An accountant by trade before emigrating from Malaysia in 1974, Sidhu worked first on a dairy farm, then as a bookkeeper with the Canada Farm Labour Pool, where over the course of his 21 year career he became an unofficial ambassador, bridging gaps in culture and language between local businesses and people emigrating from the Punjab.<\/p>\n
Sidhu is best known for founding B.C.\u2019s first multi-language newspaper, the\u00a0Punjabi Patrika<\/a>. Printing 15,000 copies every Friday in English and Punjabi, the Patrika was established as a beacon of inclusivity and multicultural connection nearly 22 years ago.<\/p>\n As Chancellor, Sidhu will act as ceremonial head of UFV while serving as a member of the\u00a0Board of Governors<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Senate<\/a>. He will also preside over convocation, conferring UFV degrees, diplomas, and certificates, and serve as an ambassador for UFV at major events.<\/p>\n The Chancellor is appointed by the UFV Board of Governors upon the recommendation of the\u00a0Alumni Association<\/a>\u00a0and consultation with the UFV Senate. UFV started the practice of appointing a Chancellor after receiving university status in 2008.<\/p>\n \u201cBy recommending him as UFV\u2019s next Chancellor, the Alumni Association sought to recognize Andy Sidhu as a hard-working and community driven business leader who will serve as an excellent role model for our students,\u201d said UFV Alumni Association chair Nav Bains.<\/p>\n \u201cAndy is a good friend and strong supporter of UFV and has been for many years. A long-time member of the South Asians Studies Institute board, Andy has deep connections and roots in the Fraser Valley region and has the ability to advocate for UFV with the diverse community throughout the Valley. We\u2019re very happy to have him joining us in this role.\u201d In addition to making financial donations to local health care and recreational initiatives, Sidhu has volunteered with more than a dozen groups, including the\u00a0UFV South Asian Studies Institute<\/a>, the Abbotsford Foundation, Indo-Canadian Business Association, Abbotsford Community Services, and Abbotsford Hospice.<\/p>\n \u201cI very much look forward to working with Andy Sidhu as UFV\u2019s Chancellor,\u201d said UFV President Jackie Hogan.<\/p>\n \u201cAndy is a respected business leader, and as the recipient of a Queens Diamond Jubilee and Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity award, his community commitment speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Gwen Point\u2019s time as Chancellor punctuated a lifetime of connection with UFV.<\/p>\n She started her engagement with what was then Fraser Valley College in the early 1980s when she and her husband Steven (former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia and now a B.C. provincial court judge) took university-level courses there.<\/p>\n From FVC student to member of the University College of the Fraser Valley board of governors, to UFV assistant professor, Point\u2019s career and educational journey paralleled the development of UFV from college to university.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (As seen in UFV Today) Drummers, dholis, dancers, and dignitaries were on hand on April 19. 2018, as Andy Sidhu was formally installed as the\u00a0University of the Fraser Valley\u2019s\u00a0third Chancellor. A long-time proponent of community engagement and integration, Sidhu took over from Dr. Gwen Point, who served as UFV\u2019s second Chancellor from 2015 to the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":2027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2029,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions\/2029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/files\/2018\/05\/2-Andy-Sidhu-Platform-Party.jpg\")