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New Medicine Hat College President a week into the job

Apr 22, 2019 | 4:31 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Kevin Shufflebotham is the new President and CEO of Medicine Hat College.

“I’ve been in the city probably three weeks and I’ve just finished my first week in the role of president, CEO, and it’s just been everything I hoped it can be,” says Shufflebotham. “The people here are so passionate, the communities been so welcoming and it’s one of the best decisions I think I’ve ever made.”

He officially started in the position on April 15.

Shufflebotham has been working in post-secondary education his entire career. He left his position as provost at NAIT to come to Medicine Hat.

In his old position, he oversaw the institutions schools of business, health and life sciences, skilled trades, applied sciences and technology, along with institutional research, the registrar’s office, recreation and athletics facilities, enrolment planning and other services.

“I started off teaching respiratory therapy at NAIT, then I quickly worked my way through administration,” says Shufflebotham. “I worked in the presidents office, worked a little bit in organizational development services, worked in government for a while and then came back to MacEwan university, back to NAIT, before coming here.”

Shufflebotham says he has family in the Medicine Hat and Brooks area, so when he saw the job opportunity last summer, he jumped on it.

“What really attracted me to Medicine Hat College is a focus on students and the focus on community, I mean everyone here is focused on student success and just makes it a priority,” says Shufflebotham “I’m just really excited to be here and just take it to the next level, whatever that means, and I really want to work with people both within the college and the community to make that happen.”

He also has big plans for the future.

“I hope to start meeting some more members of the community,” says Shufflebotham. “Also hoping to start a strategic planning process to help set our direction for the next 10 years. I think there’s a lot of good things happening here already, so the first thing I need to do is just understand what those things are and leverage those, but there’s been lots of talk around new programming opportunities we can look at.”

Shufflebotham replaces Wayne Resch, who served as the acting president and CEO following the retirement of Dr. Denise Henning in 2018.