Inglis to Direct Cool Climate Institute
St. Catharines, Ontario -- Debra Inglis, an associate professor of biology at Brock University, was chosen as the new director of Brock's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute in St. Catharines, Ontario. She succeeds Isabelle Lesschaeve, who has returned to her research and teaching position at CCOVI.
While Inglis will be responsible for administration and industry relations, her appointment comes at a time when there is a restructuring of CCOVI's governance. CCOVI is now allowed to expand into areas other than research and services relevant to the wine and grape industry. This would include business and marketing.
As Inglis explains it, CCOVI will no longer be part of the faculty of mathematics and science exclusively, and the institute will be able to work with other faculties in the university. The core of researchers will be built up not only by hiring additional people, but by bringing in researchers from other faculties who are already at Brock.
Inglis will have the assignment of developing and instituting a five-year plan to incorporate the new governance structure, establish research priorities and measure research outcomes. She also will be charged with improving communications with growers and winemakers through the establishment of an executive committee to relay research outcomes at meetings held three or four times a year.
In addition to her administrative duties, Inglis is mandated to continue her active research, which has been central to the CCOVI ice wine program aimed at improving ice wine quality and guarantee its authenticity on the world stage. Her teaching load is expected to be reduced to one course in winemaking biology next year. Asked about the dimensions of her new position, she told Wines & Vines, "I'm really enthusiastic. I'll juggle everything to make it all work."
The Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University was established in 1996 in partnership with the Wine Council of Ontario and the Ontario Grape Growers Marketing Board (now the Grape Growers of Ontario). It is housed in Inniskillin Hall, a facility dedicated to research in enology and viticulture in cool climate regions. CCOVI has had several graduates complete the undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs. Its first Ph.D. graduate was in 2007.