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.
As soon as he was appointed, 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 an entirely 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.
With the establishment of three new colleges — the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, the College of Natural and Applied Science, and the College of Health Sciences — the university grouped 13 existing faculties into three discipline-aligned colleges to elevate interdisciplinary teaching and research with global impacts. With a more dynamic, agile and aligned academic structure, the university is now positioned to be an even stronger driver of economic growth, innovation and creativity in Alberta and beyond.
With UAT, a significantly higher proportion of the university’s resources goes directly into the university’s core mission of teaching and research, enabling the university to enhance the student experience and seize international research opportunities that address the world’s most significant challenges more quickly and collaboratively.
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.
Amid these changes, the university has continued to advance in international rankings, recently placing fourth in Canada and 91st in the world in the Shanghai Ranking— its best showing ever. The University of Alberta ranked seventh globally in the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, which assesses universities’ impact in relation to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
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.
President Flanagan currently serves as a member of the Universities Canada Research Committee. From 2011 to 2014, he was president of the Council of Canadian Law Deans.
In addition to his academic leadership roles, President Flanagan has an extensive record of service and engagement in the broader community. He is currently a member of the board of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and formerly served as board chair of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, the Canada AIDS Russia Project and the AIDS Committee of Toronto. In recognition of his service, he was named to the Honour Roll of the Ontario AIDS Network in 2011.
President Flanagan holds a BA (English and Philosophy) from Carleton University, a JD from the University of Toronto, a DEA in International Economic Law from Université Paris I-Sorbonne, and an LLM from Columbia University. He joined the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University in 1991. In 2001, he founded the faculty’s International Law Program at the Queen’s University Bader International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle in the U.K. His scholarly work spans property law, corporate law and international trade law.
Bill Flanagan is married to his husband Saffron Sri, a registered dietitian.