A former University of Northern B.C. vice president has been handed one of Canada's highest civilian honours.
Dr. Deborah Poff was named to the Order of Canada Thursday, recognized "for her contributions to the success of academic institutions as an administrator, and for her efforts to create educational opportunities for Indigenous peoples."
Poff is one of 85 selected as members and one of 113 appointments, which also include one companion and 27 officers.
Poff served as UNBC's vice president for 10 years from 1994 to 2004 before she became its 16th president at Manitoba's Brandon University and the first female to hold the position.
She remained in that role for five years and is now based in Ottawa.
Poff ran for the NDP in the former Prince George North riding against former Liberal cabinet minister Pat Bell in the 2005 provincial election. She worked at UNBC for 15 years and was the founding dean of the institution's faculty of arts and sciences.
She joins three other Prince George recipient to achieve the distinction, two of which who also worked at UNBC. Former UNBC president Charles Jago earned member status in 2005. In 2011 Poff's husband Alex Michalos became the first in the couple to obtain the Order. Michalos worked as a professor and chancellor at UNBC and moved away from Prince George, his 15-year home to follow Poff to Manitoba. Michalos was honoured for "his contributions to the social sciences, notably in research that has helped to measure quality-of-life in Canada and abroad." He and Poff met at the University of Guelph more than 30 years ago.
Conservationist Tommy Tomkins became the first Prince George resident to be named to the Order of Canada in 1974, achieving member status.
Over the last 49 years, more than 6,500 people have been invested into the Order, the release said.
