Isabel Dunnigan has designed large-scale, customized programs for a range of high-profile organizations. |
Photo by Concordia University
“Concordia’s Centre for Continuing Education has a long history as one of Quebec’s top providers of innovative professional and personal development, as well as second-language acquisition,” says Bacon. “Isabel’s experience as director of Development of Continuing Education at the Université de Sherbrooke made her the perfect candidate for this new role at a pivotal time in the centre’s history and evolution.
“The breadth and depth of Isabel’s knowledge and the quality of her experience in business and curriculum development is exactly what Concordia needs to continue attracting new students with traditional and innovative continuing education offerings that complement our academic mission.”
The Centre for Continuing Education has recently been given a new, more focused mandate and the unit is poised to expand its offerings and reach out to new student populations. This mandate includes taking over and diversifying the continuing education activities of the now discontinued School of Extended Learning.
In her previous position, Dunnigan oversaw the design of customized, multidisciplinary classroom and online-training offerings for high-profile clients that included the Centre des services partagés du Québec, Enerkem, Societé de transport de Montréal and Ubisoft. She also negotiated large-scale continuing education contracts with the Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec, among many others.
At Université de Sherbrooke, Dunnigan managed a team of academic professionals and administrative assistants, and oversaw the work of almost 70 instructors and corporate continuing-education partners.
“I’m very excited to join Concordia,” she says. “This is a superb opportunity to build on the Centre for Continuing Education’s excellent reputation and to scale up its activities. I look forward to working in close collaboration with the members of the centre and with the senior university leaders to advance the centre’s and the university’s academic mission.”
Dunnigan has a Master of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Université de Sherbrooke.
Advisory Search Committee
As chair of the advisory search committee, Benoit-Antoine Bacon extends his sincere thanks to the committee members — Catherine Bolton, John Dickson, Brenda Grant, Carol Hawthorne-Laliberté, Lisa Ostiguy, Adrianne Sklar and Marylee Wholey — for their expertise and collaborative work in identifying Dunnigan’s exceptional fit for the position of director of Continuing Education.