December 19, 2006 

UNBC Vice-President Research, Max Blouw, has been named President of Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario. WLU has campuses in Waterloo and Brantford and has more than 13,000 students and about 800 employees. Dr. Blouw will start his term as President in the summer of 2007, following the completion of ten years of service as the head of UNBC’s research office.

“This is a terrific opportunity for me but bittersweet at the same time,” says Dr. Blouw, who originally came to UNBC in 1994 from St. Francis Xavier University. “It has been a personal and professional highlight for me to be a part of UNBC’s development for more than a dozen years. I have been fortunate to work with incredibly dedicated staff, some of the best faculty I have ever known, and wonderful people throughout the North who are committed to UNBC and who recognize the fundamental value of its teaching and research to northern development. I will be going from a young university to one whose roots go back almost 100 years and I am very excited about this new challenge and about many new opportunities at Wilfrid Laurier.”

Dr. Blouw was appointed to lead UNBC’s Office of Research in 1997. Since then, the value of annual research funding at UNBC has jumped from $3 million to just over $18 million. The University has also attracted 15 highly talented research chairs with international reputations for excellence who are investigating important questions in diverse topic areas such as natural resource management, forest insects, aboriginal environmental health, climate change, literature, and rural issues.

“With the support of our faculty and staff, Max has put UNBC on the map,” says UNBC President Don Cozzetto. “UNBC has achieved beyond what would been expected for a small and young university. On behalf of UNBC and the northern region, thank you Max. You are truly one of UNBC’s greatest founders and a true friend of this university and the North.”

Dr. Blouw will complete his term as Vice-President Research for UNBC on June 30, 2007.

Click here for downloadable high resolution photos of Dr. Blouw.

Contact:

Erin Acton, Communications Officer, UNBC – 250.960.5621