Q&A with New Vic College Principal

^{Photo by Minh Truong.}

Professor Alex Eric Hernandez was installed as Victoria University’s twelfth principal on Dec. 4, 2024. We asked him what he has learned since taking up the position on July 1 and to share some of his plans for the future.

Q. What is your vision for Victoria College?

A. I see Victoria College as a global centre for interdisciplinary research and creative practice that’s nevertheless rooted in a local community of scholars and students. We do curiosity, creativity and connection exceptionally well here, so as I see it, my task is to continue to build on that legacy. That means supporting our curiosity-led programs and research centres in support of faculty, fellows and students alike. It means exploring avenues for artists and creatives to innovate among us. And it means providing spaces and opportunities for different groups in our community to draw connections—to each other, but also between ideas.

Q. Why did you want to be the principal?

A. I was attracted to the Principal’s Office for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that Vic is home to several of my brightest students and a good part of my own intellectual community. I’ve had many thought-provoking conversations about my work and academic life around the Burwash High Table over the years! But quite apart from that, I think of this role as an ideal one for someone with my background who likes to solve problems. As a scholar of the literary humanities who is committed to thinking across disciplinary boundaries, Vic offers an especially appealing environment for growing programs that balance broad-based inquiry, exceptional instruction and access to world-class research supports. I tell the students that this really is the best of both worlds: the resources of the contemporary research university in a small liberal arts college setting. To have the opportunity to shape the future of this community, to help it thrive and reach its full potential, is an honour.

Q. What big projects are you working on?

A. Things are always busy in the Principal’s Office, but lately I’ve been focusing on two of my key priorities for the year. The first concerns our newly launched Centre for Creativity. We’re cultivating a number of strategic partnerships that will take the centre and its related program in Creativity and Society in new directions. What does the future of creativity look like? What do we learn by talking about the powers of invention with colleagues farther afield than, say, writing or visual arts? Our hope is that we can build programming that invites participants to think deeply and rigorously across the arts, crafts and sciences. At the same time, I’m working to build what I call “critical resilience” in our students, which is to say, the capacity to enter into difficult conversations with civility and curiosity. I think we will have failed students if they leave university without being challenged in this way, and building these skills is so desperately needed in our contemporary political moment. The question then is how do we create opportunities to explore hotbed issues and practice such resilience without effacing our differences or abandoning commitments to diversity and inclusion? Well, we’re starting by hosting several enriching events that tackle the subject head-on and effectively wagering that students are up for the challenge.

Q. Which author influenced you the most?

A. Northrop Frye, of course.