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skos:note """ Volume 44 Number 1 • Spring, 1990'
INSIDE
UBC Art
Falling Star
Post BA Blues
Open House 1990
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BOARD OF MANAGEMENT
ELECTIONS May through August, the UBC Conference Centre
operates the largest university conference facility in
Canada.
Reasonably priced accommodation consists of
comfortable single rooms and a limited number of one
and two bedroom executive suites in a unique,
easy-paced environment.
The University of British Columbia is set atop the
Point Grey Peninsula and framed by the Strait of
Georgia, the winding fiords of Howe Sound and the
North Shore Coastal Mountains. And it's all located
near the harbour city of Vancouver with its theatres,
night life, and continental cafes and shops.
Imagine us
"^
MV*
5959 Student Union Boulevard,
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B. C,
Canada V6T 2C9 Telephone (604) 228-2963 Fax (604) 228-5297 Volume 44 Number 1 • Spring, 1990
Features
Star Light, Star Bright 14
Will the North Star fade to black?
ArtFor Art's Sake .16
UBC's Fine Arts Collection tries to come of age
After the B.A 30
Life after slogging through the Arts
Departments
Alumni President's Column 4
Activities 5
Student News 6
Alumni News 7
Campaign News 8
Class Acts 21
Book Reviews 28
Elections
Election Ballot
Editor
Chris Petty, MFA86
Assistant Editor, Class Acts
Dale Fuller
Contributors
Robin Laurence, Jaymie Matthews,
Marjorie Simmins, BA'85, Wendy
Soobis, Pat Higinbotham, Alan Hindle
The UBC Alumni Chronicle is published quarterly by the UBC Alumni
Association, and is distributed free to
all graduates. Postage paid at the Third
Class Rate Permit No. 5915. Return
requested. Member, Council for the
Advancement and Support of Education. Indexed in Canadian Education
Index. ISSN 0824-1279.
Printed In Canada.
Editor's Notes
1 his quarter's cover says a great deal about UBC. The
colour photo was taken in early January ofthis year (on the
only sunny day in the whole month), at the kickoff to this
year's 75th Anniversary celebrations. Students, staff, faculty and visitors all donated their bodies to the cause and,
though you can't tell by looking, they are all waving madly
at the camera.
The black and white inset photo is, of course, the famous
1922 photo of UBC students assembled at the Point Grey
site of the campus.
The enthusiasm and hope shown by those early students is still strong today. In spite of tuition hikes, climbing
entrance standards and crowded classes, UBC students
still feel a fierce pride in their university, and the community
at large still places a high value on a UBC degree.
The next 75 years, it appears, will be just as positive as
the last 75 were.
By showing you various aspects of the campus (from
politics to pulsars), the Chronicle tries to maintain that
same kind of pride in its readers. We try not to pull any
punchs (see this month's article on UBC Art), but we don't
hesitate to heap on the praise, either ("Star Light, Star
Bright").
We also have our usual features, a stroll down memory
lane ("After the BA") and information on Open House and
the UBC Campaign.
This issue also contains a ballot and information on this
year's Board of Management elections. Please vote. Board of Management
1989-91
President
Ann McAfee, BA'62, MA'67. PhD'75
Senior Vice President
Mel Reeves BComm'75, MSc'77, LLB
Past President
John Diggens, BSc'68, DMD'72, MSD
Treasurer
Mark W. Hilton, BCom'83, LLB'88
Members-at-Large 1987-89
Godwin Eni, MSc'81, PhD'87
Oscar Sziklai, MF'61, PhD'64, BSF
Janet Gavinchuk, BCom,'77, MBA'86
Members-at-Large 1989-91
Janet Calder, BASc'74, MBA
Martin Cocking, BA'87
Curt Latham, BA'58, MD'62
Executive Director
Deborah Apps
FINANCIAL
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From the
President
1 he Spring Chronicle is a time
for looking back and looking
forward. As this is my last
column, I would like to share
some of the ups and down of
being the "CEO" of a 125,000
member association whose ties
that bind are the camaraderie of
UBC.
The start of my term coincided with all campus fund
raising, including the Association's Annual Fund, being consolidated under the umbrella of
the Development Office. After a long tradition of raising funds
for scholarships and alumni/student activities, the role of the
Association was redefined as "friend raising."
The response to the new role has been mixed. To manage
costs and content more efficiently, changes were made to the
Chronicle. Our communications department has done a good
job of bringing out a better product on time and within budget.
However, alumni groups who traditionally raised their own
funds to support activities face an uncertain future. Friend
raising costs money. As this issue goes to press, a year after the
change of role, terms of the core grant from the university are
still not agreed upon, and procedures for fund raising by
alumni groups are unclear. Uncertainty is disconcerting to volunteers and staff. Establishing a new partnership between
alumni and the university is a high priority.
The highlight of the past year was the opportunity to meet so
many graduates. My most enduring memories will be of reminiscences about student days. These invariably led to an offer of
support for the university. Some promised funds, others volunteered time and energy to student, faculty and alumni events.
To all who participated, thank you.
The challenge for President-Elect Mel Reeves and his incoming Board is to harness the abundant good will graduates have
for UBC into active support for the university. Alumni activities,
and the resources to support them, are limited only by our
imagination and commitment.
I would like to say a special thanks to the Board, staff and to
my special friend Rick for all the support. It was an honour to
represent the graduates of UBC. My best wishes to you, Mel, as
you carry forward the grand traditions of UBC as the 71st
President of the Alumni Association.
Ann McAfee, BA'62, MA'67, PhD'75
4 Chronicle/Spring 1990 Branches
Australia
Christopher Brangwln, BEd. (Sec)
'71, MA (Geog) '73, took advantage of a
business trip to Vancouver to visit the
Alumni Association offices at Cecil Green
Park in November. UBC alumni in
Australia interested in alumni activities can contact Chris at: 4 Fairweather
St., Bellevue Hill, New South Wales,
Australia 2023.
Toronto
New to Toronto? Looking for social
or career contacts? Come and join
UBC alumni for talk and good cheer at
8:00 p.m. on March 21 at the Rose &
Crown, Yonge & Eglinton.
Nanaimo
The Nanaimo alumni gathered together to have dinner with Dr. & Mrs.
Strangway at the Coast Bastion Inn on
November 24th. Dr. Strangway brought
the group of 60 graduates and their
guests up to date on university affairs.
Margaret BSN'54 and Hugh Heath
BA'49, LLB'50 were gracious hosts for
the evening, and Dr. James Slater
PhD'71 once again ably coordinated
the event.
Homecoming Week — 1990
If you are planning a visit to campus during our 75th Anniversary
Homecoming Week September 27 -
October 3, plan to attend a special
Branch Brunch at Cecil Green Park on
the morning of September 28. See pages
10 and 11 of this issue and watch for
more details in our June edition of the
Chronicle.
Watch for upcoming events in:
Kamloops, Penticton, Seattle and Los
Angeles.
Divisions
Medicine
The newly (almost) completed
Medical Alumni & Student Centre at
12th & Heather is the result of the
efforts of many alumni and students.
The Centre will officially open its doors
on March 17th. The program for the
day begins with a series of guest speakers including architect Paul Merrick,
B.Arch.'64, (The City as an Organism);
Dr. Wm. Bowie (Canadian Youth; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; What they
know & what they do); Dr. James Miles
(Love & Survival); and interaction with
artist Sam Black. The festivities get
under way at 4:00 p.m. when UBC
medical students, who are staging a
'reverse trek,' will arrive at the Centre.
Activities
Guests will then be given a tour of the
facility, followed by the ribbon cutting
ceremony.
Watch for details of the Annual
General Meeting & Awards Night to be
held at the Centre on May 12, 1990.
The Victoria chapter of the Medicine division will meet for dinner on
Friday, April 27th at the Union Club,
with guest speaker Dr. Ian McTaggart-
Cowan. For further details contact Dr.
Bill Bell, BA'49, MD'54, at 388-4211.
Nursing
The Annual General Meeting and
Dinner will be held on May 10th at
Cecil Green Park, 5:30 for 6:30 p.m.,
with speaker Nancy Hall, Director,
Health Promotion Programs, North
Shore Health Dept. (Promoting Wellness: An Interdisciplinary Approach).
Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Members of this new division will
celebrate their 10th anniversary reunion at 6:0.0 p.m. on May 26th at Cecil
Green Park.
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
The annual meeting and reception
for new graduates will be held at 7:00
p.m., Cecil Green Park, on March 16th.
Professors Emeriti
A general meeting will be held on
Wednesday, April 25 at 1:30 p.m. at
Cecil Green Park.
Pharmacy
"UBC Pharmacy Alumni - Update
1990," co-sponsored by the division
and the Continuing Ed. Division ofthe
Faculty was held on January 20. The
day-long seminar featured five excellent speakers and was attended by 96
pharmacists.
Grads came from Vancouver, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Grand Forks,
Kamloops, Comox, Campbell River,
Chilliwack, Whistler and Victoria.
All Pharmacy grads are invited to
attend the Open House reception in
the George Cunningham Building on
Friday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. Open
House will run from March 9-11, and
all Pharmacy grads are invited to return to UBC for the festivities. Call
Louanne Twaites, Pharmacy Alumni
President, at 228-7715.
Counselling Psychology
The 25th Anniversary Celebration
of Counselling Psych will be held on
September 29, 1990 at the University
Golf Club. Details to follow.
Reunions
Special reunions are being organized
this year for classes of 1930, 1940,
1965 and 1980. If you graduated in
one of these years and are interested in
participating on a reunion committee,
please contact the Alumni Programmes
office or fill in the "Keep in Touch" form
on page 23. Some classes have already
begun planning.
Class of 1930: 60th Anniversary on
June 21, 1990.
Class of 1940: forming plans for Homecoming 1990.
Class of '47 Engineering: reunion in
September, 1990.
Class of '50 Forestry: reunion at Harrison, April 27-28, 1990.
Class of '50 Engineering: reunion at
the Faculty Club on September 29,
1990.
Class of '55 Commerce: tentative plans
for a fall reunion.
Classes of '55 & '57 Medicine: combined reunion in June.
Class of '65 Forestry: reunion in July.
Class of '65 Nursing: reunion in May.
Class of '70 Law: reunion at Whistler,
September 14 -16.
Education of the Visually Impaired
Classes of '78, '79 & '80: combined
reunion on May 26.
Class of '80 Forestry: 10th Anniversary August 17-19 at the Vernon Lodge.
Class of '80 Law: reunion on September 28th.
Class of '80 Medicine: tentative plans
for reunion in September.
Other Classes making plans are:
'48 Commerce
'50 Law
'55 Commerce
'60 Civil Engineering
'60 Forestry
'65 Engineering
'65 Pharmacy
'66 Law
'70 Medicine
'70 Pharmacy
'80 Electrical Engineering
'80 Mechanical Engineering
'80 Home Ec
'80 Pharmacy
We would like to offer a special thanks to
Jim Dutton and Alan Lawley, managers of
The Rose and Crown Pub
in Toronto for their support of the TO.
Branch Pub Nights.
Chronicle/Spring 1990 5 Student News
Financial Hijinks
Ruffle AMS Executives
A letter on AMS letterhead appeared on the front page of the November
28th issue of The Ubyssey. It stated, simply, that the AMS requested
an internal audit. The story dominated campus news for weeks.
So what's all the fuss about? It's about the "borrowing of funds" from
AMS accounts by the elected AMS Director of Finance and the subsequent
handling of the matter by the AMS Executive and Council.
The Director, Karl Kottmeier, took a temporary leave of absence from
his position, and the AMS wasn't talking: their lawyers advised a "no
comment" stance until the audit was complete.
The audit revealed irregularities in the administration of AMS funds.
The most serious was Karl Kottmeier's personal use of AMS money.
Kottmeier was also an officer in an AMS funded club, a clear conflict of
interest according to the auditors, and there was an account for a defunct
club (Victoria Invasion) through which executive meeting expenses were
funnelled. Other executives were implicated.
Students were dissatisfied over the AMS' handling of the matter but
Executive had a close working relationship with Kottmeier, and they all
admitted difficulty in remaining objective.
One of AMS's options was to press criminal charges, but they voted
against such a move. Kottmeier repaid most of the $8,000 he had "borrowed," and made arrangements to repay the remainder. Members felt
Kottmeier had already paid a heavy price for his actions, and that his
future employability was in jeopardy.
The Graduate Student Society passed a motion that the RCMP be requested to pursue an investigation. Law students also supported legal action. But, on January 17, the AMS again voted not to press charges.
On January 19th the RCMP decided to initiate its own investigation.
The AMS is cooperating with the RCMP.
The AMS voted to bring Kottmeier before student court, but Kottmeier
did not appear. He sent a letter to the court requesting an adjournment
until the RCMP's investigation was concluded. The court denied the petition and found him in contempt.
At press time, the matter had spread to involve another AMS executive:
Director of Administration and presidential candidate Andrew Hicks. He
appeared before student court on February 5 to explain his authorization
of expenditures on the Victoria Invasion account. He refused to recognize
the court's authority and the court found him in contempt. He later contacted the court, stating that he wanted to resolve the situation. Tuesday,
February 6 was set as the date for a new hearing.
Other News
• On December 18, the Board of Governors announced a 4.8% tuition
increase. The raise appears moderate, but students were angry anyway,
since the raise comes on top of last year's 10% increase.
Other universities also announced tuition hikes, and students from
SFU, UVic and UBC organized protests. It did nothing to influence a
change in the determination ofthe governors to raise tuition. However, the
Minister of Post Secondary Education, Bruce Strachan, in response to the
protests, announced that his ministry is going to "conduct a government
study into the accessibility and affordability of college education."
• Engineering faculties across Canada have been going through rigorous
soul-searching since the massacre in Montreal. UBC was no exception, especially since it was the only engineering faculty which still staged the
Lady Godiva ride. There was much discussion on campus about whether
the ride would be held this year, and if so, what to do about it.
The engineers kept quiet until the last moment. The new procession included a knight in shining armour (whose gender was concealed), followed
by a horse and buggy filled with engineers of both sexes. So, a tradition
which is no longer considered appropriate was ended and new one begun.
6 Chronicle/Spring 1990
Remembering
Montreal
On December 11, UBC held a memorial service for the women killed in
Montreal. David Strangway, Alumni
President Ann McAfee and others spoke.
The following is a speech by Vanessa
Geary, AMS external affairs director.
We are here today to mourn the 14
young women killed at the University of Montreal, and to express our support and sympathy for those injured and
for the families of the women.
When I heard the reports on the radio,
I felt shocked, I felt sick, I felt horrified and
scared, but I was not surprised. Not surprised because this incident is not unique.
People say Marc Lepine was crazy, and
this incident is the result of a madman.
Yes, Marc Lepine was a disturbed young
man, but this incident, although extreme,
is not isolated. Women face acts of violence
against them everyday—abuse, sexual harassment, rape. As I sat listening to the
radio, I thought ofthe man who attempted
to stop Chantal Daigle from having an
abortion and his remark of how he "never
hit her hard enough to leave a mark."
I thought of the James Bond movie I
saw a few days earlier where a woman is
violently murdered, and perhaps raped in
scene one, and another is brutally whipped
by her lover as punishment for having
been disloyal to him in scene two.
Society is full of examples, but at this
time we must turn to our own community
and scrutinize ourselves. UBC is not a
place that welcomes women on an equal
basis with men. UBC is not a place where
women feel safe or secure. At this campus
women are confronted with intimidating
situations all the time. The Lady Godiva
ride is but one example. In the March
1989 edition ofthe engineers' newspaper,
the Red Menace, Bob the Engineer said
the best way to get a woman into bed was
to put a gun under her chin. At the engineers' song festival, the lyrics of one song
included a line about beating a woman
with a steel bar. I heard a story not long
ago about a woman who was in physics, at
the top of her class, but had dropped out
after her life was threatened by a male student.
These incidents are real. According to a
recent study, 56% of women are afraid to
walk alone at night. At UBC, I would
estimate that percentage is closer to ninety.
I commend the university for establishing the Sexual Harassment Committee
and the Office for Employment Equity. But
these are only a beginning. Unless this
university addresses these other problems, unless we learn to live together,
sisters and brothers in understanding and
acceptance, UBC will never be a world
class university. Alumni News
Constitution and Bylaws
Change
Amendments to the constitution and
bylaws of the UBC Alumni Association
will be presented to members in a
special resolution at the AGM to be
held in May, 1990. These changes are
made pursuant to the Societies Act
and reflect the present structure of the
Association.
Copies of the changes will be available at the meeting. If members have
any questions, please call the Association at 228-3313.
New Vice President
Appointed
In May, 1989, Ron Longstaffe was
elected Senior Vice President of the
Alumni Association. Under the constitution, the Senior Vice President automatically becomes President the following year.
Ron brought a wide range of community and UBC experience to the
Association. Unfortunately for UBC,
the Commonwealth Games Committee
agreed with our assessment of Ron's
ability. In November Ron was selected
as president and chief executive officer
of the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth
Games. Ron moved his family to Victoria and, with regret, submitted his
resignation to the Association.
Under the constitution, when a Board
position becomes vacant during the
term of office, the Board of Management has the authority to fill the position. A search committee was struck
and Mel Reeves, BComm, MSc, LLB
was selected to the position of Senior
Vice President. Mel brings experience
in a variety of business, alumni and
student activities to the Association.
Agi Events
The highlight of a busy agi alumni
autumn was the Career Fair for Agi
undergrads. Alumni from every area of
agribusiness gave undergrads a look
at what the work world had in store for
them.
Agi alumni volunteers will be at
Open House March 9 - 11 to greet
visitors. The 40s grads are having an
informal get-together at the UBC Botanical Gardens on Friday, March 9
between 2 and 4. Grads from that
decade are invited to stop by for a cup
of coffee.
Geography 75 years old
Geography Alumni Alliance celebrates 75 years of Geography 101.
Taught the first year by the late Dean
Brock, this was the first geography
course to be offered in a Canadian
university.
The dinner and party is to be
held at 6:00 Friday, March 9th in
the Grad Centre Ballroom. Call 228-
2663 for information.
Annual General
Meeting Announced
The Annual General Meeting of the
Alumni Association will be held in
mid May (date not yet confirmed).
All graduates of UBC are invited.
The business part of the meeting will include various committee
reports on the past year's activities,
discussion of changes to the Constitution and Bylaws and the announcement of the winners of the
Board of Management elections.
Members will receive a copy of the
Association's Annual Report.
Business complete, members are
invited to linger over cocktails to
chat with old friends, discuss Association business and talk over plans
for the future.
Please call the Association offices for exact date and time of the
meeting.
First Nations Grads
Reunion
First Nations House of Learning is
sponsoring a gathering of all First Nations
people who have graduated from UBC.
The reunion will be held during the last
week of May in conjunction with the Long-
house dedication. Call Madeleine Maclvor
at 222-8940 for details.
Brock Hall: Memories
Wanted
Brock Hall is 50 years old this year. It
was built in 1940 and has undergone
several sea changes in its life.
It has hosted many celebrations and
events including frosh orientations, sock
hops, banquets, concerts, ceremonies and
dances. We are planning another celebration on the occasion of its 50th birthday
during Open House in March.
We invite you to join the celebration
and share your memories. Please send us
any photos, memories and mementos you
are willing to share and we will display
them. Original photos will be returned
upon request.
Send your memories to Sylvia Palmer,
Student Counselling and Resources Centre,
Brock Hall, 1874 East Mall, Vancouver,
BC, V6T 1W5. For more information call
Kim or Teresa at 228-3811.
Alumni Award winners and others pose for posterity at the Annual Volunteer Christmas
party held at Cecil Green Park on December 14. The others are, from the left. Dr. Strangway, Alumni President Ann McAfee and Past President John Diggens. The winners are,
left from Dr. Diggens, George Plant, winner ofthe Blythe Eagles Service Award, Doug
Whittle, Honorary Alumni Award, Mary Plant, co-winner with her husband, and Dr.
William Benjamin, winner ofthe Faculty Citation Award. Pat Carney (Alumni Award of
Distinction), Anne Bassett and Paul Yee (Outstanding Young Alumni), will receive their
certificates this spring.
The Volunteer party was a great success.
Chronicle/Spring 1990 7 u
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UBC's Presidents
Frank Fairchild Wesbrook
1913-18
Leonard Sylvanus Klinck
1919-44
N.A.M. (Larry) MacKenzie
1944-62
John Barfoot MacDonald
1962-67
Kenneth Hare
1968-69
Walter Gage
1969-75
(Acting 1967-68)
Douglas Kenny
1975-83
K. George Pedersen
1983-85
Robert H.T. Smith
pro-tem 1985
David W. Strangway
1985-
y:i_ Campaign j __=^_L ____-;■.-_____
75 Years of Leadership:
The Presidents of UBC
Over the past 75 years, ten presidents have charted the course of
The University of British Columbia. In their own way, each has worked
towards a common goal: to make UBC one ofthe great universities of
North America.
Building a great university requires the commitment of students,
faculty, parents, government, alumni and the community. But the
architect, the visionary, the leaderwho sets the pace, is the president.
Here are career highlights of six UBC presidents who served the
longest.
Frank
Fairchild
Wesbrook
1913-18
Frank Fairchild Wesbrook was born
in Ontario and educated at the University of Manitoba. He graduated in 1890
with Master of Arts and Doctor of Medicine degrees. In 1892, he won an endowed studentship at Cambridge University. His achievements secured him
a professorship at the University of
Minnesota where he became its first
full-time Dean of Medicine.
Wesbrook's international reputation as a leading educator attracted the
attention of Dr. Henry Esson Young,
B.C.'s Minister of Education and Health.
Young offered the presidency of B.C.'s
new university to Wesbrook. He accepted only after the government assured him of adequate financial support.
Wesbrook and a team of architects
developed plans for the new campus.
He sent his new librarian to Europe to
buy books and searched Eastern Canada, the U.S. and Britain for top quality
staff. But cutbacks and delays put Wesbrook's dreams of a Cambridge on the
Pacific on hold.
Despite the hardships of World War
I, Wesbrook managed to open classes at
UBC on September 30th, 1915. Students and faculty squeezed into the old
McGill campus on the Fairview slopes.
Just three years later Wesbrook
died. His dream was unfulfilled, but his
life and the motto he suggested Tuum
est—It's up to you—have inspired many
who became associated with UBC.
Leonard
Sylvanus
Klinck
1919-44
Leonard Klinck's academic career
began with his appointment as professor in McGill's agriculture college in
1905. He came to UBC in 1914 at the
request of Wesbrook to help choose the
site for the Faculty of Agriculture. His
reputation as a hard working and respected researcher preceeded him.
Wesbrook soon made him Dean of
Agriculture and his right-hand man.
After Wesbrook's sudden death,
Klinck accepted the presidency. He
remained in that position until his retirement in 1944. His service to UBC
spanned one-third of the university's
history, longer than any other President to date.
During that time he led the university through one crisis after another: its
wobbly infancy in the Fairview Shacks,
the war-delayed move to the Point Grey
campus, the controversies ofthe 1930s
and the trying circumstances of World
War II. He supervised the physical
expansion at Point Grey and built three
strong faculties: Agriculture, Arts and
Applied Science.
Klinck passed on to President Mackenzie a solid institution, ready to spread
its wings.
Photographs courtesy of
The University of British Columbia Archives
8 Chronicle/Spring 1990 Campaign
N.A.M.
(Larry)
MacKenzie
1944-62
Larry MacKenzie relished being
President. He was an outgoing individual who had a flair for the job.
Born in Pugwash, Nova Scotia in
1894, MacKenzie served in World War I.
After the war he returned to Dalhousie
where he graduated with distinction
from law school. This success lead to
post-graduate work at Harvard and
Cambridge.
In 1940 MacKenzie was appointed
President ofthe University of New Brunswick. After four years his taste for new
challenges took him to Vancouver for
an interview at UBC. In 1944, he became the university's third President.
One month after he set foot in B.C.,
MacKenzie convinced Premier Hart to
allocate $5 million to UBC for a capital
building grant.
After the war, MacKenzie was faced
with a surge of returning veterans
wanting to reclaim lost time. Together
with Physics Head Gordon Shrum, he
concocted a plan to use vacant army
huts. In the space of a year they assembled 370 huts from 23 different
locations to create an instant campus.
MacKenzie initiated UBC's first major
capital campaign in 1958, the centenary ofthe province. The campaign raised
$11 million, more than doubling its
goal. The Government of B.C. matched
private gifts with another $10 million.
During his presidency, MacKenzie
opened the Physics Building, the north
wing of the Library, the War Memorial
Gym, the Faculty Club, the Buchanan
Building, the Medical Sciences Building, the Law Building and student housing.
Walter
Gage
1969-75
(Acting 67-68)
Born in Vancouver in 1905, Walter
Gage was known as the "Dean of Everything." During his 57 year association
with UBC, he held almost every administrative post available. Gage enrolled
in UBC as a student in 1921. He graduated with a BA in 1925 and a MA in
Math and Physics in 1926. Later that
year he started teaching at UBC.
Gage loved his work on campus.
Holidays were a nuisance and sabbaticals out ofthe question. In 1969, at the
age of 64, Walter Gage became President.
The standing-room-only status of
Gage's math classes was legendary.
Gage was a great teacher. Even as
President he lectured 11 hours a week
to 500 students, preferring, as well, to
mark his own exam papers.
Though Gage was by nature a private person, he was generous and
thoughtful. As Dean in charge of Financial Services he often loaned desperate
students money from his own pocket.
Typical of Gage's generosity was
his response to being the first winner of
UBC's Master Teacher Award. He
immediately turned over the $5,000
award to the university to buy books for
three campus libraries.
When Walter Gage died in 1975, a
memorial service was held in the War
Memorial Gym. All classes were cancelled in order to allow faculty and students to attend.
The President's Fund
From Wesbrook's choice ofthe Point Grey site to MacKenzie's
army huts and Strangway's launch of The UBC Campaign, strong
presidents have demonstrated their flexibility and creativity in
meeting UBC's needs.
In this era of rapid change, flexibility is more important than
ever. Through The UBC Campaign, the President's Fund will be established to support emerging priorities. The fund will also provide
more graduate fellowships and entrance scholarships. UBC alumni
can help shape UBC's future by contributing to this important
fund.
Douglas
Kenny
1975-83
When Douglas Kenny was asked to
be president he replied, "I've always
been willing to do what this university
asked. It is, in part, paying back what I
would say is a debt."
Kenny, a native of Victoria, had
strong ties with UBC. He received his
BA from UBC in 1945, his MA in 1947
and later his PhD from the University of
Washington. Except for a two year teaching stint at Harvard, Kenny never left
UBC until his retirement.
During his term Kenny set two main
goals essential to a great university: to
ensure a high quality of instruction,
and to encourage research.
He cautioned students training specifically for a current job market and
encouraged them to seek a liberal education.
To Kenny, UBC was a university on
the frontier, integrating classic values
with new research.
David W.
Strangway
1985-
David Strangway was bom in Ontario in 1934, the son of United Church
medical missionaries. His early schooling was in Angola and Rhodesia. Later,
he returned to the University of Toronto
where he received his BA, MA, and PhD.
Strangway taught at M.I.T. from
1965 to 1968. For three years he worked
as NASA's Chief of Geophysics where
he was responsible for research on the
Apollo space mission.
After serving as Chairman of the
Geology Department at the University
of Toronto, he was promoted to Vice-
President Academic. In 1985, David
Strangway was installed as UBC's ninth
President.
Like his predecessors, Strangway
wants to make UBC a great university.
He spearheaded the development of a
distinctive mission statement for UBC
and launched its first fund-raising
campaign in over 20 years.
Chronicle/Spring 1990 9 ix)pen House
1990