The Board of Governors is the University's primary governing body. As established by the Universities Act of 1963, the Board originally consisted of eleven members: the Chancellor, President, three members elected by the Senate, and six others who were appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council. The Universities Act of 1974 increased the number of board members to fifteen (its current number). The Board now includes eight government appointees (two of whom are nominated by the Alumni Association), two elected faculty members, two elected students, 1 elected staff member, and the Chancellor and the President who serve as ex officio members.

The Board of Governors is responsible for the management, administration and control of property, revenue, business and affairs of the University. With the approval of the University Senate, the Board establishes procedures for the selection of candidates for President, deans, Librarian, Registrar, and other senior academic administrators as the Board may designate. The Board also appoints these officials as well as professors and other members of the teaching staff. The Board has the power to fix salaries and define the duties and tenure of office for its appointees, but members of the teaching staff may not be appointed, promoted or removed except upon the recommendation of the President. The Board receives from the President and analyses or adopts with or without modifications the budgets for operating and capital expenditures; fixes the fees to be paid by students; administers funds, grants, fees, endowments and other assets; and, with the approval of Senate, has the power to determine the number of students that may be accommodated at the University.

Chairs of the Board:

Gordon M. Shrum (1963-1968)
Richard E. Lester (1968-1971)
Kenneth P. Caple (1972)
Paul T. Cote (1972-1976, 1981-1982)
Ray Parkinson (1976-1981)
Fred H. Moonen (1982-1987, 1990-1994)
Donald J. Hudson (1988-1990)
Yvonne Cocke (1994-1996)
Tazeen Nathoo (1996-1997)
David Bond (1997-1998)
Jack Kowarsky (1998-1999)
Evaleen Jaager Roy (1999-2002)
Brandt C. Louie (2002-2005)

The Allan Boag Foundation is a grant giving non-profit society that was established in 1944. Its goals are to promote the principles of democratic Socialism. It sponsors educational projects, grants, and scholarships.

Allan Boag arrived in Vancouver from Scotland in 1894. Initially, he worked at his trade as a foundryman until 1918. Following an economic recession, he spent several years as a self-employed grocer and nurseryman, acquiring properties throughout Vancouver. The eventual increase in value of these properties led to the establishment of Boag’s wealth. In agreement with his views about the failings of the economic and social system which prevailed that he had formed during his less profitable years, Boag turned over all of his possessions to a trust at the time of his death in 1944. Allan Boag’s vision that a humane and equitable society could be achieved through the development of a democratic socialist society is reflected through the goals and activities of the Foundation.

The Foundation focuses on promoting the furtherance of workers’ education in the disciplines of history, economics, social and political economy and trade union organization. Through a diverse range of activities, the Foundation seeks to accomplish these directives. Annual scholarships are maintained at three universities. Grants of books, studies and special collections have been provided to university and college libraries. The Foundation has published and has assisted authors to publish. For many years the Foundation operated a labour school called Boag House and it continues to assist special programs at the Canadian Labour Congress Winter School.

Robin Blaser was born in Colorado on May 18, 1925, and raised in Idaho. He was educated at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a principal member of the group of poets that became known as the ‘Berkeley Renaissance’, together with Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan. In 1955 he moved to Boston, where he worked as a librarian at Harvard’s Widener Library. He returned to San Francisco in 1959 where he worked at the California Historical Society and San Francisco State University. He moved to Vancouver, BC in 1966 and worked for Simon Fraser University, where he taught in the English Department until his retirement as a Full Professor in 1986. He became a Canadian citizen in 1972. Blaser has influenced and mentored many writers, including Stan Persky, Brian Fawcett, Sharon Thesen, George Bowering, and Phyllis Webb, among others. He has published numerous works of poetry, many of them sections of a single long serial-poem collected in The Holy Forest (1993). He was also an essayist, librettist, and editor, most notably of The Collected Books of Jack Spicer (1975). In 1995 his achievement was celebrated with a major conference, The Recovery of the Public World, held in Vancouver and attended by many notable Canadian and American poets. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2005. In 2006 he received a special Lifetime Recognition Award from the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry. He also won the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry in 2008 for his revised and expanded edition of The Holy Forest (2008). In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Simon Fraser University. Blaser wrote and resided in Vancouver, BC until his death in 2009.

Trevor Blakemore (b. Chislehurst, d. 1953) was an English poet, essayist and lawyer; his books include Star-Dust and China Clay. He was a member of the Tomorrow Club from 1917 to 1940 and was president of Britain's oldest literary club, the Portfolio Club. Blakemore was married to Ann Driver, a broadcaster (Music and Movement) with the BBC.

bill bissett (born William Frederick Bissett, November 23, 1939) is a Canadian poet known for his anti-conventional style. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, bissett (who deliberately does not capitalize his name) attended Dalhousie University (1956) and the University of British Columbia (1963-1965) but dropped out of both universities because of his desire to live as a free agent, writer and painter unencumbered by academic constraints. He did complete course requirements for his two majors in English and Philosophy. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1958. In 1963 he started the blew ointment magazine and later launched blewointment press, which has published volumes by Cathy Ford, Maxine Gadd, Michael Coutts, Hart Broudy, Rosemary Hollingshead, Beth Jankola, Carolyn Zonailo, bpNichol, Ken West, Lionel Kearns and D. A. Levy. bissett is based in Vancouver and Toronto, Ontario, alternating between the two cities. He is known for his use of a unique orthography and incorporating visual elements in his printed poetry, and his performance of "concrete sound" poetry, sound effects, chanting, and barefoot dancing during his poetry readings. He has also had large exhibits of his paintings and made audio recordings. He was the lyricist and vocalist in the Ontario band, Luddites. His work typically ranges from the mystical to the mundane, incorporating humour, a sense of wonder and sentimentality, and political commentary.

Lisa (Hobbs) Birnie’s career as a journalist and author has spanned six decades and three continents. She is the author of nine books of nonfiction, including The Death and Life of Sue Rodriguez, and I Saw Red China, which hit the New York Times best-seller list. She has interviewed Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Woody Allen, Clare Boothe Luce, William Shatner, Joan Crawford, Burt Lancaster and Timothy Leary. In Mania’s Memory, the interwoven stories of two women, one a Jewish child in Auschwitz, the other a female Nazi guard, whose lives miraculously reconnect years later, was published in 2010.