Jack Boan – a former economics professor whose service to the University of Regina has spanned 44 years, 23 of them in retirement – will become the first recipient of the University of Regina Board of Governors Distinguished Service Award in 16 years.

The award has been presented only five times since it was created in 1980. It will be presented to Boan on June 6, the second day of the U of R’s three-day 2006 spring convocation at the Conexus Arts Centre.

The award is intended to be presented infrequently, to protect its integrity and ensure that it recognizes only very special service to the University. While nominations are made by members of the University community, the award itself may be given to people internal or external to the University. Additional criteria state the nominee should have made outstanding contributions over a significant period of time; and that there is a significant level of support for the nominee within the University.

Board of Governors Chair Garth Fredrickson describes Boan’s career – both before and after his retirement – as “a perfect match for the criteria of the University of Regina Board of Governors’ Distinguished Service Award.”

After serving with the RCAF and the federal public service, Boan arrived in Regina in 1962 with his wife, Jean, and three children, a daughter, Jarol, and two sons, David and Derek. At that time, the University was mostly a mud field. A committed faculty member, he was part of the group that penned “The Regina Beach Manifesto” in 1963, setting out the University’s commitment to the liberal arts and sciences, to academic freedom, and to collegial decision making. He was a popular professor of economics, and founded the Canadian Health Economics Research Association.

Retiring in 1983, Boan has continued to serve with enthusiasm as professor emeritus. His contributions since retirement include continuing to teach; helping found the University of Regina Academic and Administrative Pensioners Association and serving as secretary-treasurer since 1988; serving on examining committees for graduate students; and writing and delivering scholarly papers and lectures at national and international conferences.

Boan organized a local committee of the World University Service Committee in 1963, an organization that continues to pursue international work to this day. He also instigated establishment of the U of R Group for Refugees, was its first president, and continues to serve on the executive.

Fredrickson said he expects Boan’s award will receive widespread support beyond the University. “When you consider the extensive service that this selfless man has given outside the University, I’m sure his nomination for the award would have wide support outside the University as well – sitting on the board of the United Way, and active service with the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry, the Regina Coalition for Refugees, the Early Learning Centre, and the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel, to name a few.”

Boan is also a supporter of the arts. Exercising his belief that music has a therapeutic effect on the individual and on society, he has been a barbershopper for 30 years, sings in the Regina Philharmonic Chorus, and is a supporter of the Regina Symphony Orchestra.

Previous recipients of the award include Jim Ayre (1983), Cliff Blight (1984), Teal Lowery (posthumously, 1986), Don Irwin (1988) and Dorothy Pogany (1990).