A look at the new president’s visions for the university
Dr. Rhonda McEwen has been appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of UofT’s Victoria University and is set to complete a five-year term, which she began on July 1 2022. She will be the 14th president in the University’s 186-year history following Dr. William Robins, who stepped down in October 2021. As senior executive officer, the President and Vice-Chancellor is responsible for the academic and administrative operation of Victoria College. In December 2021, the university issued a job posting stating that the President “will be a visionary and strategic leader with a superior professional and academic profile, … a demonstrated commitment to students, … [and] executive leadership ability.” After a careful selection process, the Board of Regents is now “thrilled to welcome an academic leader whose career exemplifies the ideals of intellectual curiosity and engaged conversation, which are so deeply embedded in the ethos of Victoria University.”
At the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), Dr. McEwen has served as vice-principal, academic, and dean, as well as the Director for the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information & Technology (ICCIT) and special adviser to the vice-president and principal on anti-racism and equity. Alexandra Gillespie, UTM vice-president and principal, announced that “we will be sad to see her depart from UTM, but we are delighted that she will lead an outstanding institution within the UofT family, and wish her tremendous success and happiness.”
Dr. McEwen’s academic research focuses on new media and human-machine communication and “has been shared in more than 47 peer reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and books.” She is Canada Research Chair in Tactile Interfaces, Communication and Cognition, the recipient of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grants, and co-author of the book Understanding Tablets from Early Childhood to Adulthood. Dr. McEwen holds a number of academic accreditations, including a BSc in Sociology and Management from the University of West Indies, an MBA in Information Technology from City, University of London, an MsC in telecommunications at the University of Colorado, and finally a PhD which she completed at UofT’s own Faculty of Information.
The new president has also led and supported several inclusion initiatives: she helped guide the Black Research Network, which launched in October 2021, and has worked with UTM’s Black Table Talks, which provides Black students and faculty with opportunities to network and make connections. An active member of Visions of Science, Dr. McEwen has also helped to provide low-income and marginalised youth with mentors to help encourage careers in STEM. Finally, Dr. McEwen has a long history of supporting women in the workplace (such as through developing parental leave policies for female researchers at UTM), and brings this experience with her to Victoria University as its first Black woman President.
University faculty are hopeful and excited; Cynthia Crysler, Chair of the Board of Regents, emphasised Dr. McEwen’s “transformative academic programs and initiatives at UofT,” her “rigorous and impactful” work on communications technology, and “her leadership in supporting equity, diversity, inclusion, and access.” John Field, who led the Presidential Search Committee, expressed that the community is “pleased with the appointment of such an outstanding and inspiring leader, and we look forward with great excitement to Dr. McEwen’s continued, inspired leadership of Victoria University in the years ahead.”
Dr. McEwen herself stated in a press release that she is “honoured to be joining the Vic community of students, faculty, and alumni where teaching and learning are driven by curiosity and conscience through outstanding academic offerings and signature learning experiences, and whose students and faculty embrace inclusive education.” She also commented on “Vic’s iconic campus,” and spent some time in May visiting the campus and meeting students.
