On Oct. 24, Mandigo was officially inaugurated as the seventh president of UFV during an installation ceremony held at the Abbotsford campus. He previously served in various leadership roles and was the acting president at UFV in 2022. Mandigo spoke to The Cascade about his transition, priorities, and plans to create more opportunities for students.
“I’m honoured that our board and our university community have the confidence in me to appoint me as their next president and vice-chancellor.”
UFV was recently designated as an Ashoka Changemaker Campus, joining seven other Canadian universities. As Mandigo begins his presidency, one of his key focuses will be working with the Ashoka Network — which consists of over 4,000 community members across more than 95 countries dedicated to creating positive, widespread change.
“I’m excited to work with the network and have our faculty, staff, and students be able to interact with [them] … Our commitment is to align what we do to serve our local community [by] supporting economic, social, [and] cultural development and how our students can be involved and engaged in those opportunities.”
Mandigo said this collaboration will create opportunities for students to work directly with the community through volunteering, practicums, innovation incubators, and co-op placements.
One example Mandigo mentioned was the “Campus to Commerce” initiative, which gives students the chance to work with local businesses. As an example of its potential, he envisioned the possibility of students presenting marketing projects to help businesses flourish while earning course credit.
“Hopefully it’s a win-win with the student gaining skills and the business gaining more exposure in terms of their product.”
Another project is the “One Health Initiative,” which Mandigo explained is being led with an Indigenous perspective on the connections between people, animals, and environmental health. The project focuses on creating applied research solutions to protect the environment and support horticulture, especially in areas affected by climate change.
“The ecosystem is very important for the valley to be successful, and we have to think about how we can help play a role in protecting that ecosystem together so that the human, animals, and environmental components can thrive in this very complex system. [I am] excited about how we can work with the community and leverage the expertise we have here to help address some of these local challenges.”
During his transition, Mandigo connected with the broader community to gather feedback and understand their expectations of the university.
“I’ve had a chance to talk to a lot of different government officials, community leaders, donors, and industry leaders. They all said the same thing about UFV — what a great university this is, how engaged it is in our community, and how proud they are of this university.”
Mandigo also aims to create more student engagement opportunities on both campuses through social clubs and activities, as well as with recreation opportunities on-campus. The university has also been in talks with the city authorities about building recreation fields near the campus, including a potential sports complex to foster social engagement for both students and the Fraser Valley community.
“I’m really excited about some of the potential here on Abbotsford campus. It has a reputation of being a commuter campus, so how can we create more of a vibrant student culture and have students stay and interact?”
Mandigo shared that the university has developed a campus plan to revitalize the Chilliwack campus, which includes bringing hands-on applied learning and work opportunities with industry professionals to support students, faculty, and staff.
For Mandigo, one of the most rewarding aspects of his role is seeing UFV alumni excel in different fields in their lives such as working in city hall or as government workers.
“[They express] how proud they are of being a UFV alumnus and how they felt that UFV was the perfect place to prepare them for the career they’re in today.”
Mandigo stated he is always interested in getting feedback from students to help better serve them. He mentioned the various ways through which students can voice their opinions and bring change to campus, including informal meetings with the Student Union Society (SUS)’ President Bilal Faisal Faheem at ‘Chai with Bilal,’ running for Senate, joining the Board of Governors, and filling out surveys about their experience as students.
Mandigo’s message to students and UFV’s community is to find something they are passionate about and keep persevering.
“You [have] to put yourself out there a little bit and try new things and if they don’t work, it’s okay, try again. Don’t give up … It can seem threatening and scary, but you’ll always learn something along the way.”
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
