UBC’s Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies is pleased to announce the re-appointment of Dr. Henry Yu to serve as Principal of St. John’s College (SJC) for a five-year term effective January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2029. This appointment follows a review of Dr. Yu’s performance as Principal to-date, and the larger SJC ecosystem.
During Dr. Yu’s period as Principal, SJC has come to be known for initiatives such as Staff Hot Lunch that help build a meaningful sense of belonging and community on campus. Dr. Yu’s commitment to fostering collaboration at UBC has also allowed SJC to serve as a crucial incubator for important academic initiatives such as the Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies Program (ACAM) in the Faculty of Arts and the UBC Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement (ACRE).
As a history professor, Dr. Yu’s research and teaching has been built around collaboration, anti-racism education and inclusion. He is a community-builder at heart, working to bring people together. SJC life and programming will continue to revolve around the communal dining that creates The World Around Our Table. The renewal of Dr. Yu as SJC Principal affirms the importance of SJC’s leadership at UBC in building community through sharing food and its longstanding commitment to Bringing People Together to Make the World Better.
UBC is fortunate to have the opportunity to renew Dr. Yu’s leadership and vision for the next five critical years of the College’s future as SJC grows to become a unique part of the new Lower Mall Precinct’s graduate student focused housing hub. This $560-million project includes 1,508 student beds and is the Provincial government’s largest capital investment for student housing in both UBC and British Columbia’s history. Dr. Yu served on the Community Advisory Committee for UBC Campus Vision 2050 (CV2050), a generational plan developed over a 2-year consultation period, and he is thrilled to be able to continue in his role as SJC Principal to help UBC implement the vision generated by CV2050 of creating better graduate student housing and community building. Within the new facility, St. John’s College will double its current capacity to house graduate student residents and serve even more UBC graduate students through expanded programming.
St. John’s College, as part of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and together with Student Housing and Community Services at UBC, is embarking on a once in a generation opportunity to create a transformative graduate student-focused community hub that will provide housing, dining, and programming. The growth of SJC will provide exciting opportunities to build upon its work with partners on-campus and off-campus to nurture supportive communities among graduate students as well as staff, faculty, and alumni at UBC.
I wish to thank Dr. Yu for his continued leadership of SJC, and I look forward to continuing to work with him in the coming months.
Dr Michael Hunt, Dean pro tem
Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies