The unquestioned highlight of the Year 2013 for the University of Northern British Columbia was passing the 10,000 mark in the number of all-time grads. This number includes nearly 3,000 Bachelor of Science degrees, 2,000 Bachelor of Arts degrees, and represents the education of almost 1,000 nurses in Northern BC. After UNBC’s 20th convocation in June, 10,363 students had achieved at least one certificate, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and/or PhD from UNBC.

Watch the video UNBC: 10,000 Grads Strong, which asks recent UNBC grads across the North the question “What if there was no UNBC?”

There were a number of other notable items of 2013:

• UNBC maintains its top three spot in the annual Maclean’s ranking of universities.
• UNBC’s Bionergy Plant becomes the first facility in Northern BC and the first constructed by a Northern BC contractor to achieve LEED Platinum Certification, the highest level of environmental certification in Canada.
• UNBC announces the BC Government has committed to funding two new masters-level engineering degrees.

January

• The year 2013 begins with Dr. Iwama joining the presidents of the five other major research universities in a call to improve access to all types of post-secondary education in BC – university, college, and trades. They point out that the number of jobs requiring a post-secondary credential will exceed the supply of available graduates beginning in 2016, a skills deficit that will grow through to at least 2020.
• Northern Development Initiative Trust, in partnership with UNBC and the Local Government Management Association launches the region’s first-ever Northern Development Local Government Management Internship Program with the belief that government officials who are educated in the North will remain in the North.

February

• UNBC Ecosystem Science and Management Professor Bill McGill is elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the organization that publishes the journal Science, the most widely-read peer-reviewed scientific journal in the world.

March

• New research led by UNBC recommends that the area surrounding the “Ancient Forest Trail,” about 130 kilometres east of Prince George, be named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
• Four Environmental Engineering students from UNBC beat teams from universities across Canada to take home the top prize in the Junior Design category at the Canadian Engineering Competition at Carleton University in Ottawa.
• Second-year UNBC Environmental Engineering student Stephanie Doherty is awarded one of only 10 3M National Student Fellowships. Doherty is the third UNBC student to receive the national honour in two years and the only student from a British Columbia post-secondary institution to receive the distinction, which honours outstanding student leadership and vision.

April

• For the second straight year, a professor from UNBC is named Academic of the Year by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC. UNBC Ecosystem Science and Management Professor Kathy Lewis receives the 2013 Academic of the Year Award for applying her research on pine beetle-infested wood to defend Canada's interests in front of a Softwood Lumber Agreement arbitration panel in 2012.
• UNBC is named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for the second year in a row, a distinction earned by only 50 companies across the country each year.

May

• Lukas Bosch, a Grade 12 student from Regina, Saskatchewan, is named Campus Correspondent for the 2013/2014 academic year. The Northern Exposure Award recipient was named following the end of a successful social media campaign that saw 27 videos submitted to the contest, more than 13,000 votes cast and 46,000 video views from across Canada. Lukas is currently studying Environmental Studies at UNBC.
• Drs. Robert Olson, Candida Graham, and Greg Halseth receive more than $500,000 in funding from the Vancouver Foundation and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – BC/Yukon Region for research projects related to mental illness, barriers to cancer diagnosis, and seniors’ mobility issues in Northern and Interior BC.
• A delegation from the Wuyi University in Jiangmen, China signs historic Memorandums of Understanding with UNBC and the Barkerville Heritage Trust, the charitable organization that manages Barkerville Historic Town. The agreement between Wuyi University and UNBC is designed to promote international cooperation in education and research.

June

• UNBC celebrates 10,000 all-time graduates at the University’s 20th convocation in ceremonies at UNBC’s Prince George, Terrace, Quesnel, Fort St. John, and Wilp Wilxo'oskwhl Nisga'a (WWN) campuses. WWN also marks its 20th Anniversary.
• Long-time Prince George resident and UNBC employees Loralyn Murdoch is named UNBC’s new Director of Athletics and Recreation. Murdoch coached the UNBC women’s basketball team since its inception, and replaces former Director Jason Kerswill who left UNBC in March to join Canada Basketball.

July

• The long-time Chief Librarian at the Prince George Public Library, Allan Wilson is named the new University Librarian for UNBC.
• Dr. Henry Harder, Professor and Chair of the School of Health Sciences at UNBC is appointed to the prestigious Dr. Donald B. Rix BC Leadership Chair for Aboriginal Environmental Health. As Chair, Dr. Harder examines the relationship between the environment, and physical and mental well-being in BC’s rural and Indigenous communities.
• Responding to calls from industry and communities, UNBC announces the BC Government has committed to funding two new masters-level engineering degrees, helping to provide the engineering expertise and capacity necessary to support regional economic expansion in the coming decades.

August

• UNBC hires its new women's basketball coach, Sergey Shchepotkin. Shchepotkin, a professional player for 15 years, played both in Russia and in Lebanon before joining the Timberwolves.
• New research from UNBC suggests that waste from municipalities and bioenergy plants can be combined to make an ideal fertilizer and help reduce the amount of material added to landfills. The study provides the first insights into the use of wood ash and biosolids as soil amendments for nurseries, forests, and mines in a northern boreal climate.
• The Bioenergy Plant at UNBC’s Prince George campus achieves Platinum certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System from the Canada Green Building Council. The facility is the first LEED Platinum facility in Northern BC, the first constructed by a Northern BC contractor, and the first LEED Platinum-certified university building in BC.

September

• For the first time in an estimated 60 years, a traditionally-made cottonwood dugout canoe is launched into the Nechako River by Lheidli T’enneh Elders Robert Frederick and his wife Edie, and UNBC students. The event is the culmination of a unique experiential course which is offered by UNBC, and is a partnership between the University and the Lheidli T’enneh.
• UNBC begins a search for a new president after Dr. George Iwama announces he will not seek a second term. President Iwama came to UNBC in 2009.
• Mireille Rizkalla, a UNBC doctoral candidate studying the effects of aging, and whose research aims to help ward off such ailments as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, receives the largest scholarship ever awarded to a UNBC student. Rizkalla is one of 165 students selected from across the country to receive a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. The scholarship provides $50,000 per year for up to three years.

October

• In the annual Globe and Mail Canadian University Report, UNBC receives grades of A or A- in a wide range of categories, including most satisfied students, class size, student-faculty interaction, campus atmosphere, and quality of teaching and learning. Also of note this year was Canada’s Green University’s continued strong showing in the Environmental Commitment category. UNBC received an “A” for its efforts, the only British Columbia post-secondary institute to do so.
• UNBC remains among the top three ranked small universities in Canada for the sixth straight year according to Maclean’s Magazine’s annual ranking of Canadian universities. The magazine’s famous list ranks UNBC number three, tied with the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, in the “primarily undergraduate” category, but behind Mount Alison University in New Brunswick, and Acadia University in Nova Scotia, both of which are more than 150 years UNBC’s senior.

November

• UNBC and the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club create an innovative fundraising appeal that will generate full-tuition awards for Nordic athletes who study at UNBC in Prince George. The UNBC Otway Nordic Legacy Scholarship Fund will be endowed, meaning that the awards will be offered each year - forever.
• The UNBC Board of Governors appoints Dr. Mark Dale to serve as Interim President of UNBC effective January 1, 2014. Dr. Dale has been the Vice-President Academic and Provost of UNBC since 2008. He will serve as Interim President until a replacement for Dr. George Iwama is selected.
• A major new study led by UNBC aims to answer the question, “Are governments doing what Canadians want with respect to farmland?” The three year project, headed by UNBC Environmental Planning Associate Professor David Connell, will examine how the changing role and value of farming in Canada may affect agricultural land use within and across national, provincial, and municipal jurisdictions.
• A scientist investigating the effects of climate change on glaciers and an expert on Aboriginal governance and law in the Arctic are named Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs, strengthening research capacity at UNBC. Associate Professors Brian Menounos (Geography) and Natalia Loukacheva (Political Science) have each been awarded a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair from the Government of Canada.

December

• An anthropologist working with indigenous people in northern Polar Regions and a researcher specializing in tourism management in both the Arctic and Antarctic are elected to the College of Fellows of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Long-time UNBC Anthropology Professor Jim McDonald and Pat Maher, an Associate Professor of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management, were elected to the College at an event in Ottawa, attended by the Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.