Outgoing MLA Jane Shin will have a new job come April.
The current NDP MLA for Burnaby-Lougheed has been named the new dean of student development at Vancouver Community College (VCC), where she has been an instructor in the department of science for the past seven years.
Last August, Shin announced she wasn’t going to seek re-election for her Burnaby-Lougheed seat. Current Burnaby school trustee Katrina Chen will run for the B.C. NDP in that riding.
Shin said her plan after politics has always been to return to teaching, so when the opportunity surfaced at VCC, she decided to apply.
“Teaching classroom is what I really enjoy, but because I had served in an administrative capacity at BCIT and another college, (the) administrative side of things was another thing in my academic career that I was also interested in,” Shin told the NOW.
Shin has worked as an instructor at VCC since 2010, long before her foray into political life, she said. She officially starts her new position April 11.
“After having considered it and what the job entailed, I put my name forward,” she added. “I went through the process and managed to get the offer.”
Shin said she couldn’t be happier to return to a job in education, even if it’s not in the classroom.
“In a sense, there’s a really big part of me that will really miss teaching, but with that said though, again I have the benefit of having tenure, so it’s not a political leave but an administrative leave, and I guess I can make up my mind in two years or so if I want to choose an administrative path or go back to the classroom,” she said.
When the provincial campaign officially begins later this spring, Shin’s career in politics will come to an end. While she admits there’s some things she won’t miss about being an MLA, she said she will miss the people she met during her term.
“What’s so special about politics is it forces you to come out of your comfort zone, and you meet people, literally, from all walks of life and some encounters are extremely humbling, inspiring; some of them can be more hostile. I mean, what I used to tell everybody was when you go into politics you have enemies that you don’t deserve that just came out of nowhere, but you also have friends that you didn’t earn, and so I think I’ll miss the people side of the service,” she said.
