Recruiting more students a major priority for Laurentian University's president

Nine months into her role as Laurentian University's president, Lynn Wells says her top priority for the institution is to recruit more students.

"I want as many people as possible to come to Laurentian and to benefit from our education," Wells said in a feature interview with CBC's Morning North.

The university, based in Sudbury, currently has around 7,500 students.

Wells was recruited to help Laurentian rebuild as it recovers from a 2021 insolvency that resulted in 195 staff and faculty members losing their jobs, and the termination of 76 programs.

Wells said the university is focused on a plan to pay its creditors, by selling seven properties, and a small portion of its land, to the province for $53.5 million.

"We have to follow the court-ordered plan, which is to sell the properties, and as that we're working on doing," she said.

Those properties need to be sold by Nov. 28, 2025.

But beyond repaying creditors, Wells said the focus is on improving current programs and building new ones to meet the needs of students.

"One of the programs that is being considered is an environmental solutions program that would work together with our mining programs to bring that kind of sustainability element," Well said.

"So that's what we mean about really kind of strategic thinking about programming rather than just bringing back everything that was gone."

During her short time in Sudbury, Wells said she's learned about the important role Laurentian plays in the community. 

"Our graduates, our alumni, are out all over the Greater Sudbury region, all over northern Ontario, doing tremendous work as teachers, as social workers, as engineers," she said.

"They're really the leaders in this community."

Part of the plan to rebuild Laurentian, she said, is to draw on the university's most successful programs, which include architecture, education, social work, sports administration and mining-related programs in engineering and geology.

To achieve that goal, Laurentian will need to hire new faculty to replace some of the positions lost due to the insolvency, Well said.

"I want to see Laurentian University thriving into the future, known for the really strong programming it has," she said.

"We know that this university is extraordinarily important for northern Ontario, for the people of this region."