I don’t know just if the community realizes just  what we are losing with the announcement by George Iwama that he will not seek a second five year term with UNBC.

 

You will quickly discover that I have a lot of time for George, driven mostly by the fact that he is just one of the "guy’s" , George doesn’t live in the world of show and tell and that can be a fault that can be said occurred in the past with some of the other presidents.

Iwama came to PG at a critical time, for those whose minds need refreshing, there was a move afoot to try and sell the lands in and around the old PG Hotel to the University for a satellite campus.

 

George saw through that deal  quickly and while he doesn’t or won’t talk about it, he saw money being made at the expense of the university for a private development. George may like research and that is his forte , he also knows how to count money and he is not easily led.  At the time, the president said, if you want a satellite campus, show me the money, well that wasn’t about to happen and George knew it.

Think back for a moment about the qualities of this guy, no fan fare, no ‘gee look what I have done’, just nose to the grind stone trying to make UNBC a better place to be.

Filling those shoes will be a big job, a very big job as trying to find another George Iwama will be a daunting task

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.