Board of Governors 2017–18

The University of Victoria's Board of Governors is one of two primary governing bodies of the university (the other being the UVic Senate). The board is responsible for the management, administration and control of the property, revenue and business affairs of the university.

The board consists of the chancellor, the president, two elected faculty members, one elected staff member, two students elected from the university’s undergraduate and graduate student bodies and eight members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. More information about the Board of Governors.

New members who have joined the board for 2017-2018 are:

Rizwan Bashir

Elected non-faculty staff member

Rizwan Bashir is the elected nonfaculty employee on the Board of Governors. Bashir joined UVic in 2007 as a programmer analyst and is currently employed as manager of production and technical support services in University Systems, managing the university’s enterprise software systems and applications. Convocation elected Bashir to the UVic Senate in 2015 where he’s acquired an extensive knowledge of the university’s vision, mission and strategies. In addition to a BSc in computer science, Rizwan holds a master’s certificate in project management, a project management professional credential and an executive leadership certificate.

Elizabeth Borycki

Elected faculty member

Elizabeth Borycki is a professor in the School of Health Information Science, director of the Social Dimensions of Health Program and director of the Health and Society Program in the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies. Borycki holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and a master’s in nursing from the University of Manitoba. She leads an internationally recognized research program in health information technology safety, human factors and patient use of health technologies. In 2017, Borycki was elected as a founding member of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics as one of the top 100 health informatics researchers in the world.

Peter Driessen

Elected faculty member

Peter Driessen, first appointed in 1985, is a UVic engineering professor with cross-appointments in music and computer science. He spent 10 years part-time at AT&T Bell Laboratories in New Jersey and five years working for technology companies in Vancouver. His academic interests include music technology, sound recording, wireless communications, radio wave propagation, signal processing and multimedia. Driessen has over 100 publications and 15 patents, and holds research funding from several granting councils. He earned a BSc and PhD from UBC and has undertaken professional development in governance via the Institute of Corporate Directors. He also serves on the UVic Senate.

David Eso

Elected graduate student member

David Eso is an editor, writer and PhD candidate in the Department of English who researches the cultural activities and contributions of Canadian poets during “the long 1970s.” His SSHRC-Bombardier-supported doctoral thesis concerns two literary clubs founded in Fredericton, New Brunswick, by poet Alden Nowlan: an International Flat Earth Society and a group seeking restoration of the Stuart monarchy. This work combines cultural studies, history, literary criticism and archival research. Eso serves on the editorial board for UVic’s Malahat Review and publishes his own academic and creative writing, as well as forgotten works from archives.

Kate Fairley

Elected undergraduate student member

Kate Fairley is an economics student completing a BSc in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Having grown up in an Indigenous community, she’s skilled at understanding and appreciating diverse cultures and backgrounds. Working for the Chilliwack School of Performing Arts, she engaged with youth from diverse cultural backgrounds. Fairley has a passion for organization, leadership and mentorship. In her hometown, she was a founding member and co-chair of the Sardis Student Forum, a group that advocated for students to the school administration. She’s worked extensively in the non-profit sector and has served as a director-at-large on the board of the UVic Students’ Society.