Dr. Gillian Balfour

Dr. Balfour completed a PhD in sociology at the University of Manitoba where she focused on socio-legal studies and feminist criminology. Her research interests include a critical analysis of restorative justice and sentencing law reforms intended to address the over-incarceration of Indigenous women.

Serving as Provost and Vice-President Academic at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) since 2022, Dr. Balfour was the chief budget officer and academic leader with a unique government mandate to provide online and on-campus learning for 30,000 learners. She developed TRU’s first integrated strategic plan for resource allocation to address domestic recruitment and student retention, renewed institutional reputation, and inclusive excellence for staff and faculty recruitment. Dr. Balfour also led the development of TRU Bold, an academic plan focused on halo program areas of research excellence, expansion of flexible delivery through open education, and financial sustainability through strategic program innovation.

Prior to her time at TRU, Dr. Balfour served as Vice Principal and Academic Dean at King’s University College at Western University from 2020 – 2022 where she developed academic governance processes, a salary equity study, and a dedicated investment strategy for Indigenization and decolonization of curriculum and hiring practices.

Her leadership background includes almost two decades at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario where she was the Associate Dean of Trent Online and Centre for Teaching and Learning. While at Trent, Dr. Balfour was a professor in the Sociology department where she was a member of Canada’s Walls to Bridges collective that provides prison-based learning for incarcerated and non-incarcerated students focused on restorative justice, in addition to launching Trent’s first fully online degree in critical criminology.