From: Linda Johnston, Vice-President and Principal, University of Toronto Scarborough
Date: September 30, 2024
Re: Appointment of Professor Alison Mountz as Interim Vice-Principal Research & Innovation, University of Toronto Scarborough (PDAD&C #7)
I am pleased to announce that the Agenda Committee of Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Alison Mountz as Interim Vice-Principal Research & Innovation (VPRI), UTSC, for a six-month term, effective October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
Professor Mountz brings excellent administrative leadership, experience, and research excellence to the role. Given her time in the Office of the Vice-Principal Research & Innovation (OVPRI), initially as the Associate Vice-Principal, Research & Innovation, Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships (July 2023 to April 2024) and currently as Acting VPRI (April 2024 to present), she is well prepared to assume the role of Interim VPRI, UTSC.
A Professor in the Department of Human Geography, Professor Mountz is best known internationally for her scholarship on borders and political asylum. She holds degrees from Dartmouth College (BA), Hunter College – City University of New York (MA), and the University of British Columbia (PhD). Prior to moving to UTSC, Mountz was on faculty at Syracuse University from 2003 to 2011 and Wilfrid Laurier University from 2011 to 2023 where she held a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Global Migration and directed the International Migration Research Centre. She also spent two years as visiting faculty at Harvard’s Canada Program in the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, most recently as the William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies.
Professor Mountz’s research has been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the CRC in Global Migration, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, among other funders. She is currently conducting SSHRC-funded research on the global search for asylum and the resettlement of refugees in North America. She also directs Haven: The Asylum Lab, a new lab at UTSC designed to preserve, provide access and tools to analyze migration-related data.
Professor Mountz has published several award-winning books (2020 Globe Award for advancing public understanding of geography and the2010 Meridian Award from the American Association of Geographers for outstanding scholarly work) and has two new books forthcoming in 2025. In addition, she has published over 100 articles and essays, which have been cited over 11,000 times, achieving an H-index of 47.
Please join me in congratulating Professor Mountz.
In the coming weeks my office will be in touch with further details regarding the search process for the Vice-Principal Research & Innovation, UTSC.