Vice-President, Research and Innovation

Dr. Andrew P. Dean

Andrew P. Dean standing outside in fall

Andrew Dean was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and moved to Canada in the early 60s. After living in Kingston and London, Ontario, he spent most of his early years in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He attended McGill University where he received an honours degree. He then went to the University of Waterloo to attain a Masters in Mathematics and then a Ph.D. at Queen’s University in Kingston. His area of research is in infinite dimensional representations of finite dimensional algebras. After terms at the University of Guelph and Western University, Andrew spent most of his early academic career at Bishop’s University in Quebec. At Bishop’s, he was one of the co-founding members of the Groupe de recherche  en théorie des représentations des algèbres, a joint research center between Bishop’s University and University of Sherbrooke. At Bishop’s University, he was the Dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics from 1997-2001. In 2001, he went to Nipissing University as the Dean of Arts and Science. He was recruited to Lakehead University in 2008 as the Dean of Science and Environmental Studies. In 2015, Andrew was appointed as Vice-President of Research and Innovation at Lakehead University. He has served on a number of advisory boards and committees, including the Executive Committee of the Deans of Science in Canada, Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute, Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre, and the Chamber of Commerce. In 2013, he started the Aboriginal Mentorship Program at Lakehead University for the Faculty of Science. The initial success of this program led to its expansion to every faculty at Lakehead University.  

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Position Overview

The Vice-President Research and Innovation serves as the University’s chief research officer and encourages research activity by working with faculty to secure support for research and by fostering an environment where research can thrive at Lakehead Orillia and Lakehead Thunder Bay. As the head research and innovation, the Vice-President is responsible for leadership and strategic planning including developing and integrating strategic action plans to embed research throughout Lakehead, providing leadership to the Senate Research Committee, overseeing the development of research centres, and chairing a committee that reviews each Centre in accordance with Senate policy. Operational and financial management also falls under this portfolio. The Vice-President Research and Innovation is working with the President and Provost to smoothly realign the Faculty of Graduate Studies to more closely link graduate program development and strategic research planning – including redefining the role of the AVP (Research) to AVP (Research & Grad Studies) – and overseeing increased development of graduate research. Lastly, this position has an advocacy and external relations role that involves encouraging and supporting partnerships with both private and public sector organizations in the areas of research and/or innovation.

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