Neil Armstrong, Gleaner Writer

Raymond Chang, new chancellor of Ryerson University.

G. Raymond Chang's office sits on the 19th floor of a building on Queen Street East in Toronto, Canada facing north, with a clear view of Ryerson University where he has been a member of the board of governors since 2001.

Yesterday, he was named the university's new chancellor, and this appointment will shift his focus a bit from financial concerns to academic programmes.

In 2003, the Continuing Education Division was renamed the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, and this week, a new home for the school, Heaslip House, was opened at 297 Victoria Street.

The school is Canada's leading provider of university-based adult education with close to 65,000 students, more than 1,200 courses, workshops and seminars, 200-plus distance education courses and 76 career-related certificate program-mes."Sometime ago, I decided that I would focus on two areas: education and health. Sometimes they intertwine," said Chang, sitting in his office at CI Financial where he is the chairman and a director.

What attracted him to Ryerson University were the words 'applied education', which is unique to the smallest of the three universities in Toronto. Chang describes the programmes as phenomenal, very practical and relevant. "Students coming out of Ryerson are better equipped," he argued.

ContributionS to Heaslip House

Acknowledging the contribu-tions of the late William Heaslip and wife, Nona MacDonald Heaslip, to Ryerson, Chang said that he was able to help push the financial requirements over the threshold for the establishment of Heaslip House. Having attended university in the evenings for three years, he said that Heaslip House will provide a focal point for evening-course students and instructors.

Chang, the champion of educa-tion, is one of Canada's most highly respected and successful business leaders. Originally from Jamaica, he acquired part owner-ship of CI Fund Management (now CI Financial) when it was a small investment firm and, with his partners, grew CI to become Canada's third-largest investment fund company and second-largest publicly traded fund company.

He is a passionate advocate for life-long learning and was presented the Award of Recog-nition from the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education for his outstanding contributions to advancing educational opport-unities for adult learner.