June 11, 1997 For Immediate Release

A number of senior positions have been filled at UNBC, with the new posts being created asa result of the UNBC five-year plan, Planning for Growth.

Patricia Hibbitts will be joining the University on June 14th as Vice-President Business and Finance. She comes to UNBC from Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (affiliated with Memorial University) in Newfoundland where she had been a Director of Administration and Finance. She was previously a project coordinator for the Timmins Economic Development Corporation and Accounting Manager for a timber company. Her husband is a geologist already working in Prince George and one of her three children in a national-calibre figure skater.

Max Blouw has been appointed to the new post, Associate Vice-President Research and Dean of Graduate Studies. He is currently a faculty member in UNBC's Biology program with an emphasis on fisheries. Before joining UNBC, Dr Blouw was a professor at St Francis Xavier University and his research has focused on the genetics of fish and shellfish.

Appointments have also been made to head up the new UNBC Colleges, which are a result of the academic restructuring undertaken as part of the Planning report. Many of the degree programs are simply being reorganized into these new organizational structures.

Robin Fisher is the Dean of the College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences, and assumes the new position following an appointment as Dean of Arts and Science. He is a well-known British Columbia historian and taught at Simon Fraser University for 18 years before becoming one of the first academics to join UNBC.

Lee Keener will be the Dean of the College of Science and Management for a one-year term, commencing July lst. Dr Keener has been the Program Chair of Mathematics & Computer Science at UNBC and was the first President of the Faculty Association.