Planning and facilitating activities for students, community engagement, or promoting the many benefits of a collegiate university – these are a few of the many important tasks that come with the title College Principal at Trent University. Not on the list of typical duties – guest starring on a podcast. That’s not stopping Dr. Melanie Buddle, principal of Peter Gzowski College.

Dr. Buddle recently teamed up with her brother, Dr. Chris Buddle, dean of students at McGill University, to chat with him on his recently launched podcast, the #BuddleHuddle, because in Principal Buddle’s words, “you can’t have a Buddle Huddle with just one Buddle.”

“It was really great to be able to talk to my brother about student engagement at Trent and to be able to talk a bit about our experience in postsecondary education,” said Dr. Buddle. “We talk all the time about our shared interests and it was a fun challenge to distill a few key points into a very short conversation, for a podcast. I hope to do more “BuddleHuddles” in the future.”

The siblings have shared similar trajectories in higher education: Chris holds a Ph.D. in Biology, while Melanie holds a Ph.D. in Canadian History. They have both worked as instructors, in student affairs, and in student administration.  Both share a passion for working with and for students, and for exploring ways to best connect students to their campus communities. 

Listen to episode three of the #BuddleHuddle on GooglePlay, iTunes and Spotify to hear Dr. Buddle chat with her brother about their shared interest in working to support students on their respective campuses. The podcast episode looks at how to engage students in on-campus and off-campus life, and Principal Buddle explains how the college system at Trent helps facilitate a high level of engagement and support for Trent students.