How do you capture 14 years in a single blog story? The truth is you can’t, but what you can capture is the significance of their impact. You see, last Friday as the clock ticked to 9:00am, I started my 15th year working at the University of Calgary. The cover photo of my blog this week shows a side-by-side of me from my first month working here in August 2008, and a photo taken recently for one of our programs.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this anniversary and the innumerable ways my life has changed for the better thanks to many of the people I’ve met and worked with here, and some of the career defining (to date) programs I’ve had the chance to create, collaborate on, and lead. Of these, I could tell you about the Emerging Leaders Program, the Sophomore Leadership Program, Camp LEAD, our student leadership conference, or our Strengths-Based Campus program. All are programs I am immensely proud of.

In my time here, I’ve learned a lot about what authentic leadership is, who I am in positions of leadership, and the awesome responsibility I have first and foremost for the people on my team. Supervising a team is an honor that no leader should take for granted and being able to empower team members to work from their strengths, help them grow and develop, and celebrate their accomplishments are all paramount.

It’s also been at UCalgary – and not the more than 25 years of education prior to this – that my real education has taken place about Indigenous history in Canada, and the systemic issues many Indigenous Canadians still face. I’ve also learned what meaningful reconciliation and as a step further reconciliaction look like. The lessons I’ve learned from Elders, and from working with Indigenous colleagues about other ways of knowing, smudging and circular learning are each such significant gifts I hold close to my heart.

I’ve also learned important lessons about navigating change and being adaptable. Looking at the numbers, these changes have included the name of the office I work for changing three times, physically being located in seven office spaces in three buildings and having eight reports-to managers change 13 times. In these years, it’s also been interesting to see changes in senior leadership, institutional strategies be created and evolve, and to see how strong leaders build a culture that enables the community to thrive.

Overall, as I look at the last 14 years, I think about the hundreds of staff and faculty I’ve worked with, and the tens of thousands of students I’ve met, and through all of it how being able to mentor, coach and help staff and students along their journey has and continues to be one of the great privileges of my career.

As I write this, I also know that year 15 has many significant changes ahead, and I’m excited to see where the journey takes us!