The President of Trent University has taken on another set of obligations that mean she will now have even less time available for Trent. How much time can one spend working for Trent if one is also a trustee of Lakefiled College School and on the board of the Peterborough Regional Health Centre? (another public institution free to act in secrecy because, like Trent, it too is exempt from Freedom of Information legislation). Least we forget, Patterson's salary topped $240,350 in 2003.

Ottawa, October 28, 2004 - Bonnie Patterson, president and vice-chancellor of Trent University, was elected vice-chair and chair-elect of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada at the association’s membership meetings in Ottawa this week.

Prof. Patterson will serve a one-year term as vice-chair and chair-elect, followed by a two-year term beginning in October 2005 as chair of AUCC, the national association representing Canada’s 92 public and private not-for-profit universities and university-degree level colleges. Peter MacKinnon, president of the University of Saskatchewan, currently chairs the association.

AUCC serves as the voice of Canada’s universities across the country and represents the interests of Canadian higher education. Its mandate is to facilitate the development of public policy on higher education and to encourage cooperation among universities and governments, industry, communities, and institutions in other countries.

Prof. Patterson has been president of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, since July 1998. She previously served as president of the Council of Ontario Universities and as dean of the faculty of business at Ryerson Polytechnic University (now Ryerson University).

Joining Professors Patterson and MacKinnon on AUCC’s Board of Directors for 2004-05 are Axel Meisen, president of Memorial University of Newfoundland; Sean Riley, president of St. Francis Xavier University; Sheila Brown, president of Mount Saint Vincent University; Michel Belley, rector of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi; Heather Munroe-Blum, principal of McGill University; Robert Lacroix, rector of Université de Montréal; Richard Van Loon, president of Carleton University; Paul Davenport, president of the University of Western Ontario; David Barnard, president of the University of Regina; David Turpin, president of the University of Victoria; and Claire Morris, president and CEO of AUCC.

For more information:
Trevor Lynn
Public Affairs Officer
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
(613) 563-3961, ext. 288
E-mail: tlynn@aucc.ca