Tim Clarke Byrne (1907–1997; also known as T. C. Byrne) was the first President of

Athabasca University Athabasca University (AU) is a Canadian public university that primarily operates through online distance education. Founded in 1970, it is one of four comprehensive academic and research universities in Alberta, and was the first Canadian ...

. He grew up in Warspite, Alberta. He was author of the book ''Athabasca University: The Evolution of Distance Education'' and was a former Deputy Minister of Education for

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

from 1966 to 1971. As Deputy Minister of Education, he helped to prepare the

Order in Council An Order in Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom, this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' ...

to create the university. Byrne started his career as a teacher of junior high school in 1937, and in 1942 joined the

Department of Education as an Inspector of Schools. In 1957, he became Chief Superintendent. In his book, Byrne mentions that the university developed independently of

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

despite assumptions to the contrary. In 1972, Byrne was appointed by the Minister James Foster to conduct an inquiry into

Red Deer College Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP), formerly Red Deer College, is a public polytechnic institute of approximately 10,000 students in credit, non-credit and apprenticeship programming located in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. In 2021, Red Deer College was c ...

, over a dispute between the staff and the college's Board of Governors. This helped him to establish a closer working relationship with the Minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Tim Presidents of Athabasca University 1997 deaths 1907 births