Music scholar Ellie Hisama has been named dean of the University of Toronto’s faculty of music. Dr. Hisama begins her new five-year appointment on July 1. She comes to U of T from Columbia University in New York, where she served most recently as chair of the academic review committee in the faculty of arts and sciences. At Columbia, she was named a Provost Leadership Fellow and was the inaugural recipient of the Provost’s Faculty Mentoring Award for her work mentoring tenure-track and mid-career faculty. Dr. Hisama’s scholarly work looks at ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and the social and political dimensions of music.
King’s University in Halifax announced its president and vice-chancellor, William Lahey, has been reappointed for a second five-year term. Since he first assumed the role in 2016, King’s has improved its financial stability, investigated its historical links to slavery, created new scholarships, created staff positions to support students and broadened it academic offerings. Along with his role at King’s, Dr. Lahey also teaches at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law and lectures annually in the King’s foundation year program.
Bernice Downey has been appointed the first associate dean, Indigenous health, in the faculty of health sciences at McMaster University. Dr. Downey, who is of Saulteaux-Ojibway heritage, is an assistant professor in the school of nursing and the department of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster, and led the faculty of health sciences’ Indigenous Health Initiative since 2017.
Tanya Poppleton began her new role as the director of campus safety at the University of Toronto Scarborough on Jan. 4. Before this, Ms. Poppleton managed Ryerson University’s campus security response team and the university’s overall security infrastructure and emergency response plans. She also managed Ryerson’s first community engagement campus safety office. Throughout her career, Ms. Poppleton has aimed to advance equity, diversity and inclusion principles by adopting training programs, including unconscious bias training, for security staff.
St. Thomas University welcomes Graydon Nicholas, New Brunswick’s former lieutenant-governor, as its new chancellor. Before becoming the first Indigenous person to serve as lieutenant-governor in New Brunswick from 2009 to 2014, Mr. Nicholas worked with the Union of New Brunswick Indians as a legal counsel and then as its chair and president, served as a jurist who argued cases at all levels and co-authored the 1999 Report of the Task Force on Aboriginal Issues for the provincial government. He has received several honorary degrees and is a member of the Order of New Brunswick and the Order of Canada.
Clare Warner has been appointed senior advisor for equity, inclusion and anti-racism for student affairs at McMaster University. In her new role, Dr. Warner will provide student affairs with direction and guidance on equity-related matters and strategic leadership in responding to incidents of racism and provide direction to McMaster’s new Black student services office and Black student services advisor. Before joining McMaster, Dr. Warner served as a senior associate with the KOJO Institute, an equity, diversity and inclusion consultancy.
On April 1, Angelique Saweczko will become the new university registrar at the University of Toronto. Ms. Saweczko is currently registrar at the University of Calgary. Before this, she served as associate vice-president, strategic enrolment, and university registrar at Thompson Rivers University; director of enrolment services at the University of Regina; and in recruitment, admissions and awards at York University.
Khaled Hassanein has been named the new dean of the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. He is currently associate dean of graduate studies and research for the business faculty, and director of the McMaster Digital Transformation Research Centre. Mr. Hassanein joined McMaster’s faculty in 2000. He begins his new position on July 1.
The University of Toronto announced that Gretchen Kerr has been appointed dean of its faculty of kinesiology and physical education for a five-year term effective July 1. Dr. Kerr is currently vice-dean, programs and innovation, at U of T’s school of graduate studies. Her research on women and youth in sport has included collaborations with organization such as the Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee and the Canadian Centre for Ethics and Sport. She also helped develop the university code of conduct to prevent and address maltreatment in sport, and chaired U of T’s expert panel on sexual violence education and prevention.
James B. Stewart has been elected the new chair of Simon Fraser University’s board of governors. Mr. Stewart was first appointed to the board in 2016. He has practiced law in Surrey, B.C., since 1980 and is a senior commercial partner at Hamilton, Duncan, Armstrong + Stewart Law Corporation. In 2010, he received the Surrey Community Leader of the Year Award and currently chairs the SFU Surrey Community Advisory Council. He also previously served as president of Make-A-Wish Canada, the Centre for Child Development, the Surrey Board of Trade and the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association.
Brock University has named Ken Chan its next vice-president, administration, effective June 1. Mr. Chan joins Brock from the Ontario government, where he serves as an assistant deputy minister. He has also held roles in the biotechnology, health and life sciences sectors, and was director of public affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and vice-president for advocacy, research and healthcare at Cystic Fibrosis Canada. Mr. Chan has also held board positions at the University of Toronto, North York General Hospital and Archbishop Tenison’s School in the U.K.
Concordia University of Edmonton announced Tim Loreman has been reappointed its president and vice-chancellor. Dr. Loreman was first installed in 2017 and will continue to hold the role until 2027. He joined the university in 2003 as a professor in the faculty of education and previously served as vice-president, academic, and provost. In his new term, Dr. Loreman will focus on inclusion, Indigenous engagement, student support and establishing a new normal post-pandemic.
Juan Du has been named dean of the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, beginning her five-year term on July 1. Before coming to U of T, Dr. Du spent 15 years in a variety of academic and leadership roles at the University of Hong Kong’s faculty of architecture. She is a former Fulbright Fellow and was a lecturer and visiting assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a senior visiting scholar at Tongji University.