Queen’s University has appointed Kanonhsyonne (Janice Hill) the inaugural director of Indigenous initiatives, an office created as a recommendation of the Queen’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Task Force. Ms. Hill has served as director of Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre at Queen’s since 2010. She began her academic career as an adjunct faculty member in education and helped establish the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program, serving as academic co-director for the program in 1997-98.
Craig Toews was appointed vice-president, external, at the University of the Fraser Valley. Mr. Toews serves on numerous external committees, including the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, the Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation Board, the Mission Economic Development Committee, Abbotsford’s Development Advisory Committee, among other groups.
James Skidmore was appointed the new director of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies. He has worked at the University of Waterloo since 2000, serving a term as chair of the department of Germanic and Slavic studies. He is currently a member of Senate and co-chair of the university’s United Way Campaign.
Concordia University named Mark Villacorta its first senior lead of equity and diversity, a new position designed to ensure that inclusion is part of the university culture. Born and raised in Montreal, Mr. Villacorta has worked at the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and most recently at East Carolina University in directorship roles in the areas of intercultural and multicultural affairs.
Vancouver Island University has appointed David Paterson dean of the faculty of education. Dr. Paterson has served for 10 years as associate dean for the faculty of education at Simon Fraser University. He was also an academic coordinator in the counselling psychology master’s programs at SFU and has worked as a K-12 teacher, school counsellor and teacher educator.
Lalitha Raman-Wilms, an acclaimed clinical and research pharmacist, was named dean of the University of Manitoba’s college of pharmacy in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, effective Aug. 1. She is internationally known for her work on de-prescribing guidelines, the pharmacist’s role in flu prevention, and geriatric care. Dr. Raman-Wilms was previously associate dean of education at the University of Toronto.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University has reappointed George Melville chancellor for another three-year term, beginning Oct. 5. A long-time resident of B.C.’s Lower Mainland, he was a member of KPU’s board of governors from 2003 to 2009. He is the founding chairman and owner of Boston Pizza International Inc. and co-founded, with his business partner Jim Treliving, the Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects (originally the Boston Pizza Foundation) in 1990.
Canadian business leader and billionaire Prem Watsa has been named the first-ever chancellor of Huron University College, affiliated with Western University. Mr. Watsa is the chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holding Ltd. He emigrated from India to Canada to complete an MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University, and later became vice-president of GW Asset Management and co-founder of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel.
Ramona Lumpkin, the recent president and vice-chancellor of Mount Saint Vincent University, is among six recipients of the 2017 Governor General’s Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. Named after the ground-breaking case whose 1929 decision recognized women’s legal status as persons in Canada, the award honours outstanding contributions to gender equality in this country. As MSVU’s president, Dr. Lumpkin was the driving force behind the new Margaret Norrie McCain Centre for Teaching, Learning and Research, which places a focus on celebrating women’s accomplishments. As a feminist scholar, she took an interest in female selfhood, which became the central theme of her dissertation and informed many of her later publications. Two other academics – Micheline Dumont, professor emeritus at Université de Sherbrooke, and Elizabeth Sheehy, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa – were also among those honoured on Oct. 18.
Asima Vezina is the next president and vice-chancellor of Algoma University, effective Oct. 23. Ms. Vezina is well-known to the community of Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding area. She was raised in the region and has worked across northern Ontario throughout her career in education, including as superintendent of education with the Timmins and Algoma District School Boards. Ms. Vezina was most recently a provincial lead within the Ministry of Education’s student achievement division. She has served on Algoma’s board of directors and as vice-chair of the Council of Chairs of Ontario Universities.
Lakehead University named Denise Baxter its new vice-provost, Aboriginal initiatives, effective Oct. 30. Ms. Baxter was the principal of adult and continuing education at the Lakehead District School Board. She has worked in multiple contexts, including public school boards, the Ontario Ministry of Education and First Nations private schools. She is a PhD candidate in equity and Indigenous education at York University.
Karen Mossman has been appointed associate vice-president, research, at McMaster University. Her term was effective Sept. 1 and runs until June 20, 2022. Dr. Mossman most recently served as chair of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster, and is also a professor in pathology and molecular medicine, having joined the department in 2001.
Anna Redden was appointed dean of research and graduate studies at Acadia University, starting Sept. 1. A two-time Acadia graduate, Dr. Redden returned to campus in 2005 from an academic appointment in Australia to assume a full-time faculty position in the biology department. She is recognized for her research in the ecology of coastal/estuarine systems and marine environments. She was the director of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research as well as director of the Acadia Tidal Energy Institute.
On Oct. 1, David Farrar became the new provost and vice-president, academic, at McMaster University. Dr. Farrar joins McMaster from the University of British Columbia where he served as provost from 2007 to 2015 and as interim president in 2016. Previously, he was vice-provost, students, deputy-provost and chair of the chemistry department at the University of Toronto.
Simon Fraser University has appointed CJ Rowe director of the newly created Sexual Violence Support & Prevention Office. Dr. Rowe (whose pronouns are they/them/theirs) comes to SFU from Qmunity, a queer, trans and two-spirit resource centre based in Vancouver, where they have been the executive director since 2016. Dr. Rowe has a decade of experience as diversity advisor at the University of British Columbia and prior to that was a policy analyst with Womenspace, a women’s resource centre in Ottawa.
Douglas Hildebrand is the new director and publisher of the University of Alberta Press, effective Oct. 10. Mr. Hildebrand has held a variety of roles at the University of Toronto Press since 2000, most recently as an acquiring editor for social sciences. He holds a master of arts from Concordia University, where his primary areas of study included film, creative writing and mass communication.
Peter O’Brien has been named vice-president of the University of King’s College, effective July 1. Dr. O’Brien is an assistant professor of classics in the King’s-Dalhousie joint faculty and is a King’s-Dalhousie Carnegie Professor. A scholar of Latin literature, he is a frequent lecturer in the King’s Foundation Year Program. In his off-campus teaching, Dr. O’Brien contributes lectures and seminars to Halifax Humanities 101. He is also co-editor of Mouseion, the Journal of the Classical Association of Canada.
The University of Toronto has named Robert Wright dean of the faculty of forestry. A landscape architect, Mr. Wright is also director of the Centre for Landscape Research at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. He was previously associate dean of that faculty and the director of the Knowledge Media Institute.
Mount Allison University has named Jeff Wright executive director of development, effective Nov. 8. Mr. Wright brings 16 years of experience in fundraising and development campaigns, holding increasingly senior roles at MacEwan University, the University of Alberta, St. Thomas University, and his most recent role at the University of Calgary as senior director of development.
Tania Bubela, a researcher of health law and policy, is Simon Fraser University’s new dean of health sciences. Dr. Bubela joins SFU from the University of Alberta, where she was a professor in the school of public health and served as associate dean of research from 2014 to 2016. She has clerked for the Honourable Louise Arbour at the Supreme Court of Canada and was called to the Bar (Law Society of Alberta) in 2005.
Gilles Patry was named executive director of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, effective Oct. 1. Dr. Patry was previously president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation from 2010 to 2017. Before that, he served as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Ottawa, where he is now a professor emeritus. He holds a PhD from the University of California, Davis and worked as an environmental engineering consultant before his appointment as professor of civil engineering at École Polytechnique de Montréal and later at McMaster University. Dr. Patry is a Member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Order of Ontario and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.