President Hodder addresses the annual College Council Christmas Luncheon and announces her retirement from The College, effective June 2010.

Nassau, BAHAMAS – President of The College of The Bahamas Janyne M. Hodder today announced her retirement, effective June 30, 2010, more than three years after she was appointed to the position in July, 2006.

A permanent resident of The Bahamas, President Hodder has come full circle and will end her career in education in the country where she launched it more than 40 years ago.

In making the announcement – first at the College Council’s Annual Christmas Luncheon attended by council members, senior administrators and managers, then at a later press conference – President Hodder cited family commitments as her reason for leaving.

“This year will be particularly exciting because my husband, Gary Mullins, and I have made the decision that it is time for me to retire and for us to enter a new stage of our life together, free from the responsibilities of full-time work,” said President Hodder. “On December 7^th, I informed the Chairman that I was exercising my option to offer six months’ notice of resignation as President of The College.  I shall be leaving The College on June 30^th, 2010.”

President Hodder was initially appointed on a three year contract and at its expiration this past June, agreed to another two-year contract renewal. The contract though permitted her an early out after one year, provided notice is given within six months of that time.

“It is always difficult to make a decision to change – whether to get married, to change jobs or even to move into a new house,” she added. “This too has not been an easy decision to make.  I have been torn between a sense of duty and knowledge of the great debt I owe this country for having welcomed me forty years ago and taught me all the skills I have later used to build a career, and the desire to grow tomatoes full-time and walk my grandson to the park.”

She said, “I have always thought of myself as a President of transition, a place-holder for the person who will follow me, someone whom I hope shall have equal faith in this country, in its people and in the future of The College.  I have also always believed that it is better to act in this imperfect world with one’s imperfect knowledge and skills than to dream of perfection and do nothing.”

Although acknowledging that signing a new collective bargaining agreement with faculty is taking much longer than she had anticipated, President Hodder remained hopeful of concluding the agreement before Christmas.

“I know that you are not happy at the moment and I do not want to gloss over our negotiation challenges.  Yet, there will come a day when we will agree, a day of celebration when this too will have passed,” she said. “For the moment, we must together work through our differences on issues while continuing to treat one another with courtesy and respect.  We are colleagues, all of us.  For my part, I thank you and honour you for the work you do and invite you to continue to build a great university together.”

College Council Chair T. Baswell Donaldson and President Hodder at the press conference to announcement President Hodder’s retirement.

The College of The Bahamas has experienced phenomenal growth and development over its 35-year history and is well on its way to becoming a university. The College is a member of the International Association of Universities [IAU] and President Hodder sits on the executive board of the IAU. Baccalaureate degree holders comprise the largest group of graduates of The College and the institution is preparing to offer its own graduate degree – a Master of Business Administration in Fall 2010 – after offering eight collaborative masters degrees over the last 10 years. The College also launched a signature Small Island Sustainability bachelor degree programme this Fall developed by a multi-disciplinary team of academics.

There is also an increased level of support for research and significant growth in private giving.

Expressing a profound love for a country where she started her career in tertiary education 40 years ago, Ms. Hodder, who returned to The College after serving as Vice Principal of McGill University, in Quebec, Canada, shared that a university or a college is first a community; a group of men and women who come together to serve a common purpose. She said there has been no shortage of purpose and commitment on the part of College faculty and staff.

“In order to thrive, an institution requires a strong governance board and we have been fortunate to have had this through successive governments,” she said. “This signals to me that building a university is a national purpose, one that crosses all divisions in the country.”