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Former Squamish mayor Patricia Heintzman on board of governors at Cap University

School has plans to come back to Squamish with 400 local, national and international students
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Former mayor Patricia Heintzman.

Former mayor Patricia Heintzman has moved from a chair in the chamber, to a chair in the university boardroom.

Heintzman was appointed to the board of governors at Capilano University, it was announced in January.

The term for the unpaid position runs from Dec. 31, 2018 to  July 31, 2020.

The 15-person board makes decisions for the school regarding its management, administration, property revenue, business, and affairs.

It is made up of the chancellor; the president; two faculty members elected by the faculty; eight members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council — including Heintzman — two elected students; and one person elected by and from the employees of the university who are not faculty members.

The first official board meeting was on Jan. 22, Heintzman said.

She told The Chief she has always had a passion for education and this position piqued her interest.

"It brings an interesting diversity because of the types of curricula they have, so I thought it was good. And they are in a growth-planning stage of their evolution. Certainly something I have been doing for the last 13 years — so, I think I bring a skill set to the board that they haven't had. I thought it was a good fit," she said.

Cap president Paul Dangerfield agreed that Heintzman brings a wealth of knowledge to the role.

"Obviously, she has that experience with municipal government, which for us is very important," he said.

"Because we are a regional university, we work in five different municipalities."

The school is going through a growth period, he added, and developing housing.

"Of course, Patty has a lot of experience working on both sides of that."

Heintzman's interest and background in policies is also a plus, he said.

Before Heintzman, the school also didn't have anyone on the board from the Sea to Sky Corridor, Dangerfield said.

The school has a mandate to serve the corridor.

"I love the fact that Quest is in Squamish, I would love to see Capilano have a presence here [again]," Heintzman said.

The university owns 20 acres in Squamish, including several acres on the oceanfront, though has not offered classes here for a few years.

That may soon change, as the plan is to offer a suite of courses again in Squamish.

"We are in the process of evaluating how we can offer sustainable programs, not just courses, in Squamish," Dangerfield said. "We need to look at a way in which we can not just provide education for local students in the Sea to Sky, but we actually have to make the programs sustainable and viable. We have to go with a model where we are able to attract students probably from around Canada and internationally."

The goal is to have 400 students at a local campus.

Housing options have to be available, he said, for a Squamish school to work.

Dangerfield said it is going to take six months to get organized and put business plans together.

"My goal would be for September of 2020, that we would start offering almost a whole suite of programming in Squamish," he said.

 

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