When the BCRIC's were created in BC, one of the first to reach their matching funds was the BCRIC in Rural Economic Development at Selkirk College. I had the good fortune to get to know and work with George Penfold, the original BCRIC. I benefited from his connections, his experience and his way of questioning rural development in the province. I am lucky to continue this working relationship with him now that he is on the island.
My good fortune continues as I have been getting to know Dr. Terri MacDonald, the new BCRIC at Selkirk. We had a good meeting together at the National Rural Policy Summit and are already brainstorming some potential collaboration (see above meeting photo!). First one is linking on a conference in BC next year to address a core issue limited economic development in many rural areas of the province - the inability to attract and retain young adults into rural areas. We are planning to put in a SSHRC proposal to host a conference, likely in Golden, to bring together knowledge on this topic. Watch for more information and if it sounds like something you are keen to be involved in, let me know as we are currently inviting partners. We also talked about having a series of research projects in her region that our Graduate students can be a part of. She was so impressed with Marc Sorrie, one of my current MA students that she said to send her some like him! We also brainstormed projects and I shared with her one of my ideas that I floated around a bit last year - to offer the World's first Graduate degree in Amenity Based Rural Development out of the Kootenay region (which is a ripe laboratory for the model due to its population fluctuations and the natural and cultural amenities).
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