change, including the difficult decisions required to secure its long-term sustainability and impact, while bringing the vision, adaptability, and judgment to lead with confidence.
Reporting to the President and serving as the University's chief academic officer and a member of the executive leadership team, the Provost helps guide academic priorities, informs institutional decision-making, and supports the University's long-term success.
The portfolio offers a unique opportunity to influence the full breadth of the University's mission, with key areas of focus including enhancing the student experience, advancing academic excellence, supporting the conditions that enable research and innovation to thrive, fostering an engaged and inclusive university community, and ensuring the alignment, capacity, and stewardship required to achieve the University's ambitions.
This is an opportunity to help shape the next chapter of a university with a strong foundation, a clear sense of purpose, and a growing national and global profile. The next Provost will join a community committed to excellence and will play a defining role in positioning the University of Guelph for continued success and impact in the years ahead.
The Successful Candidate
The successful candidate will be an accomplished scholar with a distinguished record in academic leadership, teaching, and research, and experience leading high-performing teams within a complex university environment. They will be a strategic leader with strong self and situational awareness and the judgment, adaptability, credibility, and integrity to navigate complexity, set priorities, and build alignment across diverse constituencies while remaining grounded in the values of higher education and collegial governance.
They bring a compelling, forward-looking perspective on the future of higher education, including how artificial intelligence, changing learner expectations, and new approaches to teaching, learning, and academic integrity are reshaping universities and the student experience.
The ideal candidate will bring an academic and enterprise mindset, pairing a deep commitment to academic values with a clear understanding of how universities are funded and resourced. They will have demonstrated experience making and implementing difficult academic prioritization decisions, including the allocation and reallocation of resources across programs and units in alignment with institutional priorities. The University is seeking not careful oversight of existing structures alone but a bold and innovative leader who can design new financial and incentive models that secure its long-term sustainability while preserving its comprehensive, multidisciplinary character. Comfortable navigating competing priorities, they will communicate the trade-offs involved in balancing academic excellence, the student experience, and financial sustainability with clarity and candor.
The successful candidate will also demonstrate a strong commitment to Indigenization, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and will contribute to a culture in which all members of the University community feel respected, supported, and empowered to succeed.
An effective communicator and relationship builder, the Provost will work successfully with the President and fellow vice-presidents, faculty, staff, students, academic leaders, Senate, the Board of Governors, alumni, governments, Indigenous communities, and external partners. They will be an inclusive and empowering leader who values diverse perspectives, brings people together around shared goals, and builds trust through openness, transparency, and authentic engagement. At the same time, they will pair genuine consultation with decisiveness, ensuring that complex decisions are both well made and effectively implemented, and they will hold the community's confidence even when decisions are difficult or not universally supported.
To learn more about this exciting opportunity, please contact Collin Ritch (critch@boyden.com) and Kate Ralston (kralston@boyden.com) of Boyden Executive Search. To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume directly at: boyden.thriveapp.ly/job/3326
