UBC Reports | Vol. 49 | No. 10 | Oct.
2, 2003
UBC honours the Quarter Century Club
By Brian Lin
For Richard Prince, the secret to his lengthy academic career
is taking it one day at a time.
“It’s impossible to predict, when you begin a job,
how long you will stay,” says Prince, an art history,
visual art and theory professor who celebrates his induction
into the Quarter Century Club this year with 25 other faculty
members and librarians.
Established in 1996, the Quarter Century Club was established
to recognize faculty members and librarians who have served
at UBC full-time for 25 years. Each new member receives a
certificate of membership, a gold pin or pendant, and a club
membership card good for free admission to the Botanical Gardens
and discounted admission to the UBC Aquatic Centre.
Having conducted research and taught at UBC for a quarter
of a century, Prince says he hardly ever notices the passage
of time, except on one occasion a couple of years ago when
he walked past the grove of oaks adjacent to the SUB.
“There is now a beautiful canopy forest,” Prince
muses. “When I began working here, they were just little
saplings.”
Prince was hired as an assistant professor in 1978, but his
relationship with UBC began long before.
“I was raised not far from campus and did both my undergraduate
and graduate work here before I started teaching, so I feel
like I’ve been here all my life.”
Prince, best known for his series of sculptures based on
the northern lights, which has spanned more than two decades,
says interacting with students is by far the most rewarding
aspect of university life.
“There hasn’t been a single year where I haven’t
met students who were exceptionally brilliant and doing outstanding
work,” says Prince. “It’s a privilege to be
able to help them form the ideas and attitudes which, in the
long run, will make a better world.”
In addition to Quarter Century Club inductees, this year’s
annual dinner, held on Oct. 2 also honours 50 faculty members
and librarians who have worked at UBC for 35 years, a group
known collectively as Tempus Fugit (time flies).
For a complete list of this year’s inductees to the
Quarter Century Club and the members of Tempus Fugit, visit
www.external-affairs.ubc.ca/ceremonies/qcc.
