When you hear the word “President,” what adjectives come to mind? Intimidating? Unapproachable, perhaps?

 

Not at St. Jerome’s. We’re extremely fortunate to have Dr. Katherine Bergman at the helm. The first time I met her was during my orientation week in first year, when she welcomed everyone into residence en masse. She helped to set the tone for our experience in residence at St. Jerome’s from day one: SJU is a caring, inclusive community, one in which everyone is welcomed and supported. It was a community that I instantly wanted to be a part of.

 

Don’t just take it from me, though. Being able to sit down and get to know Katherine a bit better has been, by far, one of the coolest things I’ve been able to do with my co-op placement so far. Here’s our chat so you can get to know her better as well!

 

 

What’s your academic background?

Let’s see…I did an Honours BSc in Biology at Waterloo, and I have a Master’s in Paleontology and PhD in Sedimentology from McMaster University. Then I did an NSERC [Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council] Post-Doc at McMaster as well before taking a faculty position at the University of Regina in the department of Geology. I was the Dean of Science at the University of Regina and Vice-President Academic at Nipissing University before I decided to take this position at St. Jerome’s.

 

What drew you to St. Jerome’s? Why did you come here?

Well, I grew up in the Waterloo Region. [My family] have lived here since I was in Grade 2. I was a product of Waterloo Catholic: St. Anne’s, St. Agnes, St. David’s and St. Mary’s. I went to school at UW but I had no real connection to St. Jerome’s because I was in science, and I lived in the city so I was never in residence either. But I love the Waterloo Region, I love the University of Waterloo, what I knew about St. Jerome’s I really liked. I liked the fact that it was Catholic as well because it would be the first time in my whole career that I could blend my spiritual and intellectual sides together.

 

 

What’s your favourite part about being the President of St. Jerome’s?

I have the best students! It was the students that drew me here when I came for the interview. It was a closed search so nobody knew who I was when I came here for the first time, and a student showed me around while I was just pretending to be a parent on a tour looking at facilities with my daughter...and they were just phenomenal. My daughter was actually graduating from McGill at that point but she had looked at Waterloo for her undergrad so we used that as an excuse as to why I was on campus.

 

The people I interacted with, and the community itself, was inspiring – I really do mean it when I say we have the best students on campus. When something happens on campus, I don’t go to faculty or staff – I look for one of the student leaders because I know that they know how to deal with any situation without fuss – and even if they’re a little bit shaken up afterward, in the moment they respond. When I’m across the creek, even when I’m out in the community, people will say to me, “I don’t know what it is you do with your students, but they’re different.” I mean, you just have to look at something like Relay for Life to understand just how amazing our students are. We raised more money than all of Laurier last year. That’s unbelievable.

 

What about your least favourite part?

I don’t know if I have one. I really love what I’m doing. Some things are definitely more challenging than others but there’s nothing I don’t like. I’ve reached that point in my life where I can retire, so if I’m not having a good time… (Laughs) …If anything, I don’t like that I’m living away from my husband. He lives in Regina where he has my old job as Dean of Science – I always joke with him that he needs to take care of my old office – while I’m here in Waterloo living with my parents, which I think brings a whole new meaning to ‘adult children’ moving back home.

 

 

What drives you as President?

I like challenges, I like building things – not physical buildings, though our new buildings are really nice – I like building community. I like creating opportunity and creating spaces where people can thrive. I’m not a micromanager. I believe I can’t make someone successful, but I can create an environment where they have the opportunity to be successful. I know that you can also easily create an environment where people can’t be successful because you don’t give them the space to reach their potential, so I really like to give people that space. Building and creating opportunities for people to reach their potential – that’s what I love about administration.

 

Are there any books or movies or TV shows that have caught your attention recently?

Hidden Figures. Phenomenal movie, absolutely phenomenal. I think every single person should go see that movie. I haven’t seen Silence yet but I really want to go see it. I thought Spotlight was really well done, very sad in many ways that a few people can spoil things for everybody. It’s amazing how much one person can change the tone in a room, you know? When stuff happens we all get coloured by it, or tainted by it, so that was a very powerful movie.

 

Books that I’ve read around the TRC [the Truth and Reconciliation Commission] have been very powerful for me. I just read Up Ghost River by Ed Metatawabin, who was a survivor of St. Anne’s, which was one of the worst residential schools in Canada. I’ve also read Wab Kinew’s book, The Reason You Walk. Both very difficult reads, particularly when they talk about the impact of their time as young boys in the residential schools. Joseph Boyden’s book about the Aboriginal contribution to World War One, Three Day Road, as well as Through Black Spruce, were very powerful books as well.

 

I’m not really home enough to watch TV – I mean, I’ll watch a little Downton Abbey here and there – but I haven’t seen the whole show.

 

Sully was an interesting book, too. Word of advice, though: don’t ever read a novel about an airplane crash while you’re on a plane flight! I’m coming back from Edmonton and I’m at the point of the book where they start talking about the crash and every time there’s turbulence I wonder why I thought [reading this book] was a good idea!

 

 

What are some of your hobbies outside work?

I like training - I work with a personal trainer. I have this view of life that if I don’t take care of myself and keep myself healthy, why should anybody else trust me to take care of them? So I work with a personal trainer three times a week. I like cycling – when I go home [to Regina] in the summer my husband and I cycle. I have a road bike there and a hybrid here. I do some of the trails in Waterloo when the weather permits.

 

My mother honestly deserves a medal for raising me because I was the kid who never sat still. I do a yoga class on Sundays, but only because I don’t have to hold the same pose for ten minutes. Some of the staff laugh at me sometimes when I have a major decision to make because I look a bit like a puppy – you know how puppies lie down, get up, walk around, lie down, get up, walk around – until I find that comfortable spot because I need to see things from all angles. I enjoy walking – especially with my two dogs!

 

Tell me more about your dogs!

I have an American Eskimo named Cobalt and a Sheltie American Eskimo cross named Carly. Cobalt’s my attitude puppy and Carly is frightened by everything. She got frightened by her food bowl because it scraped across the concrete, so I had to go buy her a new food bowl! There was one week that Cobalt tried to convince me that, “No Mommy, I sleep on the couch now, not my kennel,” so I had to literally pick him up and put him in his kennel for a week because he wouldn’t move off the couch. He plays my husband all the time and my husband falls for it every time. I’ve got so many more stories like that. He’s my attitude pup.

 

I’ve got two cats as well, Hunter and Maggie – and there’s a third cat at my daughter’s house in Kingston named Stripes. Three cats and two dogs. They’re all Grey Tabbies that look almost the same. They all grew up together, which was absolute chaos. My daughter moved out and then I got five animals. We joke that it took five animals to replace her. I also joke that it’s the closest my husband and I have come to divorce. There were animals everywhere.

 

 

If you and your husband were entertaining at your house, what would your go-to food be?

Anything barbecued! I love grilling steak. The barbecue, or something I can just put in the oven and leave there, like a roast. I’m a dedicated carnivore and I’m very much about the ‘keep it simple’ philosophy…chances are that things will go well if I keep it simple, and that applies to my professional life just as much as it does to my cooking.

 

What are some of your favourite restaurants in Kitchener-Waterloo?

I actually don’t go out for dinner that much. I eat out a lot, but it’s usually at events or banquets. I do like going to Sole’ in the evening because I like the patio. It has a very European flavour to it. I like the Huether [Hotel] because it’s a lot of fun, and I like the craft beer – I’m not sure if I can say that! – but I do like the craft beer. I like The Keg because I like steak. I also like Borealis. If we have guests visiting from out of town and we have the time, we’ll take them to Borealis because the food is so good.

 

 

Coffee or Tea?

Well, I start out with three cups of coffee in the morning – but I don’t drink any during the day or I’d drive everybody in my office nuts from bouncing off the walls. 

 

Speaking of bouncing…I was talking to another student leader as I was preparing for this interview, and she said, “you HAVE to ask her about trampolines.” What’s that about?

(Laughs) …The first year I was here as President I went to Airborne in Waterloo with a student leader group – I can’t remember which one – and I had a blast. I wish I had more time for trampolining because I find it so fun. I think Jay [Smith, Manager of Recruitment and Admissions] remembered that because I was invited to go to SkyZone in Kitchener last year, but the power was out so we couldn’t go. Trampolining is fun. I like to jump. They had a picture of me trampolining at one point but I don’t know where it went. It was in the paper too!

 

 

If I were to find your music library and press ‘shuffle,’ what sort of artists or genres would I hear?

Mostly classical. As kids, we were introduced to classical music through cartoons – Bugs Bunny, for example! I used to listen to the radio but I’m not a big fan of what plays on the radio anymore, so I don’t honestly know how to access music other than through my CDs. I’ll listen to whatever my daughter plays because I like her music taste – that, or classical. I like the Baroque period a lot – Bach, Beethoven…I actually used to listen to music a lot and I love when music is playing, but I honestly don’t have the opportunity to just sit and listen very often. I have SiriusXM in my car and on my radio at home so I’ll put that on, but I’m always moving around and I hate wearing earbuds so the opportunities for me to listen to music are few and far between.

 

What do you do to unwind at the end of a busy day?

...Sleep? (Laughs) …I usually read before I go to bed. I like going to the reading series on campus because it gives me inspiration to learn from Canadian authors, so I try to go to as many of them as I can. I like to just sit quietly sometimes. I like to have my quiet time in the mornings. I’m the first one up in my house, so that gives me quiet space to just psych myself up for the day.

 

 

How would you describe the state of your desk?

I don’t like dirt, so when my desk is out of control I’m not usually in a good space. My desk is fairly neat. I’m not a neat freak, but a messy desk after a while is just frustrating.

 

You’ve been on the SJU in Peru trip twice now. What has that been like for you?

I really enjoyed it. It gives me an opportunity to “teach,” to just be with students. One of the things I miss is not teaching because I really enjoyed working with students that way. The Peru trip is just about two and a half weeks, so it’s like running field school for me. It’s a good way of watching people grow and seeing what they do when they’re put outside of their comfort zones. I really didn’t want people calling me ‘Dr.’ this or ‘Mrs.’ that so it’s all first-name. They always come up with a group phrase for the trip, and one year it was “Everybody poops.” A funny way of reminding everyone that we’re all on the same playing field. I mean, yeah, there were times where I had to pull rank, there has to be some sort of leadership in [the trip] – but it’s really an opportunity for students to encounter somebody else in a very different state.

 

They’re not mission trips – we’re not going down there to build something, we’re putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes for a little while. Even though we know we can leave those shoes behind, we still get a really good taste of what it’s like. We meet people whose lives are pretty difficult. We don’t want students coming back and thinking “my problems are nothing.” That’s not true. Everybody’s problems are valid – they’re just different. We have no say in where we’re born – I’m grateful to have been born into a life of privilege – but what I do with that privilege and what I pass on to my children is under my control. It’s not to diminish the problems we have here, they’re just as legitimate – they’re just different. We have way fewer Canadians who are worried about basic survival than Peruvians. It’s really about trying to help people see the bigger world and maybe flip their views around.

 

 

Who are some of your personal heroes?

I’ve never really thought about having heroes before. I like Pope Francis. I like Gandhi in a lot of ways – the non-violent approach and the things he could accomplish. Martin Luther King Jr., you know? Some of the big names that were involved in reform, but without violence. People listened to them. I have a lot of respect for Obama and what he accomplished without a whole lot of support in many ways. I’ve learned a lot about leadership by watching people – and not necessarily the positive parts, but learning from the mistakes that others have made. I find that to be a powerful teaching tool…how not to do something, just by looking at the consequences of doing that thing.

 

Is there anything else you would want students to know about you?

(Whispers) …I’m not always serious. I like to have fun… (Laughs) …I just have to play the role. Yeah, I’m not really serious. I like to poke at people, but you have to know your audience.

 

 

If I were a prospective student, why should I choose St. Jerome’s?

Because we’re the best. St. Jerome’s isn’t for everybody, but if you’re a student who’s looking for leadership development, if you’re a student who’s looking for opportunities to grow, if you’re interested in social justice – if you want to be part of a community that you feel engaged in, that you feel valued and a contributing member of – there’s lots of opportunity for students when they come here. We have things that you can explore beyond the classroom, both local and international – like SJU in Peru and Encounter KW. But I think the most important reason is that you’ll be part of a safe community. It’s a place to call home.■

 

Follow Katherine Bergman on Twitter: @sjupres

 

By Jon Franchetto

 

*This article is a condensed and partially edited version of the original interview.*