Barkley Twidale was appointed as the Acting Vice President for Saskatoon campus in June following Chau Ha’s resignation. Please join the Executive Council in welcoming Barkley to this role. As per the Constitution, the position will be open for nominations this fall along with the Secretary-Treasurer, the Vice President Prince Albert and Vice President Regina.

I am a Heavy-Duty / Truck Transport Mechanic by trade originally from Meadow Lake, SK. I began my apprenticeship in Meadow Lake and first attended SaskPolytech (then S.I.A.S.T) in 1999. I completed my apprenticeship in Calgary at S.A.I.T, where I worked in the trade for two years. I then spent seven years in Edmonton, again, in the trade. This is where I married my wife, Sheila. We also started our family with the addition of my daughter, Rebecca and son, Kenny. In 2009 we moved back to Saskatchewan where I spent time in the underground mining industry and working as a private contractor. I started with SaskPolytech in the fall of 2014, and it has been a whirlwind of new experiences ever since.

Aside from the steep, ever present learning curve of attempting to deliver effective instructing, one of the most influential new experiences of my employment has been completing FCP. This is not only because I managed to obtain some valuable tools, skills and understanding to help me in the classroom, but because I was fortunate enough to meet some exceptional people along the way. It turns out faculty here are made up of great people across all programs and I have been fortunate to meet a few of them. I am looking forward to serving as Vice President for the interim and I hope I can be a positive and helpful member to the SPFA and all of its members.