Garnet Garven honoured with Distinguished Service Award

Posted: December 12, 2016 6:00 a.m.

Garnet Garven was a long-serving dean in business administration. Photo courtesy of Garnet Garven

The University of Regina’s Board of Governors has honoured Garnet Garven by presenting him with the University’s Distinguished Service Award. He is the 15th recipient of this award.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes individuals who have provided outstanding service to the University, served the community and significantly enhanced the development and operations of one or more of the University’s areas of endeavour. The nomination must also be strongly supported within the University community.

“Mr. Garven’s longstanding commitment to our University and the larger community embodies our University’s motto – ‘As One Who Serves’ – and makes him a fitting recipient of this award,” said University of Regina’s Board of Governors Chair Daniel Kwochka. “His involvement with the University spans more than four decades in various roles including as a member of senate, alumni association, student, professor and dean. Mr. Garven remains active today as a guest lecturer in the Executive MBA program.”

Having been appointed to three five-year terms, Garven was one of the University’s longest-serving deans. He led the faculty through a period of remarkable growth that saw unprecedented enrolment increases and expansion in the areas of research, program innovation and internationalization. Among the most visible achievements during Garven’s tenure as dean were the creation of the Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business, the establishment of the Paul J. Hill School of Business and the partnership with the Richard Ivey School of Business.  

In 2007, Garven took a leave of absence from the University to serve as deputy minister to the Premier, Cabinet Secretary and head of the Saskatchewan Public Service. Subsequently he was appointed to Canada’s Public Policy Forum as its first Senior Fellow and head of the Western Canadian Office. He received an Honorary CMA in 2010 from the Society of Management Accountants of Saskatchewan for meritorious service to management accounting education. More recently, he was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for leadership in Business Education and Public Policy.

Garven was appointed dean of business emeritus in 2014 where he guest teaches in the Executive MBA program and does management research and case writing at the University of Regina.

Today, most of Garven’s energy is focused on his service to a variety of boards: PSP Investments, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the Accounting Standards Board of Canada.

Since the awards began in 1983, only 14 other members of the University community have been recognized for their service. They include: Jim Ayre [1983], Cliff Blight [1984], D. T. Lowery [posthumously in 1986], Don Irwin [1988],  Dorothy Pogany [1990], Jack Boan [2006], William J. Howard [2007], R. James Tomkins [2008], Donald Lee [2009], Mo Bundon [2010], Andy Glavacevic [posthumously in 2012], Harvey Mazinke and Michael Tymchak [2013] and George Maslany [2014].