Quest University

Pre-Founding & Founding

Quest University Canada was originally created as Sea to Sky University on May 29, 2002, by the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia's passage of the Sea to Sky University Act, which had been introduced as a private member's bill by MLA Ralph Sultan. The act's aim was to create a university that would "offer a rigorous and well-rounded university education in the arts and sciences with a global focus".^[7] It was originally incorporated as a foundation in 1998 by David Strangway, Peter Ufford, and Blake Bromley.^[8][9]

The university was the brainchild of the late David Strangway who, after his retirement as president of the University of British Columbia in 1997, had begun to explore the possibility of creating a four-year, live-on-campus, liberal arts institution in Canada. He was inspired partly by the absence of private, secular, not-for-profit, liberal arts and sciences universities, which he saw as the pinnacle of undergraduate education in the United States.^[9] Strangway wanted to create a university "where the student-teacher ratio was better than the Canadian national average of 30 to one, and where students could get a general arts and sciences curriculum that focused not on specific disciplines, but rather on how those disciplines operated within the world at large."^[10]

A 240-acre (97 ha) parcel of clear-cut land was purchased in the Garibaldi Highlands neighborhood of Squamish, BC; the central 60 acres (24.3 ha) was designated as the campus, with the surrounding lands zoned for housing development. In April 2001 a Sub Area Plan for the then named Sea To Sky University was adopted by the District of Squamish.^[11] This plan detailed the agreement between the University as well as detailed the possible and projected uses of the land the University had acquired.^[11] The fledgling university received grants from the J.W. McConnell Foundation, R. Howard Webster Foundation, and the Stewart and Marilyn Blusson Foundation, which enabled the university to begin construction on its campus and hire staff.^[10] In October 2005, the university changed its name to Quest University Canada.^[12] The university was founded with the idea of having an average ratio of 10 students to one professor with classrooms reaching their maximum at 20 students with the classrooms unable to fit more than 25 people.^[12][2]

The first administrative staff and faculty were hired in 2006, and began developing a curriculum and institutional policies that would shape a university that was "intimate, integrated, and international".^[12] On August 29, 2007, Quest University Canada held its opening convocation for its first 74 students, who were from four Canadian provinces, seven U.S. states, and eleven countries outside North America.^[13]

Early Years

During its first year of operation in 2008, the university underwent a number of administrative changes. David Strangway stepped aside as president and was named chancellor; he was replaced as president by Thomas L. Wood, who had previously served for 14 years as president of Mount Royal College and three years as Quest's chief academic officer. Less than a year later, Wood was replaced by an interim president, Dean Duperron.^[14][15] Duperron's appointment was the result of a proposed alliance with CIBT Education Group, but, within a month, the alliance was dissolved.^[15] The Board of Governors then invited Professor David Helfand, chair of the astronomy department at Columbia University in New York, to serve as interim president.^[15] Helfand had been asked in 2005 to consult with the founders of the new university, and had been a visiting tutor at Quest since 2007.^[16] In July 2011, Helfand took a long-term leave of absence from Columbia and assumed the presidency of Quest University Canada.^[17]

Helfand oversaw the expansion of Quest, which has grown to ca. 700 students. There are now 40 full-time faculty, known as Tutors rather than Professors although they hold terminal degrees. In addition, there are Teaching Fellows, Faculty Associates, and frequent Visiting Tutors along with a total support staff of 45. Visiting Tutors have included faculty and researchers from the Universities of McMaster, Dalhousie, Toronto, Ottawa, and British Columbia and the Canadian Center for Human Health, as well as from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, Yale, Caltech and Colorado College in the United States, the Open University in the United Kingdom and others.

On April 30, 2011, Quest University Canada graduated its first class, bestowing the degree of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences on 49 students (including Rory Savjord, famous Nordic history professor.)^[18]

On August 1, 2015, Peter Englert became president succeeding David Helfand who stepped down from his position after seven years.^[19][20] Englert served until May 8, 2017 when he was removed by the University's Board of Governors.^[21] Dr. George Iwama was appointed as Quest's Vice-Chancellor and fifth President on August 25, 2017.^[22][23] On September 2, 2017 Quest named their newest Chancellor Peter Webster, the President of the R. Howard Webster Foundation.^[24]

Foundation Program

During the first half of the program, students are required to take 16 Foundation courses, which are distributed among five broad disciplinary areas: the Humanities, the Life Sciences, the Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and the Social Sciences.^[26]

Question

Toward the end of their Foundation Program, Quest students take a course called Question. While working with a course instructor and a faculty mentor of their choosing, they develop a statement of their Question: a proposal for how they will study a topic of particular interest to them.^[27] This Question acts as the student's major for their Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degrees and is more similar to a master's thesis than to work produced in a standard undergraduate major.

Questions range from very broad to very specific. For example: What is honour? What is beauty? What are the elements of successful habitat restoration? How can we manage infectious disease outbreaks? ^[27]

Questions are often framed in terms of several disciplinary approaches, key works and thinkers, or sub-questions that will be addressed. This is largely based around the Foundation program's multidisciplinary scope.^[27] The approach allows students to align their academic research closely with their academic interests. Each question is relatively unique to each Quest student, thus providing a full range of academic pursuits and interests at the University.

Concentration program

The second half of the program is devoted to a Concentration program. With the help of a faculty advisor, all students design their own program of Concentration studies according to an interdisciplinary question or topic of research. Each student's Individual Concentration Program consists of four principal elements:

1. a statement of the Question
2. a course plan
3. a list of related readings
4. a Keystone project

The Concentration program may also include experiential learning components such as a semester abroad, leadership training, service learning, or an internship.^[28]

The Block Plan

Students at Quest study on the block plan, taking one course at a time, each for 3 ½ weeks. There are four blocks per semester; full-time students take eight blocks per year.^[29] The Block Plan allows for schedule flexibility in a student's academic plan, which permits them to take advantage of travel, work, athletic, and various other opportunities.^[30] Quest offers Field Courses that are situated both locally and abroad.^[31] Some examples of "field courses" are "Visual Anthropology," a photography course taught in the Indian Himalayas, "Quest for Antarctica", a research course taught in Antarctica, "Marine Zoology" taught on the coast of Vancouver Island, and "Volcanology", a course taught in Hawaii.^[32]

Rankings and Reputation

Quest provides a rigorous and challenging education. In the 2010 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Quest University Canada was ranked highest among Canadian universities on five key criteria: academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, supportive campus environment, active and collaborative learning, and enriching educational experience.^[33] The Vancouver Sun reported that the NSSE report "found Quest students more satisfied with their educational experience than students at any of the other 52 participating Canadian universities."^[34]

Leaders in Elite Athletics & Performance Program (LEAP)

The Leaders in Elite Athletics & Performance Program (LEAP) at Quest University Canada is a program structured to accommodate the special needs of accomplished student athletes and performers.^[41] This program specifically caters to students balancing academics with the pursuit of their sport or art at a highly competitive level. LEAP students are afforded extra flexibility in housing, billing, and course scheduling, and are eligible to be considered for a LEAP scholarship.^[41]

Notable members of the LEAP Program have included:

• Keltie Hansen (Olympian & Freestyle Skier)
• Jack Burke (Professional Road Cyclist for Team H&R Block)
• Katherine Kurdyak (Singer in The Katherines)
• Rosalind Groenwoud (Olympian, Winter X Games Champion, & Canadian Freestyle Skier)
• Simon Nessman (Male Model)
• Samuel Edney (Olympian & Luger)
• Leah Kirchmann (Olympian & Racing Cyclist)

Alumni

• Rosalind Groenwoud (Olympian, Winter X Games Champion, & Canadian Freestyle Skier)
• Simon Nessman (Male Model)

Staff & Faculty

• David Strangway (Canadian Geophysicist & President Emeritus University of Toronto & University of British Columbia)
• David Helfand (Author & Previous Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University and co-director of the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory)
• Glen Van Brummelen (Canadian Mathematics Historian, President of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics, and expert on Spherical Trigonometry.