Dr. Geoff Payne expects business at UNBC to move along as he assumes the role of Acting President.
Daniel Weeks announced yesterday (Wednesday) that he is stepping aside from his role as president due to a medical leave of absence.
This comes as Weeks is facing a non-confidence motion that will be discussed at the next Senate meeting on February 26th.
Payne spoke briefly on the situation surrounding Weeks.
“The Senate hasn’t had the opportunity to have that discussion and if you look across Canada and even post-secondaries around the world things happen in people’s lives including the president’s, this was a thing he (Weeks) had to deal with from a health perspective.”
He expects the university to keep moving in a positive direction during this time.
“The business of the university continues to move along, we’ve got students at our campus engaged in the winter term and we’ve got all the business with our faculty and staff. The university is a very busy place so my role as the acting president will be to see that the university continues to move forward.”
Payne states he is happy to step up on short notice.
“We needed an acting president and I was asked if I would be the guy and I was very excited to step up from the Vice-President Research Portfolio and take on this role.”
The duration of Weeks’ leave is not known.