Thompson Rivers University president Dr. Airini is a whitewater kayaker who finds tranquility in eddies and chutes.
“You’ve got to commit to the rapid, though if you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it well,” said Airini, noting Clearwater is among her favourite places to paddle. “For me, in those sorts of times, there’s a calm. It’s like an active calm in the whitewater.”
Her penchant for finding peace amid peril seems noteworthy, considering TRU is in turbulent waters.
Airini spoke to the Chronicle for 30 minutes, discussing the first few months of her tenure and plans to see the university through to more placid days.
“The first priority is to create focus, the second is to build the team and the third is to prepare the university for change,” Airini said.
The Preamble to the Future TRU and Deficit Mitigation Plan, presented at a board of governors meeting in October, notes inaction will lead to a deficit of up to $25 million by the 2026–2027 fiscal year and insolvency by late in the 2027–2028 fiscal year.
“We have 18 to 20 months to save our university,” the report notes.
Federal immigration policy changes have acutely reduced international student enrolment at TRU (down 26 percent this year, with the number of first-year international students dropping by 53 percent), spurring budget cuts of up to $25 million over the next 18 to 20 months.
“By having a range of strategies — whether it’s early retirement, addressing non-compensation expenses, looking at how we organize ourselves and reducing contingent of sessional colleagues — we have a plan,” said Airini, noting there is no expectation of incoming financial aid from the provincial government. “We then found that we needed to move into ending contracts. In this first phase, we will live within our means.”
In this first phase, there is discomfort among faculty stemming from fear of program cuts and employment termination.
TRU’s workforce will soon have been trimmed by roughly 10 percent, with early retirement packages, employee layoffs, and management cuts contributing to the elimination of about 150 positions since last November, according to reporting from Castanet.
Airini was asked about morale.
“Yeah, the anxiety is real,” Airini said, adding that she is hosting town halls across campus to encourage open communication with staff. “It is there and I know these cuts are painful. I would say the morale is about pragmatism, of recognizing that we do need to balance our books … so what I’m hearing is that the more clarity that leadership can provide about scale of change and where the change is going to happen, the better, and that following due process so people can have confidence in the process is very important.”
Airini was installed as president this past June (her five-year term began in July) and spoke of her plan to lead through listening in the early stages of her incumbency, but quick action has been necessary.
“We made the responsible decision to compress what was a five-year approach to resetting the budget position to actually make the difference in 18 to 20 months,” said Airini, the first Indigenous president in TRU history. “Within my first 65 days, we’ve been able to confirm priorities, have a view of future TRU formed and done a refresh of executive profiles and the planning cycle for the university. We are in the stage now of setting 10 new strategic-change goals that will be measurable and part of a scorecard. They’ll go to the December board meeting. We’ve also developed the Future TRU and Deficit Mitigation Plan, which included a plan for addressing the projected deficit — and that’s got board support.”
Airini was dean of TRU’s Faculty of Education and Social Work from 2014 to 2021 before her stint at the University of Saskatchewan, for which she was provost and vice-president academic.
She has not been particularly surprised by anything about her duties as president, but noted the scope of the job is immense and the impact of federal policy changes has been significant.
Airini delved into finding stillness on whitewater while explaining how she tackles moments of self-doubt. Later in the interview, without prompting, she meandered back to the topic.
“This question of having doubt. Do I have an imposter syndrome? I feel like you are always asking yourself, ‘Is this everything I need to know?’ If there are ever times of questioning, it’s because the decisions that we’re making affect people, whether they’re students, whether they’re colleagues, and that should be taken very seriously,” Airini said. “I am surrounded by people who are more capable than me, too, and so questions that I might ask are ones that can be answered.”
Airini said her core priorities include operating as one university, financial sustainability and truth and reconciliation. She also mentioned being relentlessly student-centred, elevating use-inspired research and leading in sustainability and technology fluency, referring to them as enabling priorities.
She puts being relentlessly student-centred — a messaging point/phrase she often uses — into action by approaching a minimum of five students each day on campus.
“There has been word of air-tagging me because I really do like to get out at least once a day and talk with people, listen to people,” Airini said, noting an increase of four to five per cent in domestic students this term.
“Mostly, at this stage, it’s about encouraging people because taking on studies these days is a significant decision and I just want people to know that they made a really good decision.”
Ensuring students have a place to study in Kamloops will require strenuous paddling — and consequential decisions — over the next 20 months.
“We’re on a bit of a journey as a university and we’ve got this bold ambition that we’re going to take in what is a time of unprecedented financial challenges and turn this into strategic transformation so that TRU will be even stronger and set up for success for decades to come,” Airini said.
“We’re also going to make some strategic investments, very carefully thought through ones that will help set us up to, in our second phase, live within our means and grow our means.”