A year ago, Martha Piper, PhD'79, was minding her own business, leading a busy life as the vice-president of research and external affairs at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Then the headhunters came calling and made sure her life would never be the same again. After a demanding selection process in which she beat out 45 candidates from across North America, Piper, neo-natal scholar, McGill graduate, fundraising whiz and Georgia O'Keeffe aficionado, was named the 11th president of the University of British Columbia--and the first woman in its 82-year history. It's a big job: UBC iss the country's third largest university, with 30,000 students and 2,000 faculty, and a total annual budget of $800 million.

When Piper began the job this August, she took the helm of a headstrong university whose morale has been dealt some hefty blows in recent years. There have been conflicts over campus housing developments (local residents were angered when they were not consulted about construction), debates over the best approach to fundraising (faculties resented having to seek administrative approval for their fundraising), and charges that the university had become stuffy, monolithic and out of touch. Perhaps the ugliest incident was an explosive battle in the political science department, prompted when a group of students alleged the department was rampant with sexism and racism. A report on the incident commissioned by the administration created just as much of a stir: labour lawyer Joan McEwen's $250,000 report elicited national howls of outrage, and UBC's Dean of Arts Patricia Marchak penned a book about the case, Racism, Sexism, and the University: the Political Science Affair at the University of British Columbia (McGill-Queens, 1996), condemning McEwen's report and its acceptance by university president David Strangway. Even the newspaper ad soliciting candidates for the presidential job Piper ultimately won caused a minor ideological flap. The ads read that UBC "especially" welcomed minorities such as aboriginals and women to apply. That sent some groups into a tizzy. UBC political science professor Philip Resnick, BA'65, MA'69, declared it had become "open season" on white males around the campus (Resnick says the UBC ad policy has since been revised to most everyone's satisfaction).

Into the cauldron of UBC walks Piper, a vibrant, energetic 51-year-old from the small Midwest American town of Lorain, Ohio, with a background in physical therapy and early child development. She's described as likeable, strong on people skills, a consensus builder with a softer touch. But are those traits sufficient to rein in this wild, woolly, at times polarized university and steer it into the next century?

A Shot In the Arm

You'd better believe it, say friends, colleagues and those responsible for choosing her as the university's newest president. They see her as the shot in the arm that UBC needs, and a sharp contrast to her predecessor, Strangway, who was given kudos for effective fundraising and boosting the standards of the university, but was also viewed as aloof and not inclined to consultation. Some say he neglected relations with the university community. "The students' society was lucky to meet with him," says Desmond Rodenbour, policy analyst with UBC's Alma Mater Society. That should change with Piper, who already plans to hold regular breakfast meetings with students to hear their ideas. "She's got a more open attitude," says Rodenbour. "And that's refreshing." Piper points out, however, that despite some recent controversies, Strangway's shoes will be tough to fill. "He's done great things for the university."

As for faculty, one of the most visible critics in the UBC poli-sci incident, Philip Resnick, feels the university has become too faceless--a "multiversity," he calls it. "It needs to become more humanŠ.The president's got to pay attention to the needs of the staff, students and faculty." The lack of attention paid to those groups over the years has caused some antagonism on campus towards the administration. Piper acknowledges the need to focus on the campus community, "to bring back value to the academic community, to reaffirm the importance of academia, of intellect." But the external can't be overlooked either, she says. "It can't be just about intellectual inquiry. People who think that are detached from reality."

Piper is expected to tackle some tough issues at UBC and to lead with the touch she's displayed at the University of Alberta. "She helped take the University of Alberta through some difficult times of funding reductions," says Board of Governors chair Shirley Chan, one of the 19 members on the presidential search committee. That meant making some tough calls like program cuts. "She was able to sustain high morale in spite of that." It's an ability that has people at UBC enthusiastic about the new president. "She just blows your socks off," says Robert Blake, the UBC faculty association president and another member of the search committee. "I felt sorry for anyone who had to come before her in the application process."

Not a Gender Issue

Over breakfast in a Vancouver hotel--her modest serving of poached eggs and grain-studded toast explaining her wandlike frame--Piper admits she was taken by surprise when the Toronto executive search firm Janet Wright and Associates Inc. approached her for the president's position. She was very content with her duties at the University of Alberta, but then considered the implications of the UBC job. "It was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I felt that this was the right time, and the right institution." Finally, she decided, "I'm ready." And so did the selection committee, which unanimously recommended her.

But what about the gender question those ads raised? Piper plainly dismisses the issue of gender or the possibility that a political correctness requirement was a factor in her selection. "I'm going to be assessed on my performance, not my gender," she replies. Being chosen to direct Canada's third largest university is a crowning moment for a woman whose own mother saw her leadership skills early on. "Mom said I was directing the kids in kindergarten in song, but I never saw myself in that way."

Piper received a Bachelor of Science degree in physical therapy from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in child development from the University of Connecticut. In 1973 she moved to McGill when her husband, William Piper, was recruited to McGill's department of psychology. She worked for a time at the Hôpital Sainte-Justine as a physiotherapist and considered becoming an epidemiologist. Then she decided to tackle her PhD at McGill. She'd been intrigued for years about how to detect mental and physical disabilities in children at an early age so they could be treated sooner. In 1979 she received her degree in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill. She was named director of McGill's school of physical and occupational therapy in the same year and served there for 6 years. Then in 1985, her husband was offered a position in the psychiatry department at the University of Alberta, and it was time to leave Montreal. But the move wasn't driven solely by him. Piper herself became dean of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the university. She says that she and her husband have never made a career decision that has not been right for the two of them and for their daughters, aged 21 and 25. Family has come first, without question.

Her job as dean included significantly more responsibilities. "It was a major transition," recalls friend and colleague Sharon Brintnell, who was the chair of occupational therapy under Piper at the University of Alberta. Brintnell was struck by the way Piper mobilized the troops, charging them up and actually making them like their jobs. "We were all workaholics and enjoyed coming to work every day." Piper would eventually be promoted again, to vice-president of research, with the portfolio later expanded to include external affairs.

Against the Grain

Piper realizes funding will be another major issue for her at UBC, but if there's anything she's experienced in, it's that. At the University of Alberta she was partly responsible for the university's fundraising campaign, which has raised $78 million so far, with a target of $144.65 million. And she played a key role in their "Research Makes Sense" campaign, a promotional crusade to build awareness of research at the university, showing her savvy by using a little pop culture--Tina Turner's song, "Simply the Best"--to make the campaign accessible and successful. External research funding increased by 25 per cent under her direction.

Georgia O'Keeffe is another popular artist whose work Piper embraces, says Sharon Brintnell. "She's a great admirer of O'Keeffe: she has all her bios, her artwork. O'Keeffe was a woman of strength who, in her time, went against the grain and didn't pay attention to the norms of the day." Does Piper feel that's what she's doing? Yes, as much as she'd like to play down her gender, says Brintnell. "When you look at the higher levels of academic administration in the U.S. and Canada, you don't have many women, especially from the rehab professions." Piper is now one of 14 women in the top position at Canadian universities, joining a list that includes Elizabeth Parr-Johnston at the University of New Brunswick, Lorna Marsden at York, and Paule Leduc at Université du Québec à Montréal.

As she begins the daunting task of running UBC, Piper has a very clear idea of where she wants it to go. "It's just starting to find its pace and it's going to fly. It's young enough not to be burdened by tradition, but old enough to be coming of age. UBC," she says confidently, "is going to be a great university."

Ann Gibbon is a reporter withthe Report on Business section of the Globe and Mail in Vancouver.