Bruce G. Fawcett, PhD

Education

BA, Crandall University
MDiv, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary
ThM, Harvard University
PhD, University of Wales

Dr. Bruce Fawcett has devoted most of his life to working with, or in support of, youth and young adults. Beginning as a teenager working at summer camps throughout Atlantic Canada, and then serving as a youth worker during his studies at Crandall University, Bruce returned to Moncton from the United States following graduation from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and Harvard University and served as a local church youth pastor for eight years.  Later he developed and led a program at Crandall designed to train volunteer youth workers. This was followed by the development of a graduate-level program at Acadia Divinity College to train paid youth workers. In between, he served as youth director for the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada, overseeing a network of youth groups that worked with more teenagers in Atlantic Canada than any other entity except for the public school system.  In this role he provided leadership to Springforth – then eastern Canada’s largest Christian youth conference, and Tidal Impact – North America’s largest youth mission and service program.

Bruce went on to earn a PhD from the University of Wales in the United Kingdom where he studied under noted empirical theologian Leslie J. Francis. His research focused on leadership development in adolescents. Dr. Fawcett then became a tenured Associate Professor of Leadership at Acadia University and served as Academic Dean and Director of Doctoral Studies at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. During these and earlier years, he travelled throughout Canada and overseas teaching and lecturing, seeking to help churches become more effective in serving youth. He has authored or edited 11 books and many academic articles designed to help churches and leaders understand youth and help them grow and flourish.

In 2012 he was appointed to serve as the 8^th President and Vice Chancellor of Crandall University. In this role he seeks to support all students who wish to grow in all ways, including academically and spiritually, during their university experience. Key areas of development at Crandall during his years as President include a doubling of student enrollment, a tripling of revenue including significant growth in donations, an internationalizing process resulting in the enrollment of students from more than 40 countries, the introduction of graduate degrees, significant investments in campus renovation and renewal, and a focus on making undergraduate education more affordable through the introduction of several hundred new scholarships.

Dr. Fawcett has served, and continues to serve, on many community and professional Boards, including the Board of Christian Higher Education Canada, an association serving 35 Christian seminaries, Bible Colleges, and universities across the country. He and co-editor Stanley Porter recently produced Christian Higher Education in Canada: Challenges and Opportunities (Pickwick Publications, 2020) which explores this movement that has served hundreds of thousands of Canadian students.

An active Rotarian, Dr. Fawcett enjoys travel, listening to podcasts, reading British and American espionage thrillers, the music of U2, and long walks with his wife. He and his wife are the proud parents of two Crandall alums.