Carleen Thomas (courtesy Emily Carr University)
Carleen Thomas – a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation – has been named the next chancellor of Emily Carr University in Vancouver.
“We’re grateful to have someone with her knowledge and expertise join Emily Carr University, especially as we work to decolonize and Indigenize our campus and meaningfully engage with the host nations on whose land we work and study,” says the university's president, Gillian Siddall.
Thomas is the special projects manager for the treaty, lands and resources department at the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. She was an elected council member for the nation for more than a decade.
Thomas has worked as a teacher, sat on the Burnaby school district’s aboriginal advisory committee and served in Capilano University's senate. She currently sits on the federal Indigenous advisory and monitoring committee, which provides advice to regulators and monitors the Trans Mountain expansion project and existing pipeline.
“I’m passionate about education, as a former teacher and a life-long learner,” says Thomas. “I look forward to taking on this important role.”
Thomas will be formally installed as chancellor at a ceremony this fall and will serve a three-year term, which can then be renewed.
The chancellor, the ceremonial head of the university, sits on the board, acts as an ambassador for the institution and presides over major ceremonies.
Source: Emily Carr University