Committee, are all actively working on this.

The CFO is working with Leith Wheeler to implement specific ‘filters’ to these investment pools to filter out any company with direct or indirect investments in armaments.

This should be completed by the end of 2024.

Is our Port Campus, and the upcoming Consolidated NSCAD Campus at the Seaport, under the authority or influence of the Canadian military?

No. The Halifax Port Authority is under the authority of Transport Canada. NSCAD University is in no way controlled or influenced by the Canadian Department of National Defense, which has its own dockyard and fleet near the Macdonald Bridge.

Board Chair's response to SUNSCAD demands for disclosure (june 11, 2024)

On June 11, 2024, NSCAD Board of Governors Chair William Barker responded to the Student Union of NSCAD (SUNSCAD)’s request for the university to disclose its investments and to divest of all investments related to Israel, kick starting the process to establish a subcommittee that would review NSCAD’s investments in detail to determine what additional steps the institution could take to reflect its collective values. Read the memo here.

NSCAD Report under the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act

Canada’s new Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act requires businesses in Canada to report how they are working to increase the transparency of institutional supply chains.

Click here for NSCAD’s 2023 Supply Chain Transparency Report.

NSCAD Standing Committees

ADVANCEMENT COMMITTEE
The Advancement Committee supports the NSCAD Board of Governors’’ stewardship responsibilities relating to strategic planning and advancement, and provides active leadership in support of the Advancement Office’s efforts in such areas as fundraising and friend-raising.

AUDIT AND RISK OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
Committee supports the NSCAD Board of Governors in the fulfillment of its stewardship responsibilities in the following areas: financial oversight, risk oversight and monitoring the integrity of internal controls and management information systems.

FINANCIAL AND PHYSICAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE
The Financial and Physical Resources Committee supports the NSCAD Board of Governors in the fulfillment of its stewardship responsibilities in the following areas: oversight of NSCAD’s financial planning and policy framework including multi-year financial plans and annual budgets; monitoring NSCAD’s ongoing financial performance and needs; oversight of NSCAD’s investments; and oversight of NSCAD’s short and long-term plans for its physical facilities.

GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE
The Governance and Human Resources Committee supports the NSCAD Board of Governors in its efforts to continuously improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its governance of NSCAD and in the oversight of NSCAD’s management of its human resources.

NSCAD Ad Hoc Committees

PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE

The Presidential Search Committee is responsible for conducting the search for NSCAD University’s president, and for carefully evaluating and recommending the most suitable candidate to the Board of Governors.

For more information on the current search, click here.