November 29, 2001 For Immediate Release

The most important building at the University of Northern British Columbia has been named after the person perhaps most responsible for the University's initial development.

Geoffrey R. Weller was the University's Founding President, starting in 1991. The next four years were busy and turbulent ones. A site had to be selected, a campus designed, an academic plan drawn up, a number of competing interests dealt with, a faculty and administrative staff hired, and a huge number of other problems resolved. Working with the Interim Governing Council, the original body appointed to oversee the beginnings of the university, and with a small staff, Geoff worked out the master plan for UNBC. He was largely responsible for setting out the five major themes of the university --environment, northern studies, women's studies, First Nations studies, international studies -- and for seeing that the Prince George campus, which cost more than $130 million, was built on time and according to plan.

Professor Weller was passionate about many issues of the North: health care, economic development, the role of northern universities, etc. He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Lapland, Finland, for his significant contribution to northern studies and northern development.

By 1995, when he stepped down as President to devote himself to teaching and scholarship, UNBC had a faculty complement numbering more than 100, a large and skilled staff, a beautiful campus in Prince George, partnership arrangements with all of the northern colleges and many foreign universities, an extensive regional program of course offerings, a detailed academic plan, and an impressive range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Future visitors to the Prince George campus will notice that the Library - the largest and most important single building on the campus - has been named after Geoffrey Weller. Engraved on the plaque is a Latin phrase: si monumentum requiris, circumspice -- if you would see his monument, look about you.

Geoffrey Weller passed away in July, 2000, at the age of 58.