Laurentian University professor left for Lakehead due to program cuts

A Laurentian University professor and Canada Research Chair left the institution for Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Nathan Basiliko said Laurentian's program cuts in April 2021 made him consider new options for his career.

After Laurentian filed for insolvency it cut 69 programs and fired nearly 200 staff and faculty members.The university's School of the Environment was one of the casualties of those cuts.

While Basiliko was affiliated with the School of the Environment, he kept his job because he was under the university's biology department.

"Although I didn't lose my job because I happened to be in biology, they fired most of the faculty with expertise in this area," he said, referring to his colleagues who specialized in restoration and environmental studies.

Basiliko came to Sudbury 10 years ago from the University of Toronto, and said the city had become his home.

"I'm really excited about the new position, although we're so sad to leave this wonderful community that you know, is the only home our kids have known," he said.

If Laurentian hadn't cut its environmental studies programs Basiliko said he would have stayed at the institution.

"In my heart I'm an educator and my passion is working with students and getting students excited," he said.

"They'll go on to do greater things than I could ever do if we get them on the right path and with that piece missing, you know, at least for the next few years it was time to leave."

In addition to his role as a professor, Basiliko was the director of Laurentian's Living with Lakes Centre.

The centre is a partnership with Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry with focus on the protection and management of northern aquatic ecosystems.

Long-time Laurentian professor John Gunn has taken over the role as director. While Laurentian no longer has environmental studies programs, the centre will continue its research program.

Louis Durand, vice-president of the Laurentian University Faculty Association, told CBC News around 20 faculty members have left the university through attrition and retirements, since the program cuts last April.

Through Laurentian's plan of arrangement, which outlines how Laurentian will pay back its creditor, the faculty association negotiated the right to hire three full-time faculty members to replace some of those positions.