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SFU Surrey unveils plaque to honour university’s 8th president, Michael Stevenson

Stevenson recognized as being ‘instrumental in bringing SFU to Surrey’
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Michael Stevenson Ph.D. giving a speech after the plaque in the grand hall is unveiled at SFU Surrey in Surrey on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. (Photo: Anna Burns)

SFU Surrey unveiled the Michael Stevenson plaque in the grand hall at SFU Surrey on Thursday (Nov. 18). The plaque is to recognize all of the work Stevenson did during his terms as SFU president (2000-2010).

Stevenson was the eighth president of SFU and was “instrumental in bringing SFU to Surrey,” said Stephen Dooley, the executive director of SFU Surrey.

Joy Johnson, SFU’s president, listed Stevenson’s many accomplishments during his 10 years as president during Thursday’s ceremony at SFU Surrey.

“Michael, on behalf of SFU, thank you for your years of service to the university, your commitment to the cause of higher education, and the tenacity that you showed in getting this beautiful campus and its programs established,” Johnson said.

SFU Surrey is where the Technical University of British Columbia (TechBC) was formerly located. When the B.C. government closed TechBC in 2002, all of the programs and staff were transferred to SFU Surrey.

Under Stevenson’s leadership, SFU was “awarded the ability to take over this campus and build the programs and build what SFU Surrey today,” Dooley said.

In a speech, Stevenson acknowledged all the teamwork that went into bringing SFU to Surrey.

“I want to acknowledge that SFU Surrey would not be possible at all if it were not for the extraordinary work done by the then Vice President of Academic John Waterhouse by his associates, the late Bill Crane, and by their colleague now herself vice president of this university, Joanne Curry,” Stevenson said.

Dooley said the legacy of TechBC continues at SFU Surrey, as they have a lot of “applied programming, Interactive Arts and Technology, mechatronics system engineering, we’re a very applied program.”

After Stevenson retired in 2010, his friends and family created the Michael Stevenson presidential legacy endowment. The endowment supports the Michael Stevenson Graduated Scholarship for a student enrolled in a doctoral program who has shown academic excellence at an academic level.

Johnson said, “This endowment is now valued at $1 million, which speaks to just how much SFU donors and partners respect and value his work and his legacy.”

The group who attended the SFU Surrey unveiling of the Michael Stevenson plaque in the grand hall at SFU Surrey in Surrey on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. (Photo: Anna Burns)
The group who attended the SFU Surrey unveiling of the Michael Stevenson plaque in the grand hall at SFU Surrey in Surrey on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. (Photo: Anna Burns)

Michael Stevenson Ph.D. gives a speech after the plaque in the grand hall is unveiled at SFU Surrey in Surrey on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. (Photo: Anna Burns)



anna.burns@surreynowleader.com

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Anna Burns

About the Author: Anna Burns

I started with Black Press Media in the fall of 2022 as a multimedia journalist after finishing my practicum at the Surrey Now-Leader.
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