Leadership one-on-one series

Explore a collection of interviews to learn more about UBC’s senior leaders.

UBCV & UBCO

February 24, 2025 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Judy Rogers

Judy Rogers is UBC’s 20th Chancellor, acting as the ceremonial head of the university and presiding over all major ceremonies and convocations. As Chancellor, she advocates for the university’s vision and plays a key ambassadorial role in strengthening UBC's relationships with stakeholders, alumni, and the community. A UBC alumna, Chancellor Rogers is a well-known leader in the province. She has had an extensive career in public service and governance, and has held significant leadership roles with the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, B.C. Assessment Authority, B.C. Housing Commission, and the UBC Alumni Association. Her contributions to community development have been recognized by the Order of Canada and United Nations Public Service Awards.
UBCV & UBCO

January 13, 2025 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Melanie Stewart

Dr. Melanie Stewart was appointed Vice President, External Relations, in September 2024. Her role involves leading university communications; government relations; campus and community planning; ceremonies and events, and broad-based engagement with communities.Before joining UBC, Melanie held a number of executive positions with the Province of British Columbia, the last of which being Associate Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Education and Child Care. Prior to working in the public service, Melanie taught courses and presented in political science and communications at York University, the University of Victoria and Royal Roads University. She is a passionate advocate for education and its potential to change people’s lives and advance human civilization.
UBCV & UBCO

November 4, 2024 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Benoit-Antoine Bacon

Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon joined UBC in November 2023, as the 17th President and Vice-Chancellor. Before joining UBC, he served in several academic leadership roles, including President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa and Provost and VP (Academic) at Queen’s University in Kingston and at Concordia University in his hometown of Montreal. Dr. Bacon holds a PhD in neuropsychology from the University of Montreal, after which he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. His research in the field of cognitive neuroscience focuses on the links between brain activity and perception in the visual, auditory and vestibular systems, as well as on multisensory integration. A year into his first term as President of UBC, Dr. Bacon shares how his career and lived experiences have shaped him as a leader.
UBCV

September 9, 2024 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Janice L. Stewart

Dr. Janice Stewart is UBC's Deputy Provost, providing strategic leadership and oversight for academic affairs, faculty recruitment and retention, and ongoing faculty relations matters. They also support the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver, in ensuring the realization of the university’s strategic academic aspirations.Prior to this role, Janice served as Associate Dean, Faculty, in the Faculty of Arts. Janice is a professor at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice – where they received the Killam Teaching Prize in 2009/10. Their academic interests include critical theory, gender theory, anti-racist work, and Modernist writers such as Virginia Woolf and Emily Carr. Outside of work, Janice is actively involved with CampOUT, a leadership and learning summer camp for queer, trans, Two-Spirit, questioning, and allied youth from across BC and the Yukon.
UBCV & UBCO

May 13, 2024 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Frank Laezza

Frank Laezza is UBC’s Vice-President, Finance and Operations (VPFO). He is responsible for leading the VPFO team in overseeing the stewardship of the university’s physical and financial assets, and the safety, risk and assurance functions across both campuses.He serves as a member of UBC’s executive leadership team, and is a board member with both UBC Investment Management, which manages the endowment and staff pension plan, and UBC Properties Trust which develops and manages real estate assets for the benefit of the university.Frank began his role with UBC in March 2023 after serving in leadership roles at a number of Australia’s post-secondary institutions, including Murdoch University, Technical and Further Education State Vocational College (NSW), the University of Technology in Sydney, and the University of New South Wales. He is a strong believer in connected leadership and is working to transform the VPFO into a strategic business partner to other faculties and departments. He aims to instill a culture where everyone embraces curiosity, possesses the financial knowledge to make informed choices, and takes ownership to drive positive, collective change.
UBCV & UBCO

March 25, 2024 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Bhushan Gopaluni

Dr. Bhushan Gopaluni is the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President of Faculty Planning at UBC Vancouver. He was appointed in May 2023, following one year in a pro tem capacity. In this role, he leads on enrolment planning, stewardship of academic space and capital projects, and university budget planning.Dr. Gopaluni has held several roles at the university. He joined the Faculty of Applied Science in 2006 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Prior to his current role, he was Associate Head for undergraduate programs, followed by Associate Dean of Education and Professional Development. A leading expert on data analytics for the process industry, Dr. Gopaluni is the recipient of the prestigious Killam Teaching Prize, the Applied Science Dean’s service medal and the D.G. Fisher Award in Process Control from the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering. One of his proudest achievements was launching the Applied Science Experiential Learning Hub, which is designed to give students an edge in a constantly evolving job market.
UBCO

February 20, 2024 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Marie Tarrant

Dr. Marie Tarrant is Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Development and professor in the School of Nursing at UBC Okanagan. She was appointed to the role of Dean in January 2023. Prior to this, she was Director of the School of Nursing. Before joining UBC in 2016, Dr. Tarrant served as Deputy Head and Professor at the School of Nursing in the University of Hong Kong. During her career, she has also practiced as a community and public health nurse in rural and remote areas of Canada, including the far north. Dr. Tarrant is the lead investigator in the School of Nursing Maternal and Child Health Lab and is a frequently cited UBC expert on maternal and child health issues. Her research focuses on breastfeeding and maternal and childhood vaccine hesitancy, including COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
UBCV

October 23, 2023 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Darren Dahl

Professor Darren Dahl was appointed Dean of the UBC Sauder School of Business in June 2022. In addition to Dean, he is the Innovate BC Professor in the Marketing and Behavioural Science Division, and is affiliated with the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group. When he arrived at UBC as a consumer behaviour PhD student in 1992, he could never have predicted his career trajectory which has seen him hold a number of roles including Senior Associate Dean, Faculty and Research; Senior Associate Dean, Faculty, and Director, Robert H. Lee Graduate School; and most recently, Senior Associate Dean – Special Projects (COVID Response). Professor Dahl has also received a number of awards including the Killam Research Award and a 3M Teaching Fellowship.
UBCV

September 11, 2023 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Clare Haru Crowston

Dr. Clare Haru Crowston is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. She began her five-year term on January 1, 2023. Prior to joining UBC, Dr. Crowston served as the Associate Dean for Humanities and Interdisciplinary Programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has demonstrated her commitment to academic and research excellence through innovative curriculum development, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and faculty development, as well as by promoting and advancing equity, diversity and inclusion, and Indigenous engagement. In addition to her role as Dean, Dr. Crowston is a Professor of History. Her research interests lie in the early modern history of women and gender, and of working people in early modern France.
UBCV

May 29, 2023 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Gage Averill

Dr. Gage Averill is Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver. In this role, he provides vision and leadership to the Faculties, oversees the budget, leads institutional planning, and ensures the university maintains excellence in teaching and learning. He joined UBC as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 2010, where he played an instrumental role in creating new schools, institutes, research centres, and interdisciplinary programs. Over the span of his career, he has held various leadership positions, such as Vice-Principal, Academic, and Dean for the University of Toronto, Mississauga campus; Dean of Music at the University of Toronto; and Chair of the Department of Music at New York University. Dr. Averill has won a range of teaching, research and literary awards over the years. As a renowned ethnomusicologist, his anthology of historic Haitian music also earned him a Grammy nomination. All of these accolades mark the different passions of his life. Outside of work, he enjoys biking and exploring nature.
UBCV & UBCO

April 17, 2023 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Arig al Shaibah

Arig al Shaibah is UBC’s Associate Vice-President, Equity and Inclusion. She was appointed to this role in July 2022. In her current role, Dr. al Shaibah works in partnership with units across both UBC campuses to champion institutional efforts and embed equity, diversity, inclusion into the structure, policies and processes of the university. Dr. al Shaibah has amassed over 15 years of experience working as a senior administrator in three Canadian research-intensive universities advancing accessibility, inclusion, employment equity, and human rights. Prior to joining UBC, she held various leadership roles at McMaster, Dalhousie, and Queen’s University. As a racialized Muslim Yemeni-Canadian cisgender woman of Afro-Arab heritage, Dr. al Shaibah brings a global, inclusive and empathic perspective to her efforts at the university. She is inspired by the ‘everyday hero’ and believes that, at its core, equity, diversity, and Inclusion is about changing hearts and minds.
UBCO

February 27, 2023 | Leadership one-on-one | Faculty & Staff

Rehan Sadiq

Dr. Rehan Sadiq is Provost and Vice-President, Academic, at UBC Okanagan. He was appointed to this role in August 2022. In addition to his role as Provost and Vice-President, Academic, Dr. Sadiq is a professor of Civil Engineering and a Distinguished University Scholar. He is also a co-lead of the Life Cycle Management Laboratory in the School of Engineering in the Okanagan. Previously, he served as the Executive Associate Dean of the School of Engineering and Co-director of the Digital Learning Factory Initiative at UBC Okanagan. Dr. Sadiq’s research focuses on the areas of asset management of water supply systems, environmental risk analysis and lifecycle assessment of the built environment. Outside of work, he enjoys going on road trips with his family, reading a broad range of books, and taking long walks or hikes whenever he gets a chance.