The Provost is the Chief Academic Officer with responsibility for the University’s Academic Division and its broad educational mission across all of the Faculties. She works closely with all Deans as well as other senior academic and administrative leaders to deliver on the vision and priorities set out in the University Academic Plan 2020-2025.
Her top priorities include enhancing the student experience through advising and support initiatives, establishing innovative academic programs to prepare students to become engaged global citizens, and creating excellent learning experiences ranging across classrooms, labs and studios, to online learning, co-op placements, study abroad opportunities, and more.
Advancing York’s research culture and profile, and promoting collaboration and links to our local and global communities are also essential to institutional planning. All of these efforts will ensure that York is a place where students, faculty, instructors and staff can thrive and excel.
Profile
Lisa Philipps was appointed Provost and VP Academic in 2018 and is currently serving a second term.
Professor Philipps began her academic career at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, joining York in 1996 where she is a Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. She holds an LLB from the University of Toronto and an LLM from York and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1988. An award winning law teacher, her research areas encompass taxation law and fiscal policy, higher education policy, and feminist legal theory.
Prior to her appointment as Provost, Professor Philipps held a number of leadership positions at York including Associate Vice-President Research from 2011 to 2014, with responsibility for supporting research intensification across the University and for liaising with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and community research partners. Most recently she was seconded to the Office of the President as Senior Policy Advisor.
Professor Philipps has also served as Chair of the (then) Senate Academic Policy and Planning Committee (2005-2006), and as Associate Dean, Research, Graduate Studies and Institutional Relations at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Beyond York University, Professor Philipps has provided expert legal advice to a range of bodies, including the Ontario Ministry of Finance as Special Counsel in 2015. In 2015-16, she served as Interim Dean of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University, a new law school with a mandate to strengthen the Indigenous bar and prepare lawyers to practice in northern and rural communities.
Lisa has provided volunteer service over her career to a number of public and non-profit organizations including the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Provincial Judges Pension Board, and National Association of Women and the Law.