Dr. Moura Quayle

Deputy Minister of Advanced Education

Moura Quayle was appointed Deputy Minister of Advanced Education on June 16, 2005. Previous appointments include Dean, UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems; Associate Vice President, UBC Okanagan Programs; and Professor and Director, UBC Landscape Architecture.

Throughout Moura’s professional and academic career, her transformation leadership has been demonstrated in strategic projects undertaken at the institutional, organizational, legislative, and municipal level. In 1992, as chair of Vancouver’s Urban Landscape Task Force, Moura established a city-wide process of consultation on urban landscape that resulted in the implementation of the city’s Greenways program. 

In 1997, Moura was appointed Dean of Agricultural Sciences at UBC, where she devoted the next eight years (1997-2005) working to restructure the Faculty, reconfiguring all faculty systems, developing three new undergraduate curricula based on consultation with stakeholders, and reconnecting with federal and provincial government as key collaborators in new research centres. The result was a complete rebranding to the newly established Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

During this time (March 2004 to June 2005), Moura also held the position of Associate Vice President, UBC Okanagan Programs, where she was responsible for overseeing the development of the academic plan and blueprint for UBC Okanagan.

Moura is the author of numerous academic, technical and professional reports ranging from design education to community and public landscapes. She has lectured nationally and internationally, and has been frequently called upon in an advisory capacity at the local, provincial, national and international level.

Moura has won awards for her research (1993 American and Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Merit Award for Greenways. Public Ways.); for excellence in teaching; and for professional practice design and service. In 1993 she was awarded the YWCA Women of Distinction award for communication and public affairs. She holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Landscape Architecture, and is a graduate from France’s INSEAD Advanced Management Program.

In 2004, Moura received a Doctor of Science (Honoris causa) from the University of Guelph in recognition of her outstanding academic leadership, contributions to the professional community of landscape architecture and her work on agricultural issues in contemporary society.