December 12, 2012

The year 2012 has been one of accolades and milestones for UNBC and included the institution's return to the number two spot in its category in the annual Maclean’s ranking of universities, as well as the Timberwolves’ entrance into the highest level of amateur sport in Canada.

January

UNBC President George Iwama begins 2012 at the Natural Resources Forum with a strong call for more engineers in northern BC. Citing a shortage of engineers coupled with forecasts for significant economic development fueled by natural resource projects, Dr. Iwama called the addition of engineering programs “critical to the North.”

February

For the first time, UNBC is named one of BC’s top 100 places to work according to BC’s Top Employers. The University is one of only three organizations on the list outside of the Lower Mainland. UNBC was lauded for its employee work/life balance, opportunities for continuing education, and flexibility for working mothers and new parents.

March

UNBC says “goodbye” to the BC College Athletic Association by winning the provincial championships in both men’s and women’s basketball…   A pair of UNBC students takes home two of the first-ever 3M National Student Fellowships.  Environmental Studies student Cam Bell and Health Sciences student Selena Demenoff are among only 10 winners nationally and the only honorees from a western Canadian university…  UNBC’s Bioenergy Plant turns one year old. In its first year, the system offsets UNBC’s use of fossil fuels for heating by 86%, and proves that particulate emissions from bioenergy can be lower than natural gas.

April

UNBC is named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers for the first time in the list’s five-year history, a distinction earned by only 50 companies across the country each year. UNBC is selected for its commitment to becoming Canada’s Green University through its teaching, research, operations, and community engagement, and for the establishment of the UNBC Green Fund, the Green University Centre, and the Bioenergy Project… The first Rural and Northern Physiotherapy Cohort begins. A pilot group of ten students from the Master of Physiotherapy program at UBC come to Prince George as part of the Cohort, an innovative approach aiming to address the shortage of physiotherapy providers in the North… Long-time UNBC Forestry Professor Chris Opio is named Academic of the Year by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC.

May

For the first time, a high-definition video link connects UNBC to classrooms in Japan. It is the first time that UNBC will deliver courses through an international videoconference link and builds on the longstanding relationship between UNBC and Gakushuin University… UNBC Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management Professor Dr. Pat Maher is honoured with the Willi Unsoeld Award by the Association for Experiential Education for his dedication to providing students with meaningful, real-world learning experiences…. UNBC celebrates its 19th Convocation.

June

UBC’s Faculty of Medicine and UNBC appoint Dr. Paul Winwood, a Prince George gastroenterologist, UNBC’s Vice Provost of Medicine, UBC Medicine’s Regional Associate Dean for Northern British Columbia, and the new leader of academic medicine in northern BC… A century’s worth of data collected by UNBC researchers from sites across BC’s Fraser River Basin indicates BC will see much more of the intense flooding it has been experiencing, with implications for salmon returns, water quality, and the safety of residents in affected regions.

July

UNBC partners with the National Association of Friendship Centres, government ministries, and regional research centres across Canada to develop the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network and research the policies and issues that affect Canada’s city-dwelling aboriginal population. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada approved $2.5 million dollars in funding over five years to go towards the project, led nationally by Trent University and by UNBC in western Canada.

August

UNBC International Studies Professor Heather Smith is honoured with a National Teaching Award by the Canadian Political Science Association. Dr. Smith is only the second Canadian academic to receive the CPSA Prize for Teaching Excellence, which was first presented in 2010, and is only bestowed once every two years… UNBC welcomes award-winning author Maggie de Vries to its English program as it second-ever a Writer-in-Residence.

September 

UNBC’s men’s and women’s soccer teams play their first-ever matches in the Canada West league of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), the highest level of amateur sport in the country… UNBC places in the top ten on a list of schools offering undergraduate-level engineering programs in Canada. Magazine Corporate Knights’ Annual Knight Schools Survey is described as “the definitive annual ranking that analyzes how Canadian universities are faring at integrating sustainability into the school experience”…  UNBC and the RCMP announce they have initiated a comprehensive study into hitchhiking in BC, the first time a police force in North America has worked with a university to research hitchhiking since 1972.

October

A professor in the Northern Medical Program at UNBC is named the University’s ninth Canada Research Chair (CRC). Dr. Sarah Gray, the NMP’s first-ever Canada Research Chair appointment, is named a CRC in the physiology of diabetes…  UNBC’s Department of Anthropology finishes excavating the remains of an ancient fishing village on the Babine River 100km northeast of Smithers, and uncovers centuries of artifacts for the Lake Babine Nation... UNBC’s basketball teams play their first-ever regular season games in the top-level CIS league.

November

Maclean's Magazine releases the results of its annual ranking and UNBC ties its highest placement ever, placing second among 19 small, “primarily undergraduate” Canadian universities. Mt. Allison—more than 150 years UNBC’s senior—places first. It is the eighth straight year UNBC ranks as the best university west of Atlantic Canada in its category… UNBC research sheds light on the mountain pine beetle’s ability to survive northern winters. The research promises to help scientists predict the spread of the beetle and assist governments and industry in identifying ways to manage it.

December

The results of a UNBC employee fundraising program are released. Over the month of November, the number of faculty and staff who donate to UNBC rose from 11 to 16 percent, exceeding the Challenge’s 15 percent target, displaying the pride UNBC employees have in their institution and highlighting the role these donations play in the success of UNBC… The results of UNBC’s 18th Annual Great Santa Debate are released. Team Santa brings home its 18th straight victory.