After overseeing the tremendous growth of UNBC research over the past decade, UNBC's Vice-President Research, Max Blouw, has announced that he will not seek a third term as Vice-President after the completion of his tenth year in the position.

"It has been a privilege to work with so many gifted researchers - faculty and students - over the past decade, as well as with the numerous public agencies and businesses throughout the North who have been eager to work with us to support research and to implement research findings," says Dr. Blouw. "By the time I leave this office at the end of June, 2007, I will have served for a decade, and the time is right for someone with new ideas."  

"When you think of those people who have helped to make UNBC the great university that it is, Max is among those at the top of the list," says UNBC President Don Cozzetto. "When he was appointed to lead the Office of Research in 1997, UNBC was annually attracting about $3 million in research funding. Today, it's more than $18 million and UNBC is cited as one of the most productive small research universities in Canada."

Dr. Blouw came to UNBC as a Biology professor in 1994 from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. At UNBC, he has shaped UNBC's research operations, which regularly receive top rankings in national surveys of research intensity and productivity. In 2000, he developed UNBC's strategic research plan and received the 2005 Science and Technology Champion of the Year from the BC Innovation Council. He has been a member of the Governing Council for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, which annually awards nearly $1 billion in research funding.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of GenomeBC and the BC Innovation Council.

"This has been the job of a lifetime for me," says Dr. Blouw. "UNBC's accomplishments have been made possible by the determination of northerners and the support of many partners throughout Canada and the world and I am deeply grateful to them all. Thanks are also due to my colleagues in senior administration at UNBC and to the Government agencies and private corporations that have funded much of our research activity. It has been intensely gratifying to work with people throughout the region who value the importance of research and the contributions that new knowledge makes to our day-to-day lives."
 
UNBC has initiated the process to appoint a new Vice-President Research, who will take over from Dr. Blouw on July 1, 2007.

Contact:
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC – 250.960.5622