Professor
Bill Flanagan
Chair
Professor
Bill Flanagan
Chair
Bill Flanagan became the 14th president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta in July 2020. Born and raised in Alberta, he has been recognized for his transformative and entrepreneurial leadership. President Flanagan launched the largest and most ambitious program of academic and administrative restructuring ever undertaken by a Canadian university. With a vision for the University of Alberta for Tomorrow (UAT), he set the goal of turning the university’s acute financial pressures into a strategic transformation, repositioning the U of A for long-term success.
With the creation of a new university-wide operating model, UAT dramatically enhanced the efficiency of administrative services by establishing shared service centres, introducing new technologies and reducing administrative costs by over $100 million annually. The establishment of three new colleges results in a more dynamic, agile and aligned academic structure.
As reflected in the university’s new strategic plan, Shape 2023-2033, the University of Alberta is now poised for ambitious enrolment growth and even greater research impact.
Prior to his appointment at the U of A, President Flanagan served as dean of law from 2005 to 2019 at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Through his transformative vision during his tenure, he led major initiatives elevating the delivery of education in law: the establishment of the faculty’s PhD program; the founding of the Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace; a major expansion of the business law program; an online undergraduate Certificate in Law Program; an online Graduate Diploma in Legal Services Management, and a new online Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law.
Professor
Peter Lennie
Executive Director
Professor
Peter Lennie
Executive Director
Peter Lennie is the Jay Last Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at University of Rochester. He has been Executive Director of WUN since August 2018.
Lennie is a neuroscientist whose work has focused principally on early stage mechanisms of vision, and the encoding and transmission of information from the eye’s retina to the primary visual cortex. His published work has contributed particularly to our understanding of how information about the color of objects is represented in the brain.
He was born and educated in the UK. After obtaining his PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Cambridge, he held a Harkness Fellowship at Northwestern University in Evanston, followed by a Research Fellowship at King’s College, Cambridge, before becoming Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex. In 1982 he moved to University of Rochester to join the Center for Visual Science. During his time in Rochester he became founding chair of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. From 1998 to 2006 he was at New York University as Professor of Neural Science and Dean for Science. In 2006 he returned to University of Rochester as Senior Vice President and Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Engineering. From 2012 to 2016 he also served as the university’s Provost. During his time as Provost he drove a major expansion of the university’s international engagement.
His professional service includes appointments on editorial boards of several scientific journals, service on boards of professional societies, and on National Institutes of Health review panels, including from 1985-1988 as chairman of Visual Sciences B Study Section. He served as chairman of the National Research Council’s Committee on Vision from 1991-95, and on its Board on Behavioral, Cognitive and Sensory Sciences from 1997 to 2004. He was chairman of the National Research Council Committee on Disability Determination for Individuals with Visual Impairment. From 1992 to 2002 he held a MERIT award from the National Eye Institute. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America.
