As planned in 1961, the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) opened in May of 1964 on 159 acres at Willingdon Avenue and Canada Way in Burnaby. That same year the Staff Society was formed. The story of how that society became a certified trade union in 1974, known as the Faculty and Staff Association, is the subject for Catherine J. Magee's history "We Were Well Received", a 217-page, coil-bound, self-published work. Born in New Westminster in 1953, Magee was raised there and worked for the BCIT Faculty and Staff Association from 1980 onwards.

[BCBW 2004]