Greg Finn (centre), Special Advisor to the President and Provost, will retire June 30 after a Brock career spanning almost 38 years. Finn is pictured with Tim Kenyon, Vice-President, Research (left), and Mark Arthur, current Board Chair, in this 2019 Spring Convocation photo. What started as a short-term contract turned into a lifetime career at Brock University for Greg Finn.
“Originally, the plan was to stay for a year,” says Finn, Special Advisor to the President and Provost, who retires at the end of June after almost 38 years at Brock.
Greg Finn’s official faculty photo from 1988.
When he was still a PhD student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Finn was hired as a geology lecturer at Brock to cover a one-year sabbatical.
“During my first year of teaching at Brock in 1985, I wore a T-shirt and red Converse to teach in and was often mistaken for a student,” he recalls fondly.
When an assistant professor position became available, however, it set a course for Finn’s future that would lead to opportunities in administration, outreach and science education.
In many ways, his career has paralleled Brock’s growth over the past four decades.
“Back then, the entire student body totalled 7,000 — and half of those were part-time students. Now, with more than 19,000 students, the growth in student population demonstrates how we have grown our graduate and undergraduate programs to meet the needs of community — locally, nationally and internationally — and expanded the physical appearance of our campus,” he says.
Finn played a significant role in that growth, spending 13 years in senior administrative roles at Brock. He served as Provost and Vice-President, Academic from 2018 to 2020; Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Academic from 2007-2018; Associate Dean in the Faculty of Mathematics and Science from 2003 to 2007; and Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences from 1996 to 2002.
Among his many contributions to Brock, Finn is perhaps most proud of his role in the creation of Brock’s Yousef Haj-Ahmad Department of Engineering and the establishment of the University’s first undergraduate engineering program.
“I had my first meeting about bringing engineering to Brock with Rudi Kroeker, Tom Rankin and Ian Brindle in 2007,” Finn says. “As local businessmen, they were having trouble hiring engineers in certain disciplines and looking to us for help.”
The conversations gained momentum under the leadership of former Brock University President and Vice-Chancellor Gervan Fearon, with programs taking shape and faculty recruitment taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greg (right) and Trish Finn founded a scholarship in their name at Brock University.
“It took a long time to get us here, and there is still much work to be done,” says Finn. “The initial faculty members hired to launch the program have been doing an amazing job as Brock prepares to welcome its first cohort of engineering students in September 2024.”
While Finn’s time at Brock is drawing to a close, he remains committed to the University’s success. He and his wife Trish, a retired Brock employee, recently established an undergraduate award for an enrolled second-year student.
The Greg and Trish Finn Scholarship will be given to a first-generation undergraduate student in the Faculty of Mathematics and Science or the Faculty of Social Sciences who demonstrates academic merit. The award will alternate between the two Faculties.
“Trish and I were each the first generation in our families to attend university,” says Finn. “We remember second year, feeling the financial crunch and wanted to help in this way.”
The Finns, who are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this year, have two children, Matthew (BA ’10) and Heather (BRLS ‘13), both Brock graduates. The couple is also looking forward to welcoming their first grandchild in September. Once retired, Finn plans to travel, enjoy 10 a.m. tea with Trish and resume his woodworking hobby.
Until then, he’s ending his time at Brock the way he started by wearing his signature red Converse to select functions.
Also retiring June 30 are:
- Shyamal Bose, Professor, Physics
- Brian Forbes, Cogen Plant and Mechanical Services Leadhand, Facilities Management
- Dawn Good, Associate Professor, Psychology
- Colleen Hood, Professor, Recreation and Leisure Studies
- Diane Miller, Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour
- Greg Panas, Shipper/Receiver, Central Shipping, Receiving and Mail Services
- Gail Somerville, Finance officer/Billing Co-ordinator, Student Wellness and Accessibility
- Linda Tremblay, Project Manager, Capital Planning and Project Management.
Pam Bradley, Officer, Student Financial Services, and Judith Brooder, Manager, Student Accessibility Services, will also retire July 31.
