Appointment of Professor Nicholas Rule as Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean, University of Toronto Mississauga (PDAD&C #32)

From: Alexandra Gillespie, Vice-President and Principal, University of Toronto Mississauga
Cheryl Regehr, Vice-President and Provost
Date: April 19, 2023
Re: Appointment of Professor Nicholas Rule as Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean, University of Toronto Mississauga (PDAD&C #32)

We are delighted to announce that the Agenda Committee of Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Nicholas Rule as Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) for a four-year term from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2027. Thank you to the Advisory Committee for supporting this successful search. 

After earning a BA at Dartmouth College and MS and PhD at Tufts University, Professor Rule joined U of T in 2010 as a Canada Research Chair. Since then, across more than 130 highly cited peer-reviewed articles and papers, his work has shaped the field of social perception, cognition, and behaviour, earning almost $4M in research funding and supporting the professional development of more than 250 undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral research trainees.  

His research continues to earn recognition on the world stage with awards from the International Social Cognition Network, the International Academy for Intercultural Research, the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology, and elsewhere. It also makes a difference in our local communities. For example, Professor Rule has drawn on his research on racial bias to provide expert testimony in cases of police violence against unarmed Black men in Toronto.  

His focus on equity animates his University service, including his role on U of T’s Committee for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Research Innovation and as founder of a mentorship program for first-generation scholars in psychology. This program learns from his own experience as a first-generation university student and extends his longstanding commitment to meet students where they are. 

Professor Rule brings to UTM his experience as a problem-solving leader and community-oriented collaborator. Since April 2022, he has served as Provostial Advisor and Chair of the University’s Resilience Project Team, which continues to support our safe return to campus and to apply lessons learned during the pandemic emergency. His leadership in long-term planning builds on his strong record as an academic administrator, including as both Chair and Associate Chair, Undergraduate in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science (A&S). 

In A&S, Professor Rule has supported student-centered change on the Committee for International Experience, the Working Group on Undergraduate Experience, and the Mental Health Advisory Committee, among others. He practiced the same dedication to student success as the Dean’s designate for Academic Integrity and as Interim Vice-Dean, Undergraduate through an especially challenging period at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We are excited to welcome Professor Rule to UTM and to work with him closely as the campus builds on priorities of the Strategic Framework and supports our students in a new Academic Plan. We extend our sincerest thanks to Professor Amrita Danière, UTM’s Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean from 2015 to 2021, who returned to the role in 2022 on an interim basis to help guide the campus at a time of transition. Please join us in thanking Professor Danière and congratulating Professor Rule on this new appointment.