TRU President and Vice-Chancellor Roger Barnsley received an honorary degree from Saint John’s University in Bangkok, Thailand January 29th.

The university conferred its Doctor of Education, honoris causa upon Dr. Barnsley for his outstanding knowledge, leadership and expertise in the field of education.

Dr. Barnsley has had a long and distinguished career in public education. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Victoria (1965), Dr. Barnsley completed his Masters (1968) and PhD (1971) degrees at McGill University. From 1973-80 he was Associate Professor and Chair in the Psychology Department at the University of Lethbridge, when he took a position as Associate Superintendent of Schools for School District #51 in Lethbridge, Alberta, a position which he held until 1987.

Dr. Barnsley moved back into post-secondary education as Dean of Education and professor at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a post he held until 1992, when he was hired as professor and Vice-President (Academic) at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. In 1998, he left St. Thomas to assume the presidency of the University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops, BC.

As President of UCC, Dr. Barnsley led the process to have the university college declared a full university, an exercise which came to fruition April 1st, 2005, when UCC became Thompson Rivers University. The title Vice-Chancellor was added to Dr. Barnsley’s title at that time.

This is the first honorary degree Dr. Barnsley has received. It is noteworthy that Dr. Barnsley initiated honorary degrees at TRU during his tenure.

For more information, please contact Roger Barnsley at 250-828-5001 or by email.