2 NEWS January 19, 2009 • www.thequill.

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BU Announces New President
First female president looking forward to meeting students and beginning work
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University.
On January 9th, the Brandon
University Board of Governors
announced that it has appoint-
ed the new president and Vice-
Chancellor of the institution,
Dr. Deborah Poff, whose 5-year
term begins on August 1st.
Dr. Poff, who comes to Bran-
don from British Columbia, is
the first woman to be named
president of the University in
its history. She will be replac-
ing Lou Visentin, who has been
president at BU for the past 8
years.
Dr. Poff is a professor of Phi-
losophy who has spent the bulk
of her career at the University
of Northern British Columbia,
serving as both the founding
Dean of the Faculty of Arts
and Science in 1993 and as
Vice-President Academic and
Provost from 1994 to 2004. She
also served as the 2004-2005
Policy Fellow for the Sheldon
Chumir Foundation for Eth-
ics in Leadership, a non-profit
organization based in Calgary,
for her research on the nature
and purpose of public and pri-
vate universities.
Dr. Poff has a Ph.D. from the
University of Guelph in Phi-
losophy, an M.A. from Carle-
ton University, a B.A. (Hons.)
from Queen’s University and
a B.A. (Hons.) in Psychology
from the University of Guelph.
She co-founded and continues
to edit two international peer-
reviewed academic journals,
The Journal of Business Ethics
and the Journal of Academic
Ethics. She co-authored and
edited the book Business Eth-
ics in Canada as well as others
about the letters of George Ber-
nard Shaw and Sidney Webb,
alongside publishing articles
on the subject of applied ethics
and women’s issues.
In 1995 Dr. Poff was awarded
a Lifetime Honorary Member-
ship in the Canadian Research
Institute for the Advancement
of Women in the Category of
Outstanding Contribution to
Feminist Research.
Dr. Poff ran as a NDP can-
didate in the Prince George
North district of BC in 2005.
BU release, 2009.
During a phone interview,
Dr. Poff stated that she feels
honoured to be the first wom-
an president at BU, and thinks
it lets others know that these
positions are obtainable to
anyone. Poff stated that she
hopes to be “student friendly
and student promotional” sug-
gesting a number of programs
to help international students
here and abroad. Some of the
programs she suggested in-
cluded an International Stu-
dent Exchange program, where
a student could pay their tui-
tion in Manitoba and negotia-
tions would be made to make
the costs of studying elsewhere
more affordable. Another pos-
sible program would be similar
to the International Student
Exchange program, and would
link many northern universi-
ties in what was referred to as
“circumpolar world university
agreements”. She also suggest-
ed “Golden Key,” a leadership
organization where students
in the top 15 percent GPA can
take part in conferences, earn-
ing scholarships for as much as
$10,000.
Poff mentioned during the in-
terview that her time as Vice-
President of UNBC, she taught
one course per year, as a way
to remind her why she decided
to become an administrator.
When asked for a message to
give students at BU, Poff said:
“I am really looking forward to
being in the Brandon Commu-
nity and meeting students…
My door is always open.”

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Photos and interviews courtesy of Cara Edge and Ripley Large, 2008.
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