New chair selected for Rural Development Institute as Penfold retires
By Nelson Daily Staff
As information and applied research continue to play an increasingly important role in West Kootenay society, it was imperative that Selkirk College replace George Penfold when he retired as Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development.
Terri MacDonald (PhD) has been selected as the new B.C. Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development (RIC) and the Lead Researcher of the Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute (RDI).
The RDI is funded by Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and is the result of an important eight-year partnership between CBT and Selkirk College. The RIC position is funded through an endowment established under the B.C. Leading Edge Endowment Fund.
Because of the increased demand for information and applied research, Columbia Basin Trust evolved its State of the Basin Initiative, which launched in 2008, with the first Basin-wide indicator report and website.
Simultaneously, Selkirk College’s RIC (previously held by Penfold) in collaboration with the Selkirk Geospatial Research Centre, has been a hub for data collection, research and analysis related to the regional economy since 2006.
The new RDI will include a web portal that combines and expands on these assets, providing easily accessible, up-to-date research for communities in the Columbia Basin-Boundary Region.
“I have a strong commitment to rural revitalization research and dissemination,”says MacDonald. “I’ve seen an increase in demand for information and applied research by communities. The work of the RDI fulfils a much needed resource in the Columbia Basin-Boundary Region. The RDI also represents innovation in applied research as the only college-based rural development research institute in the country.”
In addition to a PhD in Educational Studies from the University of British Columbia, MacDonald holds almost 10 years of experience working in economic development across British Columbia, primarily in the Kootenay region.
MacDonald has excelled at research, development, community engagement, facilitation, project management and funding acquisition as the Research Director for the Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership and as the owner of her own consulting business.
Information, indicators and trends for the Columbia Basin are currently available at CBT’s State of the Basin Initiative website at www.cbt.org/stateofthebasin. The work of the previous RIC can be reviewed at www.selkirk.ca/research/ric.
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