by Julie Ovenell-Carter
Photograpy by Greg Ehlers

A tenacious leader for tough times

President Michael Stevenson will mount the stage in Convocation Mall one last time this spring to shake the hands of Simon Fraser University’s most recent graduates – some 2,600 of them. And at the fall ceremony in October, his successor, Andrew Petter, will congratulate another 1,500 new alumni.

That’s a heck of a lot more flesh-pressing than architect Arthur Erickson ever imagined in his original concept for this university. In 1965, SFU was built to accommodate a maximum 18,000 full-time scholars atop Burnaby Mountain. This year, Canada’s top-ranked comprehensive university will educate more than 30,000 students across eight faculties at three Lower Mainland campuses – the tangible legacy of Stevenson’s moxie and management skills during a decade-long tenure that comes to an end in August.

Turbulent times
The former VP Academic and Provost of York University, Stevenson took the helm at SFU in early 2000 – a period when B.C. universities were navigating turbulent economic, academic, and political waters.

As Don Avison, former president of the University Presidents’ Council, recalls, “funding from the province had been stagnant for some time; access demands had increased dramatically without a corresponding increase in the resources necessary to meet those demands; our capital infrastructure was severely strained; and we were at risk of not being positioned to take adequate advantage of [research] opportunities that were emerging on the federal level.”

Avison says it is testimony to Stevenson’s “intelligence, integrity, and courage” that he has overseen the greatest period of growth across SFU’s three campuses and successfully steered almost a half-billion- dollars’ worth of capital projects to completion during this unsettled period.

Stevenson, a political scientist, wryly observes that old-fashioned fear can be a great motivator.

“It was a matter of survival,” he says. “I was very worried about SFU being down-graded to ‘feeder school’ status. We needed to change our mix of programs and expand our facilities to become more active and competitive in advanced research. We needed to effectively double our research funding in 10 years.”

To that end, Stevenson championed the creation of a new Faculty of Health Sciences that could attract new research talent – and dollars – to SFU. Recent retiree Alison Watt, who worked closely with Stevenson as secretary to the Board of Governors, counts it as his greatest achievement: “Michael could see that research funding would tilt heavily in favour of health, and he wanted the university to have access to those funds. It was a challenge to finance, but he just wouldn’t let it go.”

The fledgling faculty, established in 2004, takes a diversified approach to the study of population and public health, including the study of the social and molecular aspects of chronic and infectious diseases, mental health and addictions, social and health policy, and population health data analysis. It is now home to a number of Canada research and endowed chairs, and has attracted substantial research funding, which Stevenson expects to increase significantly as the faculty continues to mature. It’s one reason why SFU has been able to increase its research income by 126 percent over the last six years.

He is not one to give up on a good idea without a fight – no matter the odds.

Dog with a bone
The dog-with-a-bone image is a recurrent theme in any discussion of Stevenson’s legacy. He is not one to give up on a good idea without a fight – no matter the odds. And when it came to the creation of a new campus in central Surrey, the odds seemed insurmountable.

“It wasn’t an easy deal,” says Joanne Curry, executive director of the Surrey campus since its inception in 2002. The vision for a south-of-the-Fraser branch of SFU required “buy-in from students, staff, and the community after the bitter dissolution” of the Technical University of B.C., she says, and “someone else would have said, ‘This is too hard,’ and given up. But Michael had the passion to take on the risk and the fortitude to stick it out and really prioritize it.”

Built atop its original location in the bowels of a suburban shopping centre, the dramatic new Surrey campus (designed by noted Canadian architect Bing Thom) is a striking addition to the central Surrey skyline – and to the educational landscape south of the Fraser River.

“SFU was built on the principles of inclusion and access – that is our inheritance,” says Stevenson. “I argued hard for seat expansion, and the needs were greatest in Surrey – one of the fastest growing regions in the province.”

In the last decade, SFU’s enrolment has swelled by 35 percent to more than 30,000 – most of the increase in Surrey. Lee Gavel, SFU’s chief facilities officer and university architect, says the “pressure to expand is on: there are already 5,000 students at the Surrey campus and there is a move to double that capacity by 2015. But the demand is infinite.”

Curry credits Stevenson for “balancing internal and external relationships…and getting the house built. Now we can throw open the doors and people can come in and engage. We are providing an education to people who wouldn’t have necessarily seen post-secondary education as an option, but because we’re right there in their backyard, it’s more attainable psychologically.” It delights her to hear people in the community referring to “our SFU – it’s like wrapping your arms around an institution.”

“To the mat”
The creation of the Surrey campus – a bold new multi-use building in a troubled neighbourhood – turned out to be an appropriate training ground for the project that Stevenson believes is his “greatest legacy”: the relocation of the School for the Contemporary Arts to the Woodward’s redevelopment in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

According to Watt, the goal of moving the 30-year-old multidisciplinary arts school out of run-down trailers on Burnaby Mountain to shiny new city digs faced “innumerable challenges – there were just so many levels of government and community players involved.” But Stevenson “went to the mat for Woodward’s,” says Gavel. “He has scars on his back. But in the end, he made a compelling cultural and social case for our involvement in that project.”

The green-friendly redevelopment will “change the face of the Downtown Eastside,” says former SFU board chair Nancy McKinstry. Located on the site of the once-grand Woodward’s department store, the block now combines market condos, social housing, retail and educational space, and much-needed cultural venues.
With state-of-the-art facilities – theatres, screening rooms, sound studios, and galleries – the new multi-level school space will combine public events and community outreach with intensive interdisciplinary training in film, dance, music, theatre, and visual art.

For Stevenson – a former thespian and passionate collector of contemporary art – it was a “proud moment” when Robert Lepage’s acclaimed multimedia theatrical production of The Blue Dragon opened in the new Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU Woodward’s during the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad this past February. It is, he says, a made-in-Canada production that “exemplified the best of what contemporary art can be and will serve as a benchmark for the kind of quality cultural experiences we will strive to offer here.”

“A joint project”
Stevenson was joined at that inaugural performance by his elegant wife of more than twenty-five years, Jan Whitford, a formidable presence in the world of Canadian and international book publishing and an active member of many of Vancouver’s cultural boards and committees including the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival and the Vancouver Recital Society. “Jan was there at my installation, and she’s been there all along the way,” says Stevenson. “Before I accepted this position, we discussed it and we agreed it was a joint project – something we would do together. These things work better in teams.”

There is a point in every convocation address where Stevenson first invites the audience to applaud the accomplishments of the new graduates. But it is when he turns the tables and asks the graduates to thank their gathered friends and family for their continued support that goodwill really erupts.

Besides Whitford – who tops his own gratitude list – Stevenson recognizes “the many, many outstanding faculty, staff, and students who make SFU such a vibrant and exciting place.” He singles out the vice-presidents and deans, to whom he is particularly indebted, noting that “as University president, I tend to get an inordinate degree of credit for achievements that owe every bit as much to the creativity, energy, and teamwork of my closest colleagues.”

Le troisième âge
Stevenson’s mission – to grow the university’s facilities, programs, community engagement, and research funding – is essentially accomplished. He presided over the opening of UniverCity, the new residential community atop Burnaby Mountain, cut ribbons for new undergraduate residences and academic buildings, championed innovative academic programs (such as the dual degree program with China’s Zhejiang University) and faculties (such as the new Faculty of the Environment), and saw research funding more than double.

As Kevin Harding, student member of SFU’s Board and Senate observes, “Michael is a demanding optimist who has laid the groundwork for the continued success of this university. The job now is to make sure we don’t lose any of the gain, any of the momentum.”

While the next president prepares to take over the ship, Stevenson is looking forward to calmer waters and quieter harbours.

“There have been a lot of ‘leavings’ in my life,” he reflects. “South Africa; the States; Toronto. Jan and I are looking forward to digging in right here. In fact, Jan likes to joke that they’ll have to blast her out of her home atop Burnaby Mountain.

“I am excited to down tools. The beauty of retirement is that you don’t have to have plans, and if you do, you don’t have to announce them. I look forward to reading what I want, travelling when I want, visiting with our daughter and Jan’s family, and doing projects of my own choosing that require less than an average of fifteen hours every day of the week.

“The French have an expression – le troisième âge – and I intend to live it. I don’t want to miss it.”. aq

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