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Ep. 8 | Joanne Curry: Engaging Our Campus and Community

Release date: February 14, 2022 | Length: 33:18

Episode description

In our season finale, Steve sits down with Joanne Curry, Vice President, External Relations of Simon Fraser University. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of SFU’s Surrey campus, Joanne takes us through the transition from TechBC to SFU, her role as SFU Surrey’s first Executive Director, the early days of the Surrey campus, and the journey that lies ahead for our campus and our community. 

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Guest: Joanne Curry

Joanne Curry has made a career of advancing post-secondary education and connecting the university with business and community. Her leadership in establishing Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus in 2002 and helping to create SFU’s new vision of the engaged university has improved the University’s capacity to enhance the social and economic well-being of its communities. 

As Vice-President External Relations and member of the University's executive team, Joanne is the university’s lead on community engagement and plays a strategic role in engaging with stakeholders and raising the profile of the University. She is accountable for government relations, including First Nation governments, communications and marketing, ceremonies and events and has oversight for the Vancouver and Surrey campuses, SFU Galleries, SFU Woodward’s Cultural Unit, SFU Public Square and the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. 

Joanne is a member of several boards and committees including Invest Vancouver, the Downtown Surrey BIA, and the Burnaby Board of Trade. She coordinates the BC Collaborative for Social Infrastructure, a group of four institutions working together in social procurement, access to libraries, Indigenous social innovation, and food systems. Joanne is activity engaged in the University Social Responsibility Network and participates on the SFU steering committee leading the Canadian Carnegie Elective Classification Pilot.  

Joanne holds a Doctorate of Business, Bath University, UK; a Masters of Business Administration from SFU; and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) with Distinction from the University of Manitoba.  She was awarded an honorary degree from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Her area of research and passion is on the role of a university in regional economic development and university-city relationships.