Dr. Arvind Gupta is the 13th president of UBC. He was in Kelowna on Wednesday, March 12, 2014 to introduce himself to faculty, staff and students at the UBC Okanagan campus.
Image Credit: Contributed/UBC
March 13, 2014 - 11:06 AM
KELOWNA – The UBC Board of Governors has gone a different route than several other Canadian universities; the governors have chosen a professor, not a career administrator, as president and vice chancellor.
Dr. Arvind Gupta is a math professor. He will take the reigns from professor Stephen Toope on June 30. Toope has held the top job at the university for the past 8 years.
Gupta was at the UBC Okanagan campus on Wednesday to introduce himself to the faculty, staff and students.
The University of Toronto, the University of Victoria and McGill University have all recently appointed career university administrators and bureaucrats as presidents. Pundits are saying that Gupta is a visionary and a man of action.
Gupta is currently the chief executive officer and scientific director of Mitacs. It’s a not-for-profit group that nurtures the next generation of research and business-savvy innovators.
He is the first president to be appointed for a 5 year term and will keep his position as a professor of computer science at UBC.
“The opportunity to lead one of the world’s great universities attracted outstanding candidates,” board chair John Montalbano said. "Dr. Arvind Gupta clearly stood out as the best choice to lead this great university."
Gupta is the 13th president and vice chancellor since the university founding in 1913.
“As a member of the UBC community, I know how great a responsibility and honour this is,” Gupta said.
“We have exciting days ahead and I relish the opportunity.”
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News from © iNFOnews, 2014