Ryerson appoints Mohamed Lachemi as President and Vice-Chancellor

Ryerson University’s Board of Governors has appointed Dr. Mohamed Lachemi as the university’s ninth president and vice-chancellor, effective April 4, 2016.

“An internationally recognized researcher and accomplished academic administrator, Mohamed Lachemi has been a key contributor to the growth and development of Ryerson over a transformational time in the university’s history,” said Janice Fukakusa, chair of the Ryerson Board of Governors. “With the accelerated pace of change in today’s post-secondary education environment, he is ideally suited to continue Ryerson’s impressive momentum of innovation, growth, development, and support for entrepreneurship.”

An award-winning teacher, mentor and professor of civil engineering, Dr. Lachemi is well known for his pioneering research in high-performance materials and advanced technologies. He held a Canada Research Chair from 2002-10 and served in progressively senior roles at Ryerson including dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, and provost and vice-president academic. Most recently he served as the interim president and vice-chancellor.

"Ryerson is differentiated in everyone's mind by academic excellence linked to entrepreneurial innovation, city-building and challenging the status quo," said Ryerson Chancellor Lawrence Bloomberg. "This is a culture unique to Ryerson, and Mohamed Lachemi will lead its further growth and accomplishment."

The search committee and the Board of Governors were both unanimous in endorsing the selection.

“Ryerson is having an impact on the evolution of 21st-century education and has a special place in the Canadian university landscape as a destination of choice for exceptional talent and inventive thinkers,” said Dr. Lachemi. “I am honoured to serve as president of Ryerson and to have the opportunity to continue working with outstanding students, faculty and staff as we move forward on such an important journey.”

During his time at Ryerson, Dr. Lachemi has welcomed talented new scholars and students to the school, overseen the creation of a new Faculty of Science, fostered groundbreaking partnerships such as the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Science Technology (iBest) with St. Michael’s Hospital, and been instrumental in the success of innovation clusters led by the Digital Media Zone (DMZ), ranked the top university business incubator in Canada and third in the world. The DMZ has served as the catalyst for Ryerson’s signature entrepreneurial zone learning model, which has grown to 10 distinct zones across the university. More information, including photos, a detailed CV, biography and video are available at the Ryerson Presidential Search page.