Headlines/January 26, 1998

Wrapping up with Jones, continued

intricacies of the capital programs to
Norah Andrew. Likewise, others used
their specialized expertise to help the
university college develop.”

Still a question of balance

Although UCFV grew like never before
in the first years of the university college.
era, there were strains. New funding only
supported the launching of degree
programs, not added spaces or new
programs on the non-degree side.

“Nothing got smaller,” Jones says,
“but some areas didn’t grow as quickly as
others. The IBT initiative has helped a lot
of our non-degree programs grow over
the past few years, but it hasn’t been base
budget growth — it’s been special
projects. The opening of the Career
Technical Centre, in partnership with the
Abbotsford School District, also helped.
We were always aware of the increasing
imbalance, and we’ve done some things
to address it, but more needs to be done.”

Regrets... and challenges
for anew leader

Jones didn’t achieve everything he
wanted for UCFV during his tenure.

“We've got detailed plans for the
expansion of our Trades Centre but it has
never happened,” laments Jones. “If we
could get our land out of the ALR it
might help our chances.”

Then there’s the issue of the planned,
and previously promised, Phase 3 of
Chilliwack. “The fact that it’s not built
yet still gets me apoplectic,” says Jones.
“I can see others’ points of view — there
are many competing priorities around the
province — but this really does need
doing to give a sense of coinpletion to
Chilliwack.”

Jones’ regrets translate into challenges —

for UCFV’s next president:
First Nations relations
“We never got as active with our First

Nations advisory council as I would have .

liked to. Issues such as treaty negotiations
have the potential for dividing our
communities, and I think UCFV has a .
role to play as a setting for a rational
meeting of minds. ] also don’t think our
population of First Nations students is
adequate in relation to the percentage of

the community that is of First Nations
ancestry,
Community links
Jones acknowledges that work has to be
done to strengthen community links.
“We do have many strong community .
links and many people who were involved

.with our communities have continued to

be, but UCFV necessarily had to be
inwardly focused for a few years as we
grew and changed so rapidly. The tough
budget crunch of a few years ago, when
we cut general interest continuing
education courses, struck a pretty raw

nerve with our communities, especially in

Chilliwack. Now it’s time to refocus on
our communities again and rebuild
connections.”
Trimester system

“I still find it absurd that we’re letting our
buildings sit virtually unused for a third
of the year,” Jones comments. “I
remember when we were considering the
first major expansion of the new campus
in Abbotsford, and I told the Ministry that
we wouldn’t need a new building if they
were to give us enough funding for 400
FTEs to get a trimester system going. |
still believe we have to fight for that, and
the timing might not be bad, as we’re still
400 FTE short of what was promised to
us to launch the university college.”

Educational technology '
The quickly emerging and evolving
educational technologies have opened up
many new ways of teaching, learning, and
communicating, and Jones says that

. UCFV has to change in order to make the
best use of it.

“We’re faced with a false dilemma of
having to choose between the classroom
or computer-based distance education.
What we should be doing is combining
the two, and using distance ed to teach
those elements best delivered that way,
but still coming together as a group too.
Current timetables don’t allow us to do
that easily. We need to customize our
systems to meet individual needs. The
banks are doing it, but we’re not there yet.”

Funding mindshift - .
UCFV needs to continue to change the
way it looks at funding, according to .
Jones. “We used to draw’a great big line
between the base budget and soft funding,

which used to be a marginal part of .

our budget. The current government
continues to effectively shrink the
base budget by not increasing it, and
allocates extra funding in specialized
‘envelopes’. Essentially, we have to
count on having soft funding on a
continuing basis although it is never
guaranteed.”
Marketing

“We’ve done the building, now. we’ve
got to focus on the selling.” That’s
how Jones summarizes UCFV’s
marketing challenge. Programs are’
now well established, but perhaps not
as well known as they could be.
UCFV is completing a marketing
review, and is now setting objectives
and making recommendations.

“My feeling is that management,
faculty, staff, and the board are much

~ more inclined to give marketing a °

high priority now. The hard decision
will be choosing where to allocate the
resources we’re able to gather, which
won’t likely be enough to do all w
want to do.” °
Just a regular Jones
Jones “hasn’t had a minute’s regret”
since announcing his resignation last
September. “I’ll probably have some
withdrawal symptoms as I wake up
and decide what to do with my day
instead of having it programmed for
me, but I’m ready for a change. I was

feeling that my tenure as president .

was drawing to a natural and

“successful close, and I didn’t want to

outstay my usefulness. It’s time for
someone new to take over, someone
with a skill set that won’t be apparent

_ until that person arrives.”

Jones will spend the next few
months tending his llamas and being a -
househusband on his rural acreage in
Mission, and will likely return to
UCFV in some sort of teaching role
next September.

“It will be nice to be working more
closely with students again, to be
closer to my teaching colleagues, and
to have the freedom to speak my mind
on public issues.” So says Peter -
Jones, for the moment an ordinary

_citizen and llama farmer.