Media Release | Jun. 13, 2005

Former GVRD Manager Takes Helm at UBC Planning

Nancy Knight, a former corporate strategies manager at the Greater Vancouver Regional District, has been appointed Associate Vice President, Planning at the University of British Columbia.

In this newly created role, Knight will provide key leadership in all aspects of physical and community planning at UBC. She will oversee issues of land use and its regulatory framework for the emerging University Town at UBC’s Point Grey Campus and for new sites such as UBC Okanagan.

“Like all great universities, UBC is evolving, and we’re delighted that Dr. Knight brings the expertise and vision she does to our process of creating a live-work community that is breathtakingly beautiful, academically and culturally vibrant and a leader in sustainability,” says Dennis Pavlich, UBC Vice-President of External and Legal Affairs.

Pavlich says UBC was particularly impressed with Knight’s track record in community consultation, which represents a cornerstone of the strategy in the university’s physical development throughout its major campuses at UBC Vancouver, UBC Okanagan, Great Northern Way and Robson Square. While at the GVRD, Knight, who received her PhD in Community and Regional Planning from UBC in 1990, was on the team that developed and implemented the Sustainable Region Initiative, a guiding framework for all of the GVRD’s activities

University Town is an integrated community that supports UBC’s academic mission and is transforming UBC from a commuter campus to a work-live community. Eight new residential and mixed-use neighbourhoods will increase the campus residential population to approximately 21,000 residents by 2021 and will include student, faculty, and staff housing, university-related shops and services, parks, a community centre, a school and a range of public amenities.

UBC’s Vancouver campus will also add an additional 230,000 square metres of academic and research facilities, and 2,000 new student residence spaces. Meanwhile, plans for 1,000 new residence spaces and increased academic and research space are under way for UBC Okanagan.

In her 14-year career at the GVRD, Knight was a senior planner in the process to develop the Livable Region Strategic Plan, and she developed and delivered policies and programs to manage demand for waste management and drinking water services and to protect the region’s air quality. Knight has also worked in the private sector and taught at the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University.

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Contact

Scott Macrae
UBC Public Affairs
Cell: 604.764.7508
E-mail: scott.macrae@ubc.ca