Kathy McNutt and Jeremy Rayner
Kathy McNutt and Jeremy Rayner

New leadership appointments announced at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy

The University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan have appointed Kathy McNutt as the new executive director of the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.

The University of Regina (U of R) and the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) have appointed Kathy McNutt as the new executive director of the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS), effective July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020.

“I wish to congratulate Dr. McNutt on the executive director appointment, which comes after an extensive international search for candidates,” said Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at the U of R, Thomas Chase. “We are very fortunate to have appointed someone with a growing research reputation who has served our universities and the provincial policy community so well and will continue to do so in this new capacity.”

McNutt has served as the director of the JSGS U of R campus since 2013, and during this time has led an extensive review of the school’s flagship Master of Public Administration program, which included wide consultation with the public sector, faculty, alumni and students.

“Policy schools have to adjust the ways in which they deliver courses in order to provide more hands-on opportunities for students to learn and work with policy and governance,” said McNutt. “One of the many ways in which we will approach this challenge over the next five years is by expanding our experiential learning opportunities.”

With degrees from the University of Regina, the University of Alberta, and Simon Fraser University, McNutt has focused her research on areas of digital government, climate policy, and energy.

Jeremy Rayner has also been named the director of the school’s U of S campus, effective July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020.

Rayner has spent much of his career teaching, conducting research and providing administrative leadership in a number of capacities including department head at Lakehead University, Malaspina University-College (now Vancouver Island University) and at the University of Regina.  In 2010, he joined the JSGS U of S campus as the Centennial Research Chair. Over the years he has served as the co-editor of the Canadian Political Science Review and as the chair of the Global Forest Expert Panel on the International Forest Regime.  His current research focuses on three primary areas – global forest governance; resource, environmental and energy policies; and policy theory, particularly institutionalism and problems of policy change.

“Under their leadership, we are confident that the school will continue to thrive as a powerhouse for public policy and administration teaching, research and outreach in Canada,” said Provost and Vice-President Academic at the U of S, Ernie Barber.

Since establishing as a joint provincial school in 2008, the JSGS has produced over 450 alumni, is one of four policy schools accredited by the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration, and is the only policy school in the country with five research chairs, of which three are Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs. 

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For more information, please contact:

Erica Schindel, Communications and Marketing Specialist
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan campus
Phone: 306-966-2663  
Email: erica.schindel@usask.ca