Spotlight On: Rosemary Venne

September 26, 2019 by CIRHR Communications

Graduated: 1993 
ThesisAlternative Worktime Arrangements: The Compressed Workweek 
Research areas:  changing demographic patterns and the impact on labour force supply, career patterns and mentoring; alternative work-time arrangements
NowAssociate professor, Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan 

2020 marks 30 years since the first PhD was awarded by the CIRHR. Over the course of the 2019-2020 academic year, the CIRHR will be publishing profiles that bring the research and careers of all our PhD alumni together in one place. Find out more.

Rosemary Venne says she has always been fascinated with so-called generational differences and with developmental psychology, or the changes we experience over the life course.  “My parents are 40 and 41 years older than me and I was very intrigued hearing their stories of growing up in the pre-WWII era.”  

Venne’s research interests include changing demographic patterns and the impact on labour force supply, career patterns and mentoring as well as public policy implications of an aging labour force. Other interests include alternative work-time arrangements such as the compressed workweek. Rosemary is co-author with David Foot of several demography papers, including, "Awakening to the Intergenerational Equity Debate in Canada”.  

Selected papers:

  • Foot D.K. and Venne R.A. (2005). Awakening to the intergenerational equity debate in Canada, Journal of Canadian Studies, 39 (1): 5 - 21.  
  • Foot, D.K. and Venne, R.A. (2011). The Long Goodbye: Age, Demographics and Flexibility in Retirement. Canadian Studies in Population, 39 (3-4), 59-74.  
  • Thomas M. and Venne R.A. (2002). Work and Leisure: A Question of Balance. In Cheal, D. (Ed.), Aging and Demographic Change in Canadian Context (pp. 190 - 222). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  
  • Venne, R.A. (2001). Population aging in Canada and Japan: Implications for labour force and career patterns, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 18 (1): 40 - 49.  
  • Venne, R.A. (2004). A Half Century of Work: Women in the Labour Force, Saskatchewan Law Review, 67 (2): 489 - 505.  
  • Venne R.A. (2010). Longer to launch: Demographic changes in life-course transitions. In Blyton, P., Blunsdon B., Reed K. & Dastmalchian A. (Eds.), Ways of Living: Work, Community and Lifestyle Choices (pp. 75 - 98). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  
  • Venne R.A. (2011). Mentoring: Bridging the Generational and Career Divide. In Ralph, E. & Walker, K. (Eds.), Adapting Mentorship Across the Professions (pp. 107 - 122). Calgary, AB: Temeron Books. 
  • Venne, R.A. & Hannay, M. (2017). Demographics, the Third Age and Partial Retirement: Policy Proposals to Accommodate the Changing Picture of Female Retirement in Canada. Journal of Women and Aging, 29(6), 1-19.  doi.org/10.1080/08952841.2017.1377541 
  • Venne, R.A. & Hannay, M. (2018). Generational Change, the Modern Workplace and Performance Appraisal: Why Changing Workplaces Need a Developmental Approach to Performance Appraisal, American Journal of Management, 18(5), 88-102. 

In addition to renowned demographics expert David Foot, Venne’s demographic work also includes collaborations with Maureen (Stephens) Hannay (CIRHR PhD 1993).  

Selected papers and presentations:

  • Rosemary Venne (presenter) and Maureen Hannay, Is there a work-fertility trade off? Women, work and identity, at conference: Statistics Canada: 100 years and counting, December 6-7, 2018, Ottawa, Ontario. 
  • Rosemary Venne and Maureen Hannay (presenter), Generational Change, the Modern Workplace and Performance Appraisal: Why Changing Workplaces Need a Developmental Approach to Performance Appraisal, at Academy of Business Research Fall 2018 Conference, in Boca Raton, Florida, (at Lynn University), November 14-16, 2018.  
  • Hannay, Maureen. & Rosemary A. Venne. 2012. It’s showtime: using movies to teach leadership in online courses. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. Vol 8 (no.3), pp 238-247. 

Describing her time at the Centre, Venne says she “had a fantastic PhD supervisor in Frank Reid, the best supervisor anyone could ever ask for.”

Staff were “always ready to help,” she notes. “Deb Campbell was a gem,” and the library staff, Bruce Pearce, Liz Perry, Vicki Skelton and Monica Hypher “were always so helpful and friendly.”  

"I will always remember the tremendously helpful library staff. We spent a lot of time in the library back then—no one had a laptop yet and we had paper copies of reference readings to read—often from a course reading list.” 

Before coming to the Centre, Rosemary Venn completed her BA (Hons.) in Pyschology at the University of Windsor and her MA in psychology and her Master of Industrial Relations at Queen’s University, and was a lecturer at the Acadia University School of Business Administration in Nova Scotia. 

Venne is now an Associate Professor at the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan, where she was Head of the Department of Human Resources and Organizational Behaviour from 2015-2018.