Award-winning co-op coordinator listens as she leads

When budget worries were plaguing science departments in the late '80s, Dr. Rozanne Poulson, then the administrative officer for the biochemistry and microbiology department, was adamant that undergraduate labs wouldn't suffer.

"When I was a student the labs were the best part-the hands-on stuff," she says. Instead, she solicited money-saving ideas from lab instructors and implemented their ideas. "It became a game," she says, "and in the end we were the only science department to come in under budget."

Poulson, who recently won a UVic Women's Conference Recognition Award, is now a co-op coordinator. And her tactics have stayed much the same: she prioritizes the "hands-on stuff" and places importance on others' ideas and concerns.

Poulson describes herself as a listener rather than a leader, but for the hundreds of students that she's encouraged, counselled and placed in work terms across the country since she took over the program in 1999, she's been a leader. Under her direction, the biochemistry and microbiology co-op has almost doubled in size over four years to become one of UVic's largest optional programs, even though the department itself is one of the smaller ones on campus.

"The credit goes solely to Rozanne," says department chair Dr. Ed Ishiguro, who has worked with Poulson for 18 years. "I respect her because she's held a variety of different positions and been successful at every one."

Poulson's academic career began across the Atlantic with BSc and PhD degrees at the University of Wales. She pursued postdoctoral work in the U.S. and held faculty positions at the Australian National University in Canberra and UBC before joining UVic 18 years ago. Poulson is also editor of two scientific journals.

As co-op coordinator, Poulson spends a lot of time helping students identify their goals. "It's about listening to them and finding out what they want to do," she says.

Poulson is convinced that the real-world experiences students gain on co-op terms help them put their studies in a wider perspective. "They can hear or read information about a subject, but after a work term they understand it, and see the bigger picture. They grow personally as well as professionally. It's total."