Capilano University names St. John grad its sixth president

Dr. Kris Polda Bulcroft, who was raised in Lamont and is a member of the 1970 class at St. John, has been named as the sixth president of Capilano University in North Vancouver, B.C. For the past two years Dr. Bulcroft has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Franklin College in Switzerland.

She was appointed to the North Vancouver post after an international search. She follows Dr. Greg Lee who will retire after 15 years as president of Capilano. He served the school for 39 years.

The daughter of Juanita Polda and the late Gilbert Polda of Lamont, she did her college studies at Eastern Washington University and Pacific Luthern University. She received her doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota.

Her husband, Richard, is an associate professor of sociology at Western Washington University in Bellingham. Dr. Bulcroft had a 20-year career at WWU before taking the Franklin College position in 2008.

Their daughter, Anastasia, a graduate of Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania, is now a graduate student in history at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Dr. Bulcroft will begin her new position at Capilano Aug. 1. They are planning to return to the United States aboard the Queen Mary.