Board Director 2009–2024
The Counselling Foundation of Canada celebrates Dr. Rob Shea and his contributions to The Foundation’s mission. Sadly, Rob passed away recently. Rob had been a Foundation Board Director since 2009 and was near and dear to our heart. He was a true champion of career development and his contributions and accomplishments in the field were numerous.
“I would like to take this opportunity to extend my condolences to Rob’s family, friends and colleagues. Over the last number of years, it has been a privilege and an honour to serve on the Board alongside Rob. His long association with the Foundation, his knowledge and commitment to career development and his wonderful inclusive personality made it easy. Rob will be missed by myself and all of the Counselling Foundation family“ noted Victoria Grant, Board Chair.
In the late 1990s, Rob was the Board Chair of ContactPoint, the pioneering web hub for Canada’s career development community that launched in 1997. ContactPoint would eventually evolve into what is now CERIC. There, he would serve as Chair from 2004 to 2009 and oversaw the growth of the nascent organization. He was also instrumental in establishing the Etta St. John Wileman Award, bestowed for outstanding achievement in career development at CERIC’s annual Cannexus conference.
Rob was a big believer in the value of mentorship. In 2000, Rob led efforts to establish a tri-mentorship program at Memorial University with support from the Foundation. His proposal saw senior university students mentor grade 12 students to help with the transition to university, and have Memorial alumni mentor the senior student on matters of career. In particular, the initiative focused on mentorship of young people in rural and remote parts of Newfoundland to consider post-secondary as an option to build their future. The program has impacted thousands of Newfoundland’s next generation of leaders.
In 2001, The Foundation made a five-year investment in the Career Development department at Memorial University to develop a high-tech, tele-career centre to make career development more accessible. Once again, Rob’s fingerprints were all over this as he saw the value of career development for young people and the opportunity, at a time when access was more limited, to use technology to be able to support more students.
In 2002, Rob became the founding editor of the Canadian Journal of Career Development, the world’s first peer-reviewed academic journal for career development. Under his leadership, the Journal published over 40 issues with articles from more than 350 contributors, and accumulating over 10,000 subscribers. He was also ahead of his time in the belief that the journal should be accessible and open access at a time when many academic journals were paywalled and did not yet have an online presence.
In 2008, Rob and Dr. Rhonda Joy brought a new 5-year pilot program, “Career Integrated Learning” (CIL), to the Foundation. CIL acknowledges the fact that most young people attend university as a means of advancing their career and that academia has a responsibility to prepare students for the next stage of their career development. CIL, piloted at Memorial and supported by the Foundation, saw the addition of graduating student competencies listed on course syllabi as a means of drawing students’ attention to how the competencies they were developing through their courses and group projects could be applicable in a workplace. This allowed students to better articulate how their academic experiences link to the prospective employer, especially for those students who have not been able to secure employment experiences in other contexts. The pilot proved to be successful and was implemented across many departments at Memorial, and later taken up by other post-secondary institutions across Canada.
More recently, Rob was one of Memorial University’s co-leads in the partnership that has been developed with Nunavut Arctic College for a new Bachelor of Education program. This partnership has the potential to bring much needed opportunities to Inuit as they work towards greater self-determination.
Rob was a published researcher and a regular presenter both nationally and internationally. His words of wisdom and quick wit made him a sought-after speaker. He also contributed to the field of career development through his involvement with the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers (CACEE), the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE), the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS), and the International Association of Student Affairs and Services Association (IASAS).
Rob was an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and served as Associate Vice President (Academic and Student Affairs) of the Fisheries and Marine Institute. He was also the founding director of the Centre for Career Development at Memorial. His contributions to Memorial extend thirty years and his work influenced many students over his career.
“Rob was a consummate community builder. He was welcoming in his approach, open to new ideas and a listener who heard. He was filled with enthusiasm which touched all who came in contact with him. It was an honour for me to have had the opportunity to work with him through the years at ContactPoint, CERIC and most recently The Counselling Foundation of Canada. He made a mark in all the places he went. This is an incredible loss for the career development community as well as the Foundation, and all of the people who were fortunate for his mentorship and friendship” Riz Ibrahim, President & CEO.
The Foundation extends its deepest condolences to Rob’s family, friends, and colleagues. He will be missed.