A&S CAO Kim McLean recognized with Distinguished Excellence Award

April 20, 2022 by Cynthia Macdonald - A&S News

With more than 400 graduate and undergraduate programs serving over 31,000 students, the Faculty of Arts & Science is comparable in size to most major Canadian universities. It takes a highly gifted and hard-working administrator like Kim McLean to ensure that faculty, staff and students within the University’s largest academic division are fully supported at all times.

Now in her tenth year as chief administrative officer (CAO), McLean’s visionary leadership and gift for problem solving have proven transformative to the Faculty. For these reasons, she was recently honoured with the President’s Award for Distinguished Excellence, one of the Awards of Excellence bestowed annually on faculty, staff and students by the University of Toronto Alumni Association.

“To say that Kim has had an exceptional impact on Arts & Science is an understatement,” says Dean Melanie Woodin. “As our inaugural CAO, she has been a key strategic and collaborative partner to academic and administrative colleagues across the University. Thanks to her leadership, the Faculty’s renewed financial strength is now enabling us to launch a vast array of important capital projects, and her calm stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be commended highly enough.”

In her role as CAO, McLean coordinates the work of many separate units, all of them critical to the University’s operations as a whole. These include financial services; infrastructure planning; information & instructional technology; business development; communications & public affairs; health & safety; operations & services and security & critical incidents. She also shares responsibility with the dean for human resources and registrarial services.

To say that Kim has had an exceptional impact on Arts & Science is an understatement. As our inaugural CAO, she has been a key strategic and collaborative partner to academic and administrative colleagues across the University. Thanks to her leadership, the Faculty’s renewed financial strength is now enabling us to launch a vast array of important capital projects, and her calm stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be commended highly enough.

When she began as CAO, one goal stood out for McLean more than the others: “to focus on improving the financial health of the Faculty, as a condition for our community to achieve their academic aspirations — and the recognition that it should be a shared responsibility across the academic and administrative leadership team,” she says. Under her supervision this goal has been capably met, with the result that the Faculty can look forward to a future where programming and services are of the highest calibre.

It was certainly a challenge, but far from the only one McLean has faced during her time as CAO. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, a swift and orderly response was key. Taking hundreds of in-person services online overnight was a Herculean task, but McLean’s office rose to it.

A big reason for her success was that she had the foresight long before the pandemic to expand the Faculty’s information & instructional technology unit: an insufficient presence in that office would have brought the Faculty to a standstill.

McLean cites the collaborative relationships with her academic partners, most particularly the dean, as being critical during this time. “We’ve worked really hard on developing a partnership culture between academic and administrative leaders,” she says. “I think it was this strong relationship that positioned us so well as we entered the pandemic.”

“It was a very tough time,” she says, “but also a very interesting time. As I look forward, I really think we’re so well placed to undertake a number of transformative opportunities that are in front of us, and I’m really excited about the possibilities for hybrid learning and hybrid work. It’s an exciting moment where I know we’ll see greater access and flexibility for students, faculty and staff alike.”

As A&S community members return to campus, they can also anticipate the eventual completion of a large number of new capital projects, also overseen by McLean’s office.

What inspires me most is being able to work side by side with academic faculty and students, and help support their impact on the world. And I love the culture of the University: it’s a leader in so many initiatives that make the world a better place.

She says that while it’s hard to pick from among the many in development, she points to one important example: the plan — currently in early stages — to redevelop Sidney Smith Hall into a state-of-the-art space for innovative teaching, learning and research.

McLean has enjoyed a long and exemplary career at the University. Immediately prior to her arrival at Arts & Science, she spent 12 years as the CAO at the University of Toronto Scarborough. And from 1989 through 1999, she served as the director of budget management & analysis in the office of the vice-provost.

“What inspires me most,” she says, “is being able to work side by side with academic faculty and students, and help support their impact on the world. And I love the culture of the University: it’s a leader in so many initiatives that make the world a better place.”

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