May 30, 2003 For Immediate Release

For the past six years, the person who has greeted the hundreds of UNBC students as they cross the stage and receive their degrees has been Chancellor George Pedersen. The position of Chancellor is an honorary one, but the Chancellor is officially the person who confers degrees on the students who have completed all of their required coursework, making the position a critical one at Convocation ceremonies. The 2003 Convocation ceremony will be Dr Pedersen's last as UNBC Chancellor. The photo here shows Dr Pedersen (centre) with this year's Nisga'a graduates from Wilp Wil'oskwhl Nisga'a.

Dr Pedersen was first elected Chancellor of UNBC in 1998 and has served for two, three-year terms. He succeeded Founding Chancellor Iona Campagnolo, who is currently the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.

Dr Pedersen's career in education has spanned 50 years, and he is the only person to have been President or Vice-President of five British Columbia universities. His career included appointments as the Vice-President Academic of the University of Victoria and President of Simon Fraser University, The University of British Columbia, the University of Western Ontario, and Royal Roads University. He was also Interim President of UNBC between the appointments of Geoffrey Weller and Charles Jago. Since his retirement, he has been active in community work, and served as President of the Bill Reid Foundation. He is also an advisor to the Salzburg Seminar, providing assistance to eastern European and Russian universities. He is also keenly interested in the expansion of educational programming for First Nations.

This year, Dr Pedersen has received honrary degrees from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and from Simon Fraser University.

The Chancellor is elected by the faculty, alumni, and some UNBC founders, and at the time of Dr Pedersen's election to his second term, he "looked forward with enthusiasm to my continued involvement with the most innovative and exciting university in Canada."

His involvement with UNBC has included raising the profile of UNBC across Canada, serving on the Board of Governors, and granting degrees to about 3200 UNBC alumni. An election for the next Chancellor of UNBC will be this winter.