50TH ANNIVERSARY MAGAZINE OF SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY SUMMER 2016

ENGAGING STUDENTS I ENGAGING RESEARCH I ENGAGING COMMUNITY

YEARS OF ENGAGEMENT

C OMMEMOR AT I V E I S SUE

YEARS OF YEARS OF YEARS OF

CELEBRATING

4 SUMMER 2016SUMMER 2016

Chairman, CEO

PrEsidEnt

ChiEf COntEnt OffiCEr

ExECutivE CrEativE dirECtOr

dirECtOr/PrOduCtiOn

viCE PrEsidEnt /salEs

PrOduCtiOn managEr (on leave)

CirCulatiOn COOrdinatOr

8 A ToAsT To 50 YeArsRaising a glass to the anniversary celebrations

11 BAck To The FuTure: sFuThrough The DecADesReflecting on 50 years of accomplishments and looking toward the future

23 sFu BY The NumBersAdding up the University’s most engaging stats

24 heADs oF The clAssSpotlighting SFU’s distinguished board of governors over the past half-century

26 BreAkiNg DowN TheivorY TowerHistory professor emeritus Hugh Johnston explores the relationship between town and gown

32 sFu BookshelFStacking up SFU’s publishing pedigree

34 sFu’s wesT coAsT origiNsRecognizing and respecting our Aboriginal culture

39 BuilDiNg cAmpuses AND commuNiTiesExploring the foundation of innovative education and cutting-edge research

TABle oF coNTeNTs

44 sTAYiNg The courseThree decades after his passing, Terry Fox continues to inspire

46 50 hours iN The liFe oF sFuLooking through the lens at student life today

52 50 YeArs To The DAYReminiscing on opening day and honouring today

54 spiriT oF giviNg BAckThose whose generosity has been key to the evolution of SFU

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SUMMER 2016 5

coNTriBuTors

reproduction of the contents of this issue, except brief passages for review purposes, is forbidden without the express written permission of the publisher.

Writer/editor Janet Gyenes (BA ’92) wrote the feature “Back to the Future: SFU Through the Decades” (p.11). What I enjoyed most about this assignment was the chance to go deep into

SFU’s colourful history, plus all the nostalgia from my four years at SFU. The most challenging part of this story was trying to encapsulate major accomplishments into sound bites. The most important thing that SFU taught me was to work hard and the rest will fall into place.

Photographer Nik West shot the photo essay “50 Hours in the Life of SFU” (p.46). What I enjoyed most about this assignment was that I love shooting photo essays. I love to roam around

with my camera in hand and try to capture interesting moments. It’s the freedom to be curious and poke around in places not everyone has access to. The most challenging part of this assignment was that because we shot during the summer, classes weren’t in full swing, so I had to dig deeper. You have to be patient and roam the same areas or wait in a spot and be ready for that unexpected moment to happen. What impressed me the most about visit-ing SFU was the beautiful campuses, particularly the iconic buildings that make up the main cam-pus in Burnaby. I love architecture. The newer Surrey campus is modern and very cool, as is the downtown Woodward’s campus. There is a mix of new and old, with classes in heritage buildings also. It is an impressive range of spaces.

Writer/editor/content strate-gist Lisa Manfield wrote “Stock Your Bookshelf with SFU Authors” (p.32). What I enjoyed most about this assignment was discover-ing how many incredible

authors are actually SFU alumni like me. The most challenging part of this article was deciding which books to fit in limited bookshelf space! The most important thing that SFU

taught me was how to apply my degree out in the world. Doing the co-op work experience program at SFU was one of the best career deci-sions I’ve ever made and one of the most valuable components of my degree.

Chairman, CEO

PrEsidEnt

ChiEf COntEnt OffiCEr

ExECutivE CrEativE dirECtOr

dirECtOr/PrOduCtiOn

viCE PrEsidEnt /salEs

PrOduCtiOn managEr (on leave)

CirCulatiOn COOrdinatOr

Peter legge

samantha legge

Charlene rooke

rick thibert

Kim mclane

rebecca legge

Kirsty senior

ashley Cleggett

Editor

Art dirEctor

crEAtivE Advisor

publishEd by

contributing writErs

contributing Artists And

photogrAphErs

proofrEAdErs

EditoriAl AssistAnt

sfu contributors

ExEcutivE Editors

publishEr

AdvErtising sAlEs

Janine verreault (Ba ’95)

stesha ho

Catherine mullaly

Kathleen almeida (Ba ’09), melissa

Edwards, ariane fleischmann

(m.Pub. ’15), Janet gyenes (Ba ’92),

hugh Johnston (professor emeritus),

diane luckow (Ba ’78), lisa manfield

(Ba ’96), anicka Quin (m.Pub. ’03),

allen tung (Ba ’15), Justin Wong (Ba ’15)

Paul duchard, greg Ehlers,

steven hughes, Clinton hussey,

Paul Joseph, dale northey, nik West,

the Peak Publication society

melissa Edwards, michael White

danika thibault

veronica aarstad, ivana filipovic,

marianne meadahl

laurie morris, managing director,

marketing & Brand management

monica Bisal, director, university

Communications

Joanne Curry, vice-president,

External relations

Brianne harper

phone: 604·299·7311

email: sales@canadawide.comP U B L I S H E D B Y

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P U B L I S H E D B Y

CA N A DA W I D E M E D I A L I M I T E D | c a n a d a w i d e . c o m

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VISIONARY LEADERSHIPIan Campbell, hereditary chief of the Squamish Nation, was among 14 students who were the first to graduate from Canada's first credited MBA for Aboriginal leaders.

34 SUMMER 2016

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SFU.CA

For decades, faculty members from diverse disciplines have been working with First Nations partners to discover their archaeological history, preserve their Indigenous languages, cultural heritage and intellectual property, and to improve their economic development. Here are just a few success stories and standout initiatives that reflect SFU’s strategic vision to recog-nize and respect Aboriginal peoples and cultures.

SFU haS a rich hiStory oF commUnity engagement with B.c.’S FirSt nationS

by Diane Luckow /// portrait by PauL JosePh

SFU’S WeSt CoaSt

originS

SUMMER 2016 35

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36 SUMMER 2016

SFU alumnus Ian Campbell, hereditary chief of the Squamish Nation, is a visionary who has ambitious plans for his people.

“We’re moving away from managing welfare to managing wealth,” he says. And now that he has graduated with an SFU Executive MBA in Aboriginal business and leadership, he has the knowledge to forge ahead with ideas for projects. These include developing the Jericho Lands in Vancouver and pursuing development and business collaborations with other First Nations.

Campbell, 41, was among 14 students aged 32 to 57 who, in June 2015, were the first to graduate from Canada’s first credited MBA for established Aboriginal leaders, entrepreneurs and others work-ing with Aboriginal communities.

In 2013, BCBusiness magazine acclaimed the program as one of B.C.’s 10 most significant innovations.

Campbell concurs. He was accepted into SFU’s Beedie School of Business program without an undergraduate degree, but with significant career expe-rience. He says the program “absolutely delivered” on formal business skills and tools while also recognizing and address-ing how to incorporate traditional Aboriginal protocols and knowledge.

“I’m employed as lead negotiator in intergovernmental relations for the Squamish Nation,” he says. “We’re engaged in significant projects through-out our territory that deal with intergovernmental relations, business opportunities and investment. So my focus in the EMBA was fourfold: creating a vision, structuring our nation’s corpo-rate division, building capacity within the nation and inspiring our young people.”

He says the 33-month part-time EMBA program is very timely, and credits SFU’s courage and foresight in creating it.

Program director Mark Selman, who conceived and championed the program, says it addresses an important change in B.C.’s business environment.

“First Nations are getting access to resources they never had in the past,” he says. “They have money to invest, and opportunities. Businesses are realizing that in terms of managing their risks, they need to work with First Nations.”

Adds Campbell, “As Canada goes through reconciliation, we really have to ask ourselves, ‘What are the actions that go with that?’ The leadership SFU exemplified in creating this program has inspired many of our Indigenous groups to move beyond the status quo. We’re now in transition to recreate ourselves—not in isolation but with the rest of Canada.”

B.C.’S 30 FIRSt NAtIONS languages are among the most complex intellectual constructs on the planet, but their survival is hanging by a thread, says SFU anthropologist and linguist Marianne Ignace.

Ignace is the director of SFU’s First Nations Language Centre (FNLC), and is leading an ambitious seven-year project to work with First Nations community groups to maintain and revitalize some of B.C.'s and Yukon’s Indig-enous languages. The project is funded with a $2.5-million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

“The death of each elder who speaks the lan-guage represents the irretrievable loss of spe-cific Indigenous ways of speaking, of seeing the world, and of communicating about the land and the physical and social environment,” she says.

A professor of linguistics and First Nations studies, Ignace arrived at SFU in the late ’70s from Germany to pursue a PhD on Haida dis-course and social organization.

She has since played a key role in foster-ing SFU’s involvement with B.C.’s First Nations, beginning with the establishment in 1988 of SFU outreach courses and programs in anthropol-ogy, archaeology, linguistics and First Nations studies.

More than 450 students from First Nations communities have since earned credentials such as degrees, diplomas and certificates through these outreach programs.

Along the way, she married Shuswap Nation chief Ron Ignace and taught their eight children the nation’s Secwepemc language. She contin-ued to work with numerous Aboriginal groups to document their languages, develop curricu-lum and create practical grammars. She also created courses to train language teachers and new speakers.

Her latest project has been an intensive four-month Haida language “boot camp” in the com-munity of Old Massett. The 14 students studied all day, five days a week and Ignace is encour-aged by their enormous progress.

“The learners’ success gives us hope that through hard work, supported by research, we can together 'grow' a new generation of adults who will continue to develop their fluency as they continue to document their language, gain con-fidence in using Haida, and teach it to others.”

PreServing FirSt nationS Culture through language

UniqUe eMBa HelpS alUMnUS Blaze neW trailS

aged by their enormous progress.“The learners’ success gives us hope that

through hard work, supported by research, we can together 'grow' a new generation of adults who will continue to develop their fluency as they continue to document their language, gain con-fidence in using Haida, and teach it to others.”

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SFU.CA SUMMER 2016 37

in 2007, the university established its first aboriginal strategic Plan. it aims to create a supportive academic and community environment for aboriginal peoples while also recognizing their values and traditions. since then, exciting aboriginal initiatives can be found throughout the university. These include:

PreP School The aboriginal university Prep Program, established in 2007, prepares aboriginal

students for university. The newly revised curriculum features some indigenous texts and works by indigenous

scholars, authors and filmmakers. To date, 45 students have completed the program, earning conditional

acceptance into sFu and academic credit toward a degree program.

• An SFU Strategic Vision that identifies

“respect for aboriginal peoples and

cultures” as one of its six underlying

principles

• The Office for Aboriginal Peoples

• An Indigenous Initiatives Librarian

• An Aboriginal Steering Committee

• The Bill Reid Gallery and Bill Reid Centre

• A Department of First Nations Studies

• A spacious new Indigenous Student

centre

• A First Nations Language Centre

• An Elders Program to mentor Aboriginal

students

• New scholarships and bursaries for

graduate aboriginal students

• Improved support for Aboriginal

graduate students, including a new

indigenous coordinator in graduate

studies

• More Aboriginal faculty members

• Targeted programs, such as the Execu-

tive MBA in Aboriginal Business and

Leadership

• An SFU-led Indigenous Research Centre

that fosters indigenous community-

based research, and sponsors an annual

aboriginal lecture series

• Lifelong Learning programs that prepare

aboriginal students for university, and for

jobs in the health sector

• Partnerships with local Aboriginal col-

leges and organizations such as the native

Education College and Nicola Valley

institute of Technology

• Cultural programming such as the Coast

salish drumming and singing workshops

• A summer camp for Aboriginal youth

• An introductory First Nations course at

sFu-affiliated Fraser international college

to introduce international students to First

nations issues

SFU’S aBoriginal initiativeS

home away From homeThe spacious indigenous student centre, which

opened in September 2014 at the Burnaby campus,

represents a home away from home for more than

600 indigenous students. amenities include a smoke-

eater for indoor smudging, computers, a dedicated

room for the elders Program and student meeting

spaces. Planned with assistance from students

and community representatives, the $500,000

centre’s wood-and-stone finishes pay homage to the

coast salish territories upon which sFu sits.

viSUal hiStoryThe Bill Reid Centre's digital image collection

documents the resilience, creativity and vibrancy of

northwest coast First nations, from initial contact

with europeans to the present. it includes sketches

and drawings created by early travellers and explor-

ers, and photographs dating to the mid-19th century.

The collection is also a record of the reawakening of

northwest coast cultural practices in the late 20th

century in the face of enforced policies of assimila-

tion and cultural destruction. The centre’s objective

is to engage in community and academic conversa-

tions on northwest coast visual culture, and promote

public understanding and respect for northwest

coast First nations past and present.

worldwide reSearch

The intellectual Prop-

erty issues in cultural

heritage (iPinch) Pro-

gram is an sFu-based

international research

group. Led by sFu

archaeologist George

nicholas, the research

group oversees 15

community-driven proj-

ects and has nurtured

landmark negotiations

on indigenous intel-

lectual property issues

between institutions

and communities glob-

ally. The group earned

the social sciences and

Humanities Research

council of canada’s first

Partnership impact

award in 2013. ■

FirSt nationS

1

3 4

2

1

3

2

4

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