Arctic College welcomes new campus director in Iqaluit

SARA MINOGUE

The campus director’s office at Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit got a makeover on Monday when Peesee Pitsiulak showed up for her first day of work. The new look includes photos of her three children and two grandchildren, but Pitsiulak was also ready to talk shop.

“The first step will be learning the policies and procedures and how a college works,” Pitsiulak said.

“The other challenge I see is to get more Inuit, or more Nunavummiut, into the programs, in communities all over Nunavut.”

Pitsiulak is pleased with the direction the college is taking, but said there is more work to be done.

“Since the creation of Nunavut, the GN has provided a lot more opportunities for Inuit. Our job as a college is to ensure that they are trained for the many positions that are now available.”

Pitsiulak’s own experience as a student and teacher have given her some insight into what the college needs to do.

“Because I have grown up here I see the challenges of Inuit not having finished secondary school, and that has become an obstacle for the jobs that are now available. The college’s job, I think, is to ensure that the people who don’t have the secondary education, the Grade 12 education, can be trained in the many different programs that we offer here, as well as the people who have Grade 12.

“The bigger challenge, I think, is the ones who have not finished high school.”

A dedicated educator, Pitsiulak brings years of experience to the job.

She started her first teaching job as a classroom assistant in her hometown, Kimmirut, at age 17, and kept it up for four years. In 1979, she entrusted her first son to her parents so she could enroll in the teacher education program at Nunavut Arctic College.

Two years later, Pitsiulak was back in Kimmirut, where she taught grades one and two for nine years. In 1991, she returned to Iqaluit and became an instructor at the Nunavut Teacher Education Program for four years, before becoming NTEP principal for three more years.

After a two-year stint with the Baffin division of the board of education, Pitsiulak joined the Government of Nunavut’s education department in 2000, as the director of curriculum and school services and later as the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit coordinator.

She returns to Nunavut Arctic College at a time when enrollment has reached an all-time high.

“I felt that I needed a challenge and I’m sure this is going to be a major challenge,” she said.

Pitsiulak replaces Keith Ludlow, who recently left the territory.