Sports Centre to Carry Jago Name

Saturday, May 27, 2006 10:10 AM

The new Northern Sport Centre will be named after Charles Jago, the outgoing President of the University of Northern B.C. The announcement was made by Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley and Don Rix, the Chair of the UNBC Board of Governors, during the gala banquet that was held last night in honour of Dr. Jago.

More than 500 people attended the gala, which was held at the CN Centre in Prince George. Presentations were given by 20 colleagues and friends of Dr. Jago, including representatives of government, northern post-secondary institutions, the University, and the community. Among those speaking, UNBC Founder Horst Sander highlighted Dr. Jago’s ability to bring “growth and diversification to this area, and opportunities to its residents.” Former Alumni Association President Jacqueline Eaton asked “where else do students get to ‘hang out’ and get to know their president?” Former UNBC Chancellor George Pedersen, who served as Interim President of UNBC between Geoffrey Weller and Charles Jago, joked that it would take too long to properly roast Dr. Jago, so he focused instead on the President’s wife, Mary. “Taking on a university presidency usually translates into a two-person job with one’s spouse contributing his or her time as ‘unpaid labour,’” he said. “So Mary has served gratis for eleven years, a contribution for which we are all extremely grateful.”

Dr. Jago has been the President of UNBC for nearly eleven years and will step down at the end of June. While President, he presided over considerable expansion of the University. For example, since 1995, when he first arrived, there has been $100 million in new construction added to the Prince George campus in addition to new regional campuses in Terrace, Quesnel, and Prince Rupert. The creation of an athletic facility at UNBC has been one of his primary objectives.

He and Mary plan to continue living in Prince George.

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Posted on Saturday, May 27, 2006 10:10 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Gofaster on May 27 2006 12:55 PM

Gee there is a surpise

Posted by: Palopu on May 30 2006 7:27 PM

This sounds to me as nothing more than a love in by Employees of the Provincial, Regional, and Municipal Governments. Are we losing our minds?? Mr. Jago works for the University for 11 years at a very good salary. He manages to be involved in the spending of Millions of taxpayers money and at the end of the 11 years he retires (I assume with a nice pension) for this we make him a National Hero, and some kind of genius. They hype over this University has been ongoing since its inception and it has been one big P.R. effort by all those associated with it, however the bottom line is that enrollments have flattened out in the last three years and now stand a good chance of going down hill. The new President will have to try and keep this Monolith afloat which will not be easy.

As an aside for those that might be interested, the land that the University is located on was set aside by the Social Credit Government in the 1960's as the University Endowment Lands. This was a direct result of efforts by the the Lands, Forests, and Water Resources Minister Mr. Ray Williston, who prior to going into Politics was the Superintendent of Schools for this District. He went on to do a lot more for Education for this area, and for the Province of BC and did a lot more for Education in BC than Mr. Jago could ever dream of. At the very least he should get honourable mention, if we do not have the class to name anything after him.