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THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA VOLUME 52 | NUMBER 6 | JUNE 1, 2006 UBC REPORTS

Martha Piper Random Thoughts on a Retiring President

There is a small and exclusive group of UBC employees who are she enters the room: the boss will tolerate only one title: “Martha.” so close to the outgoing president that they actually refer to her as Now, as “The President” readies to step down from that lofty “Dr. Piper,” “President Piper” or, reverentially, “The President.” position after nine packed years, a group of friends and colleagues, These are the staffers who are most directly responsible for mentors and proteges offer a reminiscence. You’ll notice, in every representing Martha Piper, for protecting the honour of her office reference, that the President has become precisely what she always and the order of her calendar. But even these people relent when wanted to be: “Just Martha.”

INTERVIEWS BY RICHARD LITTLEMORE

BRAD BENNETT JEFFREY SIMPSON Chair, UBC Board of Governors Globe and Mail Columnist

“I was on the OUC (Okanagan “Martha Piper was one of three University College) board when I or four university presidents (with first met Martha. There was a Robert Lacroix from the forum on regional innovation and University of Montreal and Robert economic development issues and Pritchard from the University of (then-OUC president) Katie Toronto) who, during the Chretien Bindon asked me to attend in her and Martin governments were place. It was fortuitous for me, very, very instrumental in helping given what was to unfold later. to shape policies that produced a “I was immediately impressed great benefit for post-secondary and moved at Martha’s grasp of research infrastructure and there- the challenges that lay ahead for fore a great benefit to the coun- the university and for advanced try’s economic future. ... She made education in general. I was also it her business to develop a net- impressed at her ability to engage work in Ottawa and she was any audience — whether students, amazingly successful. the external community or heads “Martha always had a national of state, it’s always the same vision and a universal or global Martha. She talks directly and in context. She realized that UBC a way that people can understand. could only go to the next level if “One of her charms is that she she set her sights above being a never loses sight of the goal — good university in B.C. That took getting to where she wants to be, her to Ottawa and outside the for the university and for country and it made her one of advanced ed. (In establishing UBC maybe a dozen people who were Okanagan) there are a lot of eyes key movers in the Chretien era.” on what we are trying to do here. We’re trying to build an intimate campus with unique programming and research, but with all the DON AVISON benefits, the clout and leverage Former Deputy Minister of of UBC — with that name Advanced Education and Current recognition and branding. We President of the University want the best and the brightest Presidents Council faculty and a good complement of graduate students. And it’s “I only took this job because working. We are attracting Martha Piper (Simon Fraser top-ranked faculty — people who University President) Jack Blaney want to come to a smaller, more and (University of Northern B.C. intimate campus. That’s one of the President) Chuck Jago had such a areas where UBC as a whole gets clear vision of where they wanted the benefit (from UBC to see post-secondary education go Okanagan). in this province. “UBC was clearly on a good “Theirs was a common trajectory that started in (then- enterprise and they acted with a President David) Strangway’s unity of purpose and interests that time. Martha seized upon that and transcended anything we had seen took the university to heights that before. Under Martha’s leadership, have left a lot of people in awe. there was an approach to partner- She recognized that you can’t ship (in B.C. universities) that make it in the international would have been unthinkable 10 rankings without research and years ago.” Avison specifically she moved the (UBC) research identified the expansion of B.C.’s agenda to new heights. medical schools to encompass “I think we will continue on three universities with a single that trajectory — that we will degree. “That was truly be the best internationally ranked revolutionary.” research university that we can “Martha has a sense of vision of

be.” PHOTO: MARTIN DEE continued on page 3 ubcr5206-29may06 5/29/06 2:15 PM Page 3

2 | ubc reports | june 1, 2006 RETIRING WITHIN FIVE YEARS? IN THE NEWS Want to plan ahead? Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in May 2006. COMPILED BY BASIL WAUGH • Retirement and estate planning • UBC pension expertise UBC Students Decode Essence • Complimentary consultations for of Cool UBC faculty & staff According to research by two UBC graduate students, kindness is the new cool. Don Proteau “Frank and Don made me feel very comfortable More than a dozen North BComm, CFP with their advice and long-range planning. Their American media outlets, including Senior Financial knowledge of the faculty pension plan is also a plus the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Planner United Press International, Assante Financial for UBC professors.” Management Ltd. Dr. J.H. McNeill, CanWest News Service, Canadian Professor Emeritus, Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBC Press, Global National News, Frank Danielson National Post and the Globe and BEd, CFP Mail, reported findings by Ilan Senior Financial Call or email today for a complimentary Dar-Nimrod and Ian Hansen of Planner the UBC Dept. of Psychology that Assante Financial retirement analysis! Management Ltd. suggest qualities such as friendli- ness, egalitarianism, fairness, hon- PHOTO: MARTIN DEE esty, passion, and even niceness Norman B. Keevil, former president and CEO of Vancouver-based Teck (604) 638-0335 • [email protected] • [email protected] are considered cool according to Cominco Ltd. announcing a $7.5-million gift to UBC’s Mining Engineering program. the prevailing tastes. The Assante symbol and Assante Wealth Management “Parents will be relieved to Saewyc’s comments at the Postdoctoral Fellow in Astronomy are trademarks of Assante Corporation, used under license know that the popular under- Native Peoples of North America and Astrophysics at UBC. “We’re standing of cool suggests a HIV/AIDS conference were report- trying to show the parameters of Hallmark greeting card more than ed by Associated Press, Canadian the universe, trying to measure a gangster orgy,” said Hansen. Press, Washington Post, the New what’s out there and our place in The study presented 800 people York Times, ABC, CBS, and the it.” with a list of 90 personality char- CBC. acteristics — such as wealthy, “This is where native people UBC Receives Gifts for Mining friendly and good-looking — and can and should take the lead,” Engineering and Student asked them to rate them on a said Saewyc. “Our very survival Residence scale of one to seven. About 60 depends on developing strategies National and B.C. media covered per cent of respondents in the and working together on HIV.” two major donations to UBC — study said classically socially- Participants of the May 2-6 one from one of Canada’s largest desirable traits were “cool,” while conference included physicians, mining companies and the other 15 per cent said “cool” was mys- nurses, pharmacists, researchers, from a Hong Kong philanthropist. terious, tough, aloof and danger- and Aboriginal leaders from over The Canadian Press, the Globe ous. 600 First Nations communities and Mail, the Vancouver Sun, and “We went looking for Marlon from more than 40 states, Canada the Vancouver Province reported Brando and ended up with Gene and New Zealand. on the $7.5-million boost to UBC’s Kelly,” said Dar-Nimrod. Mining Engineering program from According to the team’s find- UBC-led Project Maps Farthest a group led by Vancouver-based ings, some of the cooler celebrities Reaches of the Known Universe Teck Cominco Ltd. The gift will be today would be actor Johnny A Canadian-led group of scientists used to create the Norman B. Depp, a family man with an atti- has created the biggest ever repre- Keevil Institute of Mining tude, and Bono, a rocker who sentation of the heavens — a map Engineering (named after the cares for his community. that depicts a million galaxies, the company’s former president and farthest ones five billion light CEO), recruit faculty, and increase HIV/AIDS Conference Targets years from Earth, report the U.K.’s the number of students in the Needs of First Nations in North New Scientist, CanWest News program. America Service, National Post, and the The Globe and Mail, Channel According to Elizabeth Saewyc, Vancouver Sun. M, Fairchild TV, and the UBC School of Nursing Assoc. The team, led by UBC astro- Vancouver Sun reported on the Prof. and keynote speaker at physicist Chris Blake, has charted $4-million gift by shipping and real North American First Nations’ much of the known cosmos with estate magnate Simon Lee to create first national conference on supercomputers and complex data a student residence and cultural HIV/AIDS, more research is need- sets that yield a three-dimensional centre. To be completed by 2008, ed on how the disease is affecting positioning of the stars. the Simon K.Y. Lee University of native communities, native treat- “It’s not the sort of thing you Hong Kong-UBC House will house ment models, and the effectiveness could print on a piece of paper — 100 students from the University of HIV/AIDS medication on but it’s exactly the same idea,” of Hong Kong and an equal num- native peoples. says Blake, the Killam ber from UBC. ■ UBC REPORTS

NEXT ISSUE: JULY 6, 2006

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what might be possible and an The Martha Piper Years equal ability to articulate that vision and get others to help make it happen. She makes me think of 1997-2006 Aretha Franklin: She’s got a great voice and one she really knows how to use. It’s always impressive — and sometimes it’s truly magical.” 2006 MAY STEPHEN TOOPE • UBC receives $4 million from Hong Kong philanthropist UBC President-designate Simon K. Y. Lee for Hong Kong University-UBC House, UBC’s fourth international student residence. “I have known Martha well because she sat on the board of APRIL • UBC research funding reaches $466.5 million, up from the (Pierre Elliott) Trudeau $138 million in 1997/98. Foundation (of which Dr. Toope has been the president). She has • Trek program of student volunteers now has 1,000 shown real leadership at the participants, up from 30 students in inaugural year 1999. national level in so many programs. • UBC fund-raising reaches $100 million annually, putting “When I look at UBC, it’s very UBC’s endowment fund in the top three among Canadian strong, which is in large part due universities. to Martha. I recognize that it takes a whole team, but the MARCH leadership has obviously been • Prof. Carl E. Wieman, Nobel Laureate in Physics, and there. I think she really has to be United States Professor of the Year in 2004, joins UBC. celebrated, and I am honoured to Wieman will be only the second Nobel laureate working follow her.” at a Canadian university.

FEBRUARY • UBC creates North America’s first Buddhism and PETER MEEKISON Contemporary Society program. Former University of Alberta Vice President Academic and • Opening of $10-million Aquatic Ecosystems Research Public Administrator during the laboratory. establishment of UBC Okanagan

When Martha Piper first approached the U of A to investigate an opening as Dean of Rehabilitative Medicine, PHOTO: MARTIN DEE 2005 Incoming UBC President Stephen Toope celebrates Piper’s achievements. Dr. Meekison was her first point SEPTEMBER of contact: • Opening of UBC Okanagan in Kelowna. “There was something there,” Meekison says, “a quality. Of six • Opening of Fred Kaiser Building, an advanced facility excellent candidates, she was the ARTHUR CARTY for Engineering teaching and research. winner, hands down.” National Science Advisor Research Chairs, for new funding “She was a natural fundraiser for the three granting councils JUNE and a born leader. And as Vice “I have a great deal of respect for and for CFI (the Canada • UBC is only Canadian university listed among top 15 President Research, she found an Martha. She is a woman of great Foundation for Innovation). That in the University Patent Powerhouse survey, published ability to coin a phrase,” with the integrity; she won’t back off on accounts for $14 billion in in The Scientist. fundraising slogan ‘Research principle and she is unfailingly research funding, which had a Makes Sense.’ enthusiastic and persuasive. dramatic impact right across the MAY “In talking about research, she “In the 10 years between 1995 country. She was also influential • Opening of the Asia Pacific Regional Office de-mystified it. She connects with and 2005, Martha was one of the as a member of the Prime in Hong Kong. people and doesn’t talk down to most influential and charismatic Minister’s Advisory Council on them. She has tremendous inter- leaders in the Canadian academic Science and Technology. MARCH personal and communication community. Her influence over “Universities had taken a beat- • Launch of Trek 2010 vision, focused on themes of global citizenship, civil society and sustainability. skills. She’s inclusive, she’s a nur- government and the university ing in the early ’90s and Martha turer, and she’s always got time to community helped to reinvigorate was able to impress upon the FEBRUARY stop and write a birthday card or research in universities across the government the need to reinvest. • UBC receives $10 million, the largest gift to mental a little note. That’s what sets her country. Martha was instrumental “I know that Martha also health in Canada, to establish the UBC Institute in advocating for the Canada apart.” continued on page 4 of Mental Health. LETTER TO EDITOR 2004 The following is a summary of a response to The forecast increase in Alberta oil sands a previous article. Complete text of this letter production over the next decade is for an NOVEMBER is available at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcre- additional 1.7 million barrels per day, a fraction • Opening of the Life Sciences Centre, a $134-million ports/2006/06jun01/letter.html of the projected shortfall. Despite vast coal interdisciplinary teaching and research facility. reserves, coal-to-liquids production in China is projected to grow to only 600 thousand OCTOBER Piqued By Peak Oil barrels per day by 2020. It appears that these • Donation of $10 million from UBC alumnus Irving K. In a recent commentary in UBC Reports (A Peek non-conventional sources might yield perhaps Barber, founding chairman of Slocan Forest Products Ltd. Past Peak Oil, April 6, 2006), Professor Hadi 3 million barrels per day by 2015, leaving us establishes The Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Dowlatabadi stated that peaking of conventional short by some 19 million barrels per day. Sciences at UBC Okanagan and a permanent endowment oil production (Peak Oil) will simply mark of $15 million to support both initiatives. another energy crossroads that will be character- This leaves me with the unavoidable conclusion ized by a seamless transition to non-conventional that should total global oil supply peak SEPTEMBER oil sources. In my view, this prediction can be sometime between now and 2010, • Opening of the $30-million Michael Smith Laboratories, readily refuted by simple “back-of-the-envelope” non-conventional sources will not be sufficient named for the late UBC Nobel Laureate. analyses, and more likely, we will be facing a to offset future decline let alone continue substantial shortfall in oil supply within a decade. to grow supply. I am betting that APRIL we will probably see $100 per barrel oil well • UBC hosts three Nobel Laureates — His Holiness The model developed by geologist, Dr. M. King before 2015, and could well see that price the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Hubbert of Hubbert’s Peak fame, (who correctly at anytime given even modest geopolitical and Dr. Shirin Ebadi. forecast in 1956 peaking of US oil production in disruption to supply. 1972), indicates that global conventional oil FEBRUARY production will likely peak around 2008. With • UBC now ranked 35th among the world’s 500 top continued demand growth of two per cent per Dr. Rob Millar universities, according to a study cited in the Jan. 24 year, we could be facing a global shortfall of Associate Professor issue of the Economist. some 22 million barrels per day by 2015. Department of Civil Engineering continued on page 4 ubcr5206-29may06 5/29/06 2:15 PM Page 5

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The Martha Piper Years 1997-2006

continued from page 3 2003 SEPTEMBER • UBC opens Tec de Monterrey House where up to 100 students from Mexico’s Tec de Monterrey University will reside. In October 2002, students from Korea University moved into a new integrated residence with 100 UBC students.

JULY • UBC chosen as site of 2010 Olympics ice hockey venue.

JUNE • Dr.William L. Sauder and Mrs. Marjorie-Anne Sauder give $20 million to UBC’s Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration — the largest private donation ever made Brian Sullivan: Her slogan to a Canadian business school — to create the Sauder — I am UBC — really resonated. School of Business.

MAY PHOTO: MARTIN DEE • For the first time, almost 200 UBC grads sign sustainabili- ty pledges to be socially and environmentally responsible. Martha Piper SSHRC (the Social Sciences and Humanities continued from page 3 Research Council). APRIL “She also took a tremendous leadership role in the • Marco Marra’s research team complete DNA sequence of worked to strengthen the relations between Town AUCC. She chaired the standing advisory committee SARS virus — a world first. and Gown, between UBC and its community and, as from 2002 to 2005 and she was a huge advocate, a result, UBC has emerged not just as a powerhouse not just for UBC but for universities across the of research excellence, but also as a driver of eco- country. nomic growth and innovation in Vancouver and in “She’s going to leave a big hole in the whole 2002 the whole of B.C.” community.” OCTOBER • Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and HRH Prince Philip, BRIAN SULLIVAN MOURA QUAYLE Duke of Edinburgh, visited UBC as part of the Royal Vice President Students Deputy Minister of Advanced Education (and Jubilee celebrations. former UBC Dean of Land and Food Systems) “Martha has been unwavering in her support of • Irving K. Barber Learning Centre created at UBC thanks the students’ voice. She is also an inspiring person: “Martha was a role model for the Deans, especially to $20-million gift from Irving K. Barber that transforms disciplined; attentive to detail; concerned for for certain leadership behaviours.” The most obvious Main Library. It is the largest donation for a single capital relationships and obsessed with follow-through. of these, was “tenacity. Martha always showed that project that UBC has ever received. The provincial “And corny as it is, her favourite slogan — ‘I am you just don’t run at something once. If you don’t government contributed an additional $10 million and UBC’ — really resonated. When the students came succeed, you step back, check your strategy, re-check UBC matched these funds with a further $30-million up with that t-shirt (as part of an Imagine UBC your vision and go at it again.“ investment. program early in her first term), it really caught her. “Martha was also so good (on the national scene) She recognized that it really defined the hopes and talking about universities, not just about UBC. It SEPTEMBER dreams of student life. She saw how important it was strategic — and she always took it to the next • Campus wireless roll-out UBC now has largest and most was that students identify with UBC as a whole, level — because she knew that if you could improve advanced wireless network on any campus in the world. not just with a degree program or a team. It was a the conditions for all universities, then UBC would compelling update of (the UBC motto) Tuum est — thrive.” JULY it’s up to you. ‘I am UBC’ said ‘I am this thing and As a communicator, “Martha is not afraid to talk • The vision for a distinctive “university town” community this thing is me’ — ‘I am this place and this place about her family — how they shaped her — and her at UBC announced at first meeting of the new University lives in me.’ experiences. It makes her very human.” Neighbourhoods Association. “Martha also recognized that there were two groups on campus who were underappreciated: student athletes and alumni. Her understanding APRIL of the contribution that student athletes make was EDWARD GOLDENBERG • Research funding reaches $376.8 million, an increase of terrific. And she recognized that a great university (Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Jean Chretien) 48 per cent over previous year. Indirect costs of research has to pay attention to its alumni. She always now included in university research funding from federal backstopped me in doing work with the Alumni Asked about the rumour that Dr. Piper had a hot- government. Association (including in the hiring of Associate line to the Prime Minister’s office, and that the line Vice President Alumni Marie Earl) and I think that led directly to Goldenberg, he said: work will continue. “That’s true. I wanted to see her as much as I JANUARY “(As a manager), Martha always managed to keep could. Everyone did. She was extremely welcome. • UBC and its affiliated teaching hospitals received almost the personal and the professional connected. She Apart from having a very warm personality, she $76 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation never imagined that we could divide our lives; she always had good ideas. She was relentlessly positive, (CFI), placing us first in the country honoured and valued both the personal and interesting, thoughtful, future-oriented and she professional and I always knew that I could count would put things into a perspective that went on her support, whether the issue was professional beyond the perspective of UBC. She was innovative or personal. I always felt valued as a person.” and would identify possible solutions.“ Martha was so popular in Ottawa that “I joked recently that it sometimes worked to her disadvan- 2001 tage. When she was lobbying for funding for indirect NOVEMBER CLAIRE MORRIS costs (of research), she said she would keep coming • Finning International donates land near downtown Association of Universities and Colleges of to see us until the costs were approved. We would Vancouver valued at $33.8 million to UBC, Simon Fraser Canada President have given her the money much more quickly if she University, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the had threatened to stop coming, instead. B.C. Institute of Technology to create a hub high-tech “In 1999, I was Deputy Minister of HRDC (Human “Martha also sometimes said, thank you, which is learning and research hub. Resources and Development Canada). I had been very rare in Ottawa.” around government for 28 years and I thought I had • UBC opens new downtown Vancouver campus, seen effective advocacy and lobbying. Then I met UBC at Robson Square. Martha. “Martha was the first university president to ROBERT BIRGENAU make a trip to Ottawa with the (university’s) whole University of California at Berkeley Chancellor JANUARY senior management team — to introduce the team • The Provincial Medical Education Plan developed, to to Ottawa and to introduce Ottawa to the team. It “When I took the position of President at the increase education opportunities throughout the province became an event that many universities would copy. University of Toronto in 1999, Martha was one of for students in Faculty of Medicine, to ease doctor “I always found striking her vision for the role of the first people to call and congratulate me. And shortage in rural and northern areas of the province. social sciences. Her Killam speech (in 2002) was when I took my first trip to Ottawa, I discovered really the starting point for the transformation of continued on page 5 ubcr5206-29may06 5/29/06 2:15 PM Page 10

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Martha Piper instead of the slums we were in before. continued from page 4 “Martha really created a buzz. She put this university on the map, and I attribute that to her The Martha Piper Years that she was the single most prominent university philosophy that research drives a university. If the president in Canada. She set the standard for how research is good, the university will be good — and to do federal relations properly. the students will be proud. 1997-2006 “Now, looking at it from outside the country, “She has been a wonderful cheerleader for UBC. there are three great universities in Canada, UBC, Of all the Canadian university presidents, she is the U of T and McGill, and my own view is that UBC one most listened to (in Ottawa). She has the ear of is pushing very hard on Toronto and on McGill as the three granting council leaders — when she talks, to which is the pre-eminent university in Canada.” they listen. continued from page 4 In addition to the advocacy role that she played “She also surrounded herself with excellent people nationally, a role in which she was “passionate and — excellent VPs. (Vice President Research) Indira unrelenting,” “Martha was also very effective in Samarasekera transformed that department. I can enhancing UBC’s position internationally, especially speak for researchers in general in saying that she through the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (Martha) really put research back up there. 2000 and Universitas 21 — connecting UBC to Asia and, “I remember when Martha first arrived and she SEPTEMBER especially, to China.” put on that ‘Think About It’ hat during one of her • Opening of the Liu Institute for Global Issues. “Martha also had an eye for developing new first speeches. She raised some eyebrows. Some talent within UBC. For example, I tried hard to people were asking, ‘What kind of a president are • UBC celebrates 75 years at the Point Grey campus. recruit (UBC’s VP Research) Indira Samarasekera we getting, here?’ to U of T, unfortunately without success.” “In retrospect: a very effective one.” JULY • UBC’s Learning Exchange, a new resource centre for the Downtown Eastside community, is home base for UBC student volunteers and a place where the community can BRETT FINLAY ALLAN TUPPER learn about and access UBC’s resources. UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor UBC Associate Vice President Government Relations MAY “When I came to UBC in 1989, (UBC Nobel • UBC to establish 160 research chairs as part of new Laureate) Michael Smith promised me a new “Without exaggeration, Martha is the foremost Canada Research Chairs program that will establish 2000 building. He had the model on his desk, and I know (governmental) advocate of her era. She has set research professorships in universities across the country that 30 seconds after he had met Martha, he had the forth a broad set of arguments about what by 2008. blueprints out.” But 15 years passed before that universities are about and how they fit with the role FEBRUARY vision was to be realized. of government. • Alumni Office Opens in Hong Kong. “Martha’s success at CFI (the Canada Foundation “Martha’s global citizenship argument has been for Innovation) radically changed this university. It’s particularly influential in (affecting) government a different place. We are now competitive on the thinking, which will be a challenge not just to the national scene. We’re doing much better with next president, but to all the universities and (winning grant money from) all the research coun- colleges of the country — how do we continue to cils and we have lots of new buildings, including move this agenda forward, to articulate the role that Michael Smith’s dream — a beautiful new building continued on page 6 1999 SEPTEMBER • Launch of Trek program with 30 student volunteers serving schools, non-profit organizations, and community centres in inner-city neighborhoods of Vancouver.

MARCH • Leon and Thea Koerner University Centre opened, replacing the Faculty Club.

NOVEMBER • Trek 2000 developed and launched. 1998 OCTOBER • UBC alumnus and diamond explorer Stewart Blusson and wife Marilyn provide unprecedented $50-million donation for research.

SEPTEMBER • UBC creates Humanities 101 — the first program of its kind in Canada — to give residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside an opportunity to study humanities-related courses free of charge. 1997 NOVEMBER • The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting brings heads of 18 leading economies around the Pacific Rim to campus. Protests concerning human rights violations in some member countries leads to significant anti-APEC demonstration at the meeting, which RCMP control with controversial force. A RCMP Public Complaints Commission inquiry followed.

SEPTEMBER • More than 5,000 first-year students participated in IMAGINE UBC, UBCs first-ever orientation for new students.

AUGUST • UBC and the Greater Vancouver Regional District develop an Official Community Plan for the university area.

• Canada’s newest School of Journalism, and Western Canada’s first graduate journalism program, opens with classes starting Fall 1998.

JULY • Martha Piper becomes UBC’s 11th president. ■

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the federal government can play in universities and the role that universities can play in the internation- al arena?”

DAN MUZYKA Sauder School of Business Dean

“Martha is an inspirational leader. She came to UBC at a time when faculties had been suffering budget cuts for the last eight or 10 years. There was a pulling back, year after year, that had torn not only into the hardware of the university, but heavily into the software, as well — into the people. It had an impact on the mood of the organization. “Martha came in at the tail end of that period and she helped the university believe in itself again — helped believe in its role in the greater international learning community and in the society PHOTO: MARTIN DEE of the future. Indira Samarasekera: Martha is the best university “She was very strong at three levels. Number one president that Canada has had in a long time. was the emotional level: she helped the university believe in its own power. Number two was in “Martha has never been afraid of controversy. resources: she was able to bring in funds through She has used negative results to her advantage.” For various initiatives and programs, getting govern- example, when UBC slipped in its Maclean’s ments to understand the need for increased contri- magazine ranking, “Martha used it to raise the butions to research and working with the provincial consciousness of people on the state of government to get sufficient operational funding. undergraduate education.” Number three was getting people to look at differ- The President has also survived early criticisms ent programs in terms of their different requirements that she was not serious enough for the position: — in directing resources. “There are people who don’t like unbridled enthusi- “She will leave a stronger university. And the asm, people who think that the president’s speeches investments in post-secondary education will also should be quite dour and a little opaque. Martha (in result in a stronger society and a stronger economy. doing the opposite) has won a lot of cynics over. “For Martha, UBC was a mission and a cause, “She has also been tremendously successful with not just an institution where she happened to be donors. You have to make donors feel that there is president. She believed!” stewardship, that they are putting their money in the hands of people who know how to use it. At UBC now, people have a sense now that if they leave large chunks of money with the university, that’s an INDIRA SAMARASEKERA inspired choice.” University of Alberta President (and former UBC Vice President Research)

“Martha Piper is the best university president that SHIH CHOON FONG NEWS TV | RADIO Canada has had in a long time. Look around the President, National University of Singapore country and she stands out, not just at UBC but nationally. (Martha has) a superb intellect; she’s an “I would say that Martha’s most significant legacy UBC Public Affairs has opened both a radio and TV studio eternal optimist and she has a joie de vivre that I will be her taking UBC from a top Canadian on campus where you can conduct live interviews with local, find very attractive. She also has the capacity to university to a leading global university. With her national and international media outlets.To learn more about look beyond the horizon, to connect disparate global outlook and network, she has been able to being a UBC expert, call us at 604.822.2064 and visit our events and pieces of information into a coherent and ride the crest of an emerging Asia Pacific and seize web site at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/experts/signup powerful case.” opportunities for UBC, British Columbia and The two Trek strategic plans were evidence of Canada. The active role that she has played in that clarity of thinking: “Trek 2000 was brilliant — university consortia like the Association of Pacific inspiring for many and a model for how you craft a Rim Universities (APRU) and Universitas 21 placed strategic vision for a university: think big, and then UBC strategically on the global network of leading deliver on the resources. universities. Martha has set UBC on the course “I also feel very privileged and grateful for the towards its vision of becoming one of the world’s interest she took in me personally. I would not be best universities. I have no doubt that what Martha the president of U of A today without her.” put in place during her presidency will help UBC realize this aspiration. “People in UBC and Canada may not be aware of how Martha has contributed to Singapore and to HEATHER MUNRO-BLUM the National University of Singapore (NUS). From McGill University Principal 2000 to 2004, she served on the NUS Council ... the only overseas university president to have served on “Martha is a superb person. From the very begin- the NUS Council until then. ning, I have had great admiration and affection for “Martha’s commitment to nurturing global her — she inspires both in just about everyone she citizenship will have enduring impact on education meets. and research at UBC. Under her leadership, UBC Among Canada’s foremost university presidents, has pursued internationalization strategies which “she was a leader among leaders in a big team effort have leveraged Martha’s knowledge and familiarity to create a national innovation agenda. She listens with Asia, as well as her openness to seize hard, she learns well, she has a real ability to cut opportunities in the Asia Pacific. As a result, UBC through to the core of the matter and she is a com- has strengthened overseas links, nurtured global pelling champion. And there has never been a uni- perspectives among students, and advanced global versity president from west of Ontario who had a scholarship and research. more dominant influence in Ottawa.” “In the nine years that Martha has been at the helm of UBC, she has been a visionary leader. Her Trek 2000 initiative, which articulated lucidly the university’s mission and strategic plan for the WALTER SUDMANT opening decade of the 21st century, was an Planning and Institutional Research Director impressive effort that NUS is also learning from. We have much to learn from Martha’s success in “Martha Piper has shifted the ground on the building up excellent support and a sense of function of a university, not just for UBC but for ownership among stakeholders, both on and all universities across the country. The university off the UBC campus and including those in Asia.” mission is no longer about pursuing disciplines for the sake of those disciplines. The university is now, primarily, an agent for social change. “The language of global citizenship — about civil DENNIS PAVLICH society — has become so common at UBC that we Vice President External and Legal Affairs have forgotten how radical it is. The link between community service and learning has been out there “Martha Piper inherited a university that was in for a while, but UBC was the first university to put crisis. She turned it around and I think you could it boldly into a strategic plan. It’s very political, but say that it has enjoyed a golden era. (For example), Martha has attracted people who were bold, who she inherited APEC (the controversial Asia Pacific were ‘activist.’ continued on page 7 ubcr5206-29may06 5/29/06 2:15 PM Page 12

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Martha Piper MARGO FRYER DAVID STRANGWAY continued from page 6 Director, UBC Learning Former UBC President Economic Cooperation meeting Exchange on UBC property), which was not “It’s difficult for the old guy to of her choosing. She inherited the “It is totally amazing that UBC say, ‘She really took UBC to great frustration of students at the made a commitment to the places,’ but she did. I had an inadequacies of our infrastructure Downtown Eastside and sustained opportunity (during my tenure) to — the dirty toilets and the it over time, especially in the face set some things in motion, but she dilapidated buildings. And she of skepticism and resistance. had the opportunity to really consistently put in place programs “Lots of people were adamantly make things happen — and she for the renovation of those facili- opposed to (UBC starting) the did.” ties and the erection of new ones. Learning Exchange because they Dr. Strangway, who having left “Martha also moved University had been burned in the past when UBC became president of the Town to a new level. She removed other organizations made big Canada Foundation for the old method of announce and announcements but didn’t follow Innovation, praised Dr. Piper for defend; the process has been way through. They assumed the UBC’s success in attracting more consultative and community commitment was not authentic. research funding, but said he was led. “But when we went to meet particularly pleased with the “Martha is congenitally out community partners right at profit-making market housing congenial. She likes input and the beginning, Martha was right developments — which he began discussion and she thrives on in there — she totally understood and which have continued on getting the best advice. (As a the issues that people were facing. and around campus. result), she was very strategic It was obvious that she had a “This will build an enormous about getting the most out of the very strong personal commitment endowment for UBC. In the next Board (of Governors). Rather to the idea that the university 10 to 15 years, this is going to than try to manage or avoid the had a role to play in dealing with be a massive shot in the arm. It Board — rather than worrying those issues. That really impressed will help make UBC much more about ‘how are we going to get me.” independent.” ■ this through the board,’ she was In developing the Learning always more concerned with how Exchange from a volunteer project we could get the Board to help us for 30 students in 1999 to a — with who on the Board has the burgeoning community service knowledge and the expertise we — and community service learning need. We had great debates from — opportunity involving nearly which the executive and the 1,000 students, “there has never university benefited enormously. been a time when I have not felt “On a personal level, she was completely confident on the incredibly supportive. I could take support of the president. That’s a problems or issues to her and she pretty amazing statement to make was uncanny in terms of her about a leader in an organization ability to find the right solution.” over a nine-year period.” ubcr5206-29may06 5/29/06 2:14 PM Page 1

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