When I was l last on the board (2017-2020) the annual UBC-O Kelowna meeting took place in September. During my hiatus from the board this annual meeting was changed to June. Other changes include flying commercially - in the past the board secretariat arranged a charter flight to economize on air travel costs. I will confess to appreciating the more relaxed and comfortable charter flights over the post-pandemic congested commercial airports with all their attendant delays.
My board meeting included participating in the new governor UBC-O orientation session bright and early Tuesday June 28th. I flew in to Kelowna the night before and walked the kilometre from the airport to the hotel. The current hotel choice is certainly convenient to the UBC-O campus. Below I’ve added views from the hotel this year and, for contrast, the one I was booked into in 2019.
The board orientation involved sessions on the administrative structure, research, and land use planning at UBC-O. These intensive lectures were complemented by a midday walking tour of the campus. The tour began on the rooftop of one of the student dorms which afforded an expansive view of campus.
Our second stop on the tour was Skeena Residence, a certified passive energy student residence. Next was the construction site of the interdisciplinary collaboration building: x̌əl sic snpax̌nwixʷtn.
Latter that evening the board attended a reception for Kelowna’s movers and shakers. Professor Jeannette Armstrong spoke about the strides UBC has made in Indigenous relations. She also took the opportunity to explain the Indigenous name for the new collaboration building: “For the purpose of new innovation inside this place of enlightening with each other.”
Though the hotel is nestled alongside of a highway it was possible to quickly make one’s way to a pleasant area to run.
During previous board meeting trips I was able to run and explore the area.
Given the way most board business is actually taking place in committees (which took place a couple of weeks earlier) much of the public meeting was fairly pro-forma. For details of Thursday’s open board meeting check out The Ubyssey’s twitter thread.
Managing the logistics of a meeting that includes up to 50 participants (21 board members plus admin staff) is a big deal. The work done quietly behind the scenes to make these meetings roll out so effortlessly for participants is impressive.