Guelph Mercury

GUELPH — Franco Vaccarino knows a few things about human behaviour and the way the brain works. He has a doctorate in the subject and an impressive research background in what makes the mind tick.

The new president of the University of Guelph said his education and investigations in psychology and neuroscience, coupled with a world view that sees challenges as opportunities and stress as invigorating, have served him well as a top administrator in complex, ever-changing post-secondary systems.

These are qualities that will continue to benefit the 58-year-old in August when he takes over as U of G president. He will face a major responsibility upon assuming his new role, that of overseeing the trimming of $32.4 million in costs at the university.

"I'm generally a very positively oriented person," he said. "It seems to me that challenges or problems are fully expected in any complex system. You can't walk into these roles and expect it to be smooth sailing.

"Obviously there are challenges and you have to work through them, but I don't necessarily see them as negatives," he continued. "In some ways, the challenges are an opportunity to figure things out, to problem solve, to make the world a better place, to make the university a better place."

The challenges and problems of life, he said, are very often joined at the hip with opportunities and rewards.

"You think about an institution like the University of Guelph, that university will be around for so many years. It will outlive us," he said. "There is a momentum that an institution like the University of Guelph will have because of the great things that it's doing, and that will continue. It's really important to not lose sight of the positive things that create that momentum, even in the face of challenges."

Those who know Vaccarino speak highly of the man who is principal of University of Toronto, Scarborough, as well as a U of T vice-president.

Meric Gertler is U of T's new president. He worked with Vaccarino for about eight years.

"It goes without saying he is very bright," Gertler said. "He has had a stellar career as a psychologist. He is obviously a scholar of considerable clout. But he is also an incredibly warm and easygoing guy. You would find it difficult to guess on the basis of his warmth that he is also this highly achieving academic."

There is no question Vaccarino is up to the task of running a major Canadian university, Gertler said.

"He has been running a campus, University of Toronto, Scarborough, that is now becoming a comprehensive university in its own right," he said. "Being principal of one of our campuses gives you the opportunity to manage the physical development of the campus and plan for its future. There is an awful lot of interaction with local communities. There is a scope to the job which he has been doing which is in many ways directly analogous to the role he is about to take on at Guelph."

Sarah Worku is the president of the Scarborough Campus Students' Union. She said Vaccarino has an excellent reputation among students.

"He is known for going above and beyond to engage in conversation with the students he would see around in the student centre, and would always stay back at events to talk to students," she said.

She said Vaccarino has been intent on making U of T, Scarborough a world-class institution.

"I have seen remarkable changes from the campus expansion plans and the academic growth of the university," said Worku, who has been at Scarborough since 2008.

Vaccarino's greatest accomplishment at Scarborough, she added, was working in collaboration with students to secure a major Pan Am Games facility, which will live on for years to come.

Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre is being built on the north end of the U of T Scarborough campus. In 2015, the athletics facility will host the aquatics, fencing and modern pentathlon components of the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games, and will remain a centre of recreation and education well into the future.

"Principal Vaccarino will be greatly missed at Scarborough, largely because of his great spirit, ambition and leadership," Worku said.

Born in Italy, Vaccarino immigrated to Canada with his parents in the late 1950s.

"My parents came from a relatively modest background but with a very strong belief in the importance of education, mostly from their belief that it would make you a better person," he said.

His father was a welder in the sheet metal trade, and worked for many years for a company that fabricated Quonset huts, many of which can still be seen standing in farmyards across southern Ontario.

Vaccarino still plays hockey and has taken up golf because his elbow is too sore for tennis. He can hold his own as a guitar player, and sometimes plays gigs with friends for charity. He becomes downright giddy with pride when he speaks about his two daughters.

"I have great kids," he said. "I consider myself a very fortunate dad. I've got a great family."

His family is most decidedly a psychological one. His wife, Cosmina, is a psychotherapist, and his daughters, Oriana, 24, and Elysia, 22, both majored in psychology at university and are planning to pursue advanced degrees in the field. His one brother is also a psychologist.

Vaccarino holds a bachelor of science degree from U of T, master of science and PhD in psychology from McGill University.

He remains a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the university. For many years he maintained an active basic science laboratory at U of T, in which research covering a broad spectrum of basic neuroscience and clinical neuroscience was carried out.

"My general areas of research are in the neuroscience of addiction, substance abuse, mood and anxiety disorders," he said.

Vaccarino continues to be an active contributor to the field on a national level. He works with the Canadian Centre of Substance Abuse, advising the organization on matters related to neuroscience and substance abuse, lending a biomedical/neuroscience perspective on addiction at the national policy level.

He also sits on the board of directors of Brain Canada, a national organization that promotes and funds brain research across the country, with $100 million in federal funding backing it.

So much of what we do professionally, he said, involves processing information — often a great deal of information that swirls around decision-making processes. A position like the head of a university also involves understanding people and knowing how to work with them. Knowledge of neuroscience and psychology helps in both areas.

"I think understanding behavioural systems from a neuroscience and psychology standpoint is an added perspective when you're trying to solve problems and come up with answers to complex situations and problems," he said. "It provides a perspective that sometimes helps you explain or understand situations where you might otherwise scratch your head."

So as the University of Guelph wrestles with its budget, don't look for the new president to become overwhelmed by intense problem-solving situations.

Finding a common and common-sense purpose is essential when an organization faces difficult problems, he said. Much negativity arises when there are conflicting goals and end points in mind.

"But if you really get to that common-sense purpose, you see that we are all in it for the same reasons," he said. "It's important to step back a little and remind ourselves of that. When you start conversations with that point in mind, it's generally very helpful."

roflanagan@guelphmercury.com