| Five new appointments to the Board VANCOUVER - At its meeting held in September in Vancouver, the Board of Governors of The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) acclaimed Dr. H. Ian Macdonald, O.C. as Chairman for a special third term, running from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2002, and unanimously approved a further extension of the term of office for its President and Chief Executive Officer, Dato' Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan. Starting as a professor of economics Dr. Macdonald has had a distinguished career in academia and government. He served the Canadian Province of Ontario as Deputy Minister of Treasury, Economics, and Intergovernmental Affairs and, later, as President of York University, a position he held for more than ten years. He was then Director of York International for another ten years. He is a director of several Canadian and international companies, associations, and institutions, including a current appointment as Chairman of the Board of McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, a leading educational and trade book publisher. He has chaired the COL Board of Governors since January 1, 1994. Professor Dhanarajan has an international reputation as an expert on and advocate for open and distance learning and the application of appropriate educational technologies. Prior to joining COL in September 1995, he helped to develop distance education offerings at the University of Science in Malaysia and other South Asian institutions. In 1989, he joined the newly established Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (now the Open University of Hong Kong) as Associate Director (Academic), and served as Director from 1991 to 1995. The COL Board also welcomed five new members. The Pacific Region will now be represented by The Honourable Fiamé Naomi Mata'afa, Minister of Education, Samoa, and the African Region by Dr. Ihron L. Resburg, Deputy Director General, General and Further Education and Training in the Department of Education, South Africa. The other new appointments represent three of the six governments designated as COL's "major donors": - Ms. Shona Butterfield, Chief Executive of The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, for the Government of New Zealand.
- Ms. Robin Ciceri, Assistant Deputy Minister, Post Secondary Education Division, British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology, for the Government of the Province of British Columbia (Canada).
- Dr. Glenn Crombie, former President of Cambrian College, Ontario (retired), for the Government of Canada.
The Board extended its sincere appreciation to retiring Board members, The Honourable Iona Campagnolo (Canada), Mr. Shell Harvey (British Columbia), The Honourable Dr. S. Langi Kavaliku (Pacific Region, Tonga), and Mr. John Samuel (African Region, South Africa) each for their several years of dedicated service to COL and the Commonwealth. Mr. Samuel, who is now with theW.K. Kellogg Foundation, has agreed to continue in the capacity of an Adviser to the COL Board. The Commonwealth of Learning was created by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1988. With headquarters based in Vancouver, the international organisation serves the 54-member Commonwealth with a mandate to widen opportunities for learning by promoting the development and sharing of distance education resources and communications technologies. A complete list of current COL Board members is available on COL's web site. |