Neil Snider

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R. Neil Snider is the former longest-serving Canadian university president, serving as the president of Trinity Western University (TWU) from 1974 until his recent retirement in 2006. With education degrees from the University of Manitoba and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, Snider has committed his life to the mission of developing Christian leaders.

In 2002 Snider was presented with the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (also called the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award).

Snider enabled TWU to take a leadership position in higher education. He has led the institution from its original status as a junior college to its current position as a degree-granting university recognized by the provincial government and accepted into membership by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

As Canada's largest privately funded, yet public, Christian university, Trinity Western's commitment to quality education began in the 1950s as the response of a small group of visionaries to the need for a distinctive university-a university that would not merely educate people but develop leaders with integrity, ethical values, and a broad perspective of knowledge.

Snider is a member of the AUCC and the Council of Western Canadian University Presidents, as well as a board member of several charitable organizations.

He is a prolific speaker, and enjoys tennis and racquetball. He lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

[edit] 2006 controversy

Snider has received public media attention because of a controversy surrounding "the way that a harassment complaint against President Neil Snider [Canada's longest serving University President] was handled last fall."[1] [2]