Announcements – February 2018

Joanne MacLean will be the new president and vice-chancellor of the University of the Fraser Valley, starting May 1. With more than 30 years of experience in higher education, Dr. MacLean has held appointments at the University of Windsor and Brock University before joining UFV in 2012. She earned two degrees in physical education at the University of New Brunswick in her hometown of Fredericton and holds a PhD from Ohio State University, where she studied human resource management in sport and recreation, and administration in higher education. As an accomplished university basketball coach, she was selected Ontario Coach of the Year three times while at the University of Windsor.

Annalise Van Ham became vice-president, finance and administration, at Mount Royal University on Jan. 1. Ms. Van Ham joined Mount Royal in 2003 as a business analyst and, in 2012, became the associate vice-president, financial services and risk management. For 13 years, she held financial and leadership roles with school boards, education councils and government in the Northwest Territories. She also worked at the Calgary Zoological Society and Shell Canada.

On July 1, Richard Manley-Tannis will become the new principal of St. Andrew’s College at the University of Saskatchewan. Mr. Manley-Tannis currently serves as Winnipeg Presbytery Minister for Evangelism, Mission and Church Development. He is in the final stages of completing a PhD with the Taos Institute and Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

Glenn Craney has been appointed deputy provost, and vice-provost of the University Planning Office, at Ryerson University, effective Jan. 15. Mr. Craney was most recently assistant deputy minister, postsecondary education, at the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development. Prior to that, Mr. Craney was the founding executive director of the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer.

The University of British Columbia has named Barbara Meens Thistle its new vice-president, human resources, effective Feb. 5. Ms. Meens Thistle was previously vice-president of central services at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. In 2016 she was voted HR Professional of the Year by the British Columbia and Yukon chapters of Chartered Professionals in Human Resources. Ms. Meens Thistle has also been named a fellow in the Canadian Board Diversity Council.

Janaka Ruwanpura was reappointed vice-provost, international, at the University of Calgary, for a second term ending June 30, 2023. Dr. Ruwanpura was previously a full professor and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Project Management Systems in the Schulich School of Engineering from 2007 to 2013. He is also the founding director of the Centre for Project Management Excellence at U of Calgary and has been director of project management since 2005.

Royal Roads University has appointed Terrie Klotz chief human resources officer, beginning April 16. She was previously associate vice-president, human resources and organizational development, at Laurentian University, and has served in numerous HR positions with Island Health. Ms. Klotz is a certified human resources leader with the Ontario Human Resources Professional Association and holds a master’s of public administration from the University of Victoria.

Louise Mandell has been reappointed chancellor at Vancouver Island University for a second term. Ms. Mandell is a partner emeritus at Mandell Pinder and was an Aboriginal rights lawyer for four decades. She received an honorary doctor of laws from Simon Fraser University in 2012, received the Georges Goyer Q.C. Memorial Award for exceptional contributions to the development of Aboriginal and treaty rights jurisprudence in 2001, and was appointed to the Queen’s Counsel in 1997.

Ijade Maxwell Rodrigues has been appointed chief of government and community relations at York University, as of Jan. 1. Ms. Maxwell Rodrigues has been at York for 18 years, most recently as chief of staff to the president and director, government relations. She is the board chair of Carea Community Health Centre in Durham Region and was a board member of the National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education.

York University has named Rebecca Pillai Riddell its new associate vice-president, research. She began her new role on Dec. 1. Dr. Pillai Riddell is a professor in the faculty of health and the founder of the OUCH Lab at York, which studies acute pain behaviors in healthy infants. She was awarded York’s Presidential Emerging Research Leadership Award in 2016 and was named the inaugural York Research Chair in Pain and Mental Health in 2015.

Dan Ryan is the University of Northern British Columbia’s new provost and vice-president, academic. He began his new duties on Sept. 1. Dr. Ryan had served in the role on an interim basis since 2015 and was previously dean of UNBC’s college of science and management. Prior to joining UNBC, he was dean of the college of science at the University of the Fraser Valley and also held professorial roles at the University of Prince Edward Island, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and Acadia University.

The University of Calgary has named Michael Hart vice-provost, Indigenous engagement, effective June 1. Dr. Hart will be an advocate for the U of Calgary’s Indigenous strategy, launched in November 2017. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledges and Social Work through the University of Manitoba, where he previously served as acting director of the master’s program in social work and Indigenous knowledges.

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology has appointed Michael Bliemel dean of the faculty of business and information technology, effective July 1. Dr. Bliemel will join UOIT from Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business, where he is a professor of management information systems. He is a member of North American SAP University Alliances Academic Board, and an executive board member of the IBM Watson Analytics Global Academics Network.

Andy Sidhu has been named the University of the Fraser Valley’s new chancellor. Mr. Sidhu founded B.C.’s first multi-language newspaper, the Punjabi Patrika, which prints 15,000 copies weekly in English and Punjabi. He has volunteered with groups including the UFV South Asian Studies Institute, the Abbotsford Foundation, Indo-Canadian Business Association, Abbotsford Community Services, and Abbotsford Hospice. Mr. Sidhu received an honorary degree from UFV in 2017 in recognition of his community service.

Denise Campbell joined Ryerson University as executive director of community safety, effective Nov. 20. With a 26-year career spanning the policing and postsecondary fields, Ms. Campbell spent the past five years at Cape Breton University as the manager of safety, security and risk. Prior to her time at CBU, she worked for 19 years at the Toronto Police Services, holding progressively senior roles from officer to sergeant to detective.

Brandon University has named Bernadette Ardelli dean of science for a five-year term that began on Jan. 1. She has served as chair of BU’s department of biology from 2014 to 2017 and has received the Senate Award for Excellence in Research and the President’s Faculty Excellence Award. Prior to joining BU in 2006, Dr. Ardelli was a senior researcher and postdoctoral fellow at McGill University’s Institute of Parasitology.

Jim Dewald, dean of the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, has been reappointed for a second term ending June 30, 2023. Dr. Dewald was first appointed dean in 2013 and has held leadership roles in the business school since 2006. Prior to joining U of Calgary, he was president and director of several property development companies. He currently sits on the board of directors of Boardwalk REIT and the West Campus Development Trust.

The University of Calgary has named Leslie Reid its new vice-provost of teaching and learning, as of Jan. 1. Dr. Reid served as associate dean, teaching and learning, in the faculty of science from 2012 to 2017. She was awarded a 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 2011 and is a member of the Taylor Institute Teaching Academy.

Molly Shoichet, a professor of engineering and chemistry at University of Toronto, has been named Ontario’s first chief scientist, a position created to advise Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on key scientific issues. An internationally respected expert in the study of polymers for drug delivery and tissue regeneration, Dr. Shoichet holds the Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering at U of T and has founded three spin-off companies from her lab research. She received the Killam Prize in Engineering in 2017 and was the North American Laureate for the 2015 L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards. Among other honours, Dr. Shoichet is the only person to have been inducted into all three of Canada’s national academies: the Canadian Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.