Dr. James Allan appointed vice-president (advancement)

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. James Allan as vice-president (advancement), effective Jan. 31, 2022. The vice-president (advancement) is the senior officer of the university responsible for leading, enhancing and developing community support and engagement across the University to deliver on our Framework for Growth. Working collaboratively across the University, the vice-president (advancement) promotes and articulates the university’s value to society; attracts philanthropic support; develops programs and opportunities to engage alumni and the community at large and advances the University’s brand and connection through social media, digital engagement, strategic communications, and traditional marketing initiatives.

A highly experienced leader with over 15 years of experience in development and alumni relations and a strong background in communications, Dr. Allan is currently director of Alumni and Donor Relations at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia, rated the top university in Australia and 33rd in the world by The Times Higher Education rankings in 2022. He is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of a comprehensive and proactive engagement program for Melbourne’s 420,000+ alumni and 27,000+ donors and played an integral part in the University’s $1B philanthropic and engagement campaign, Believe.

Throughout his career Dr. Allan has worked to foster productive, meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships between universities and their communities. At York University in Toronto, he led a significant renewal of alumni relations activities, including the creation of the York Circle outreach program, to provide community members with access to the ideas and research generated by the University community, while working with a remarkable group of leadership volunteers and building up the University’s international alumni engagement activities. At the University of Melbourne, Dr. Allan was the driving force behind the alumni engagement aspects of Believe, which was the first University campaign in Australia to set an alumni engagement goal alongside its philanthropic goal and which has successfully engaged over 100,000 alumni in the life of the University so far. At the same time, he oversaw the dramatic expansion of the University’s student-alumni mentoring programs to create the largest mentoring system at any university in Australia, with over 10,000 students and alumni participating.

Dr. Allan holds a PhD from the University of Massachusetts in Communications, an MA in Communications from McGill University and completed his BA in English and History at the University of Toronto.

I would also like to thank Mr. Corey Hogan for his leadership and dedication serving as interim vice-president (advancement - communications). I would like to equally thank Ms. Andrea Morris for her leadership and dedication serving as interim vice-president (advancement – development). Both Mr. Hogan and Ms. Morris have made invaluable contributions to the University and the executive leadership team particularly through this challenging time. They will continue to serve in their respective capacities as interim vice-president (advancement) until Jan. 28, 2022.

I would like to thank the selection committee for their advice throughout the selection process, which included: Dr. William Ghali, vice president (research), Dr. Sandra Davidson, dean (faculty of nursing), and Ian Minnifee BA, CFP, alumnus and community representative. I would also like to thank Wendy Therrien for her logistical support throughout this process.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Allan on his appointment.

Dr. Ed McCauley
President and Vice-Chancellor