Dr. Eli Sopow
From Journalist to Pracademic: Dr. Eli Sopow’s Journey from the Newsroom to the Classroom
Dr. Eli Sopow describes himself as a “pracademic,” bridging the gap between theory and practice through his diverse roles as an Associate Professor at University Canada West and his extensive experience as a consultant, government advisor and journalist.
Dr. Sopow, an Associate Professor in UCW’s MBA program and a recipient of UCW’s Sustained Excellence in Teaching award, took an interesting path to academia. For years, he was a journalist, including covering the BC Legislature. He then worked as an Associate Deputy Minister in the BC Premier’s office, followed by a role at a public affairs firm specializing in communications, issues management and crisis management.
While working on his PhD in Human and Organizational Development, the RCMP reached out to Dr. Sopow, hiring him as a Divisional Director of Research and Analysis at BC Headquarters. He also served as National Director of Research for the RCMP’s Change Management Project for two years. He worked on strategic planning in these roles and conducted around 500 employee surveys on leadership and organizational behaviour, impacting over 15,000 employees.
“It was a great opportunity to apply the lessons from my PhD to looking at organizational behaviour,” says Dr. Sopow, who also holds master’s degrees in both Human Development and Leadership.
With his expertise in change management and leadership, he began teaching, including at UCW in its earlier days. Upon retiring from the RCMP in 2020, he became a full-time faculty member at UCW.
“I think that’s an interesting perspective from faculty here is that not only are you teaching, you’re often learning from students. They are amazing. They are from all over the world. They bring such incredible experiences from places as diverse as Central America, South America, Asia and Africa. We can add to what they bring through education—I certainly try to share with them the knowledge and personal experience with both business and the research world.”
“There’s nothing like having 40 students, and each one of them is from a different country. It is remarkable to come into a classroom to teach change leadership with students who have experienced it first-hand. They bring those lessons right into the classroom. It’s quite a learning experience.”
Marrying academics with the real world—pracademics, as Dr. Sopow likes to describe it—is an essential part of his teaching. He recalls how the RCMP would often ask, “How does this help us catch a bad guy?” whenever academics produced a comprehensive paper for them.
“I could see this helps you get published, but how does it help us do our job? And so that’s what I try to do in class, marrying practice and academia. UCW is very good at doing this. And I always tell my students, how is this going to help you in business?”
Although he’s retired from the RCMP, policing is still very much on his mind. He is a frequent contributor to various publications on policing issues in Canada and continues to consult on organizational design, public order issues and human resources management.
