Dec 31, 2009

The year 2009 was a significant one for the University of the Fraser Valley in many ways. UFV marked its 35th anniversary in April, it celebrated the first graduates to complete their studies at the newly named University of the Fraser Valley in June, and it welcomed its fifth president and vice-chancellor, Dr. Mark Evered, in July.

UFV also topped the list in the Globe and Mail’s annual Canadian University Report. The report is based on surveys of undergraduate students at universities of all sizes across Canada.  UFV earned the most As and A+s of any public university in the province, and was recognized as offering the best teaching of any public university in the province.

UFV was proclaimed into existence as Fraser Valley College in April 1974 by provincial education minister Eileen Daily after more than a decade of lobbying by Fraser Valley community members.  It then became a university-college in 1991 before making the transition to university status in 2008. Thus the grads of 2009 were the first to receive UFV degrees.

Dr. Mark Evered succeeded Dr. Skip Bassford as UFV president and vice-chancellor this past summer, and spent his first few months learning as much as possible about his new university and its partner communities.

UFV also:

• welcomed more students than ever before (more than 10,800), including more than 600 international students signed a historic agreement with the Mennonite Faith and Learning Society that will help launch Mennonite studies courses at UFV
• appointed an advisor on indigenous affairs to guide the ongoing process of indigenizing UFV
• partnered with Chrysler Canada for an advanced vehicle technology centre
• saw the completion of its third year of offering its BBA program in Chandigarh, India, and further developed Indo-Canadian studies programming in Canada
• congratulated the first-ever graduates of UFV’s year-long Indigenous Arts certificate
• launched a Global Development Institute, which supports students and faculty interested in development research opportunities; encourages the building of partnerships between communities, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations; and helps identify international internship opportunities
• presented a series of special events commemorating the 200th birthday of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, and welcomed his great-great-grandson (who happens to live in Abbotsford) to campus for a presentation
• opened a newly renovated $20-million classroom block featuring business and visual arts wings in the former Abbotsford campus trades centre
• received $7.22 million in federal and provincial work to do infrastructure work at the new Chilliwack campus at Canada Education Park, in preparation for renovations to a former military building
• hosted journalist Gwynne Dyer, authors Joseph Boyden and M.G. Vassanji, Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist Andrew Weaver, and many other guest speakers
• hosted presentations on the holocaust, global development and international aid, gun control, capital punishment’s history in Canada, and climate change
• offered health fairs, dental clinics, support for mums-to-be, and smoking cessation programs through UFV Health Sciences put on a season of theatre, a fashion show, a poetry slam, a literary café, gallery exhibits, and a full season of high-level university athletic s competition
• opened an agriculture and food processing resource centre in with local and provincial partners made science ‘rock’ for elementary school students with summer science camps, and also welcomed schoolchildren to regional science and history fairs
• worked with community partners to place students in research projects, practicums, and co-op work terms
• introduced new courses in the Fraser Cascade school district (Agassiz and Hope)
• established a Centre for Social Research, named for generous donors Gladys and Harvey Kipp
• launched new Auto Collision Repair and Refinishing, and Plumbing and Piping trades certificates
• offered a new three-year option for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree
• saw a display about videogame icon Mario made out of pushpins and created by computing students generate more than 200,000 views on the flickr photo site
• honored psychologist Sven van de Wettering with the Teaching Excellence award and the late Autumn Jenkinson with our Distinguished Alumni award
• received more than $1,35 million from 603 donors
• applauded electrical student Ken Meunier  for his silver-medal finish at the Canadian Skills Competition
• congratulated business students Wayne Ortner and Richard Bandeli for finishing first in their category in an international business simulation competition
• admired upgrading student Reid Peters when he won a national Canada Post aboriginal education award
• sent criminologist Darryl Plecas to the prestigious Oxford Round Table for a second time, and generated considerable media buzz through a marijuana grow op calculator developed by our School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
• continued to support numerous faculty research initiatives, in areas as diverse as child-friendly civic planning, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, aboriginal involvement in World War II, prescription misuse, and voluntary self-exclusion from casinos.

 

-30 –