Deborah MacLatchy

Background

About Deborah MacLatchy

Dr. Deborah MacLatchy was appointed president and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University (Laurier) on July 1, 2017, and reaffirmed for a second five-year term beginning in 2022. Laurier is a multi-campus comprehensive university with campuses in Brantford and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. As president of Laurier, she spearheaded the development of an institutional strategic plan. Laurier Strategy: 2019-2024 focuses the university’s direction into two interconnected themes: thriving community and future readiness. During her tenure at Laurier as president and previously as provost, she has championed equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, including the growth of supports for Indigenous students, an enhanced focus on women in science, and increased recruitment and retention of equity-deserving faculty, staff and students. Dr. MacLatchy successfully led the university through the COVID pandemic lockdowns and the pandemic recovery. Laurier was approved by the provincial government in 2021 to expand to a Milton campus, on the west side of the greater Toronto area, where undergraduate programs began in 2024. A distinguished biologist with extensive experience in research, teaching and administration, Dr. MacLatchy served as Laurier’s provost and vice-president: academic from 2009 until 2017 and as dean of Laurier’s Faculty of Science from 2007 to 2009. Previously, she spent 13 years at the University of New Brunswick Saint John where she was a faculty member and dean of Science, Applied Science and Engineering, and director of the campus’s International Office. Dr. MacLatchy has been recognized for her many achievements with a number of significant awards, including an honorary doctorate from Acadia University in 2016 and the 2015 Recognition Award from the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada for innovative leadership in advancing the mission of higher education. In 2023, she received the J.P. Loosemore Award from Ontario Universities Athletics, for her contributions to university sport as Chair of the OUA. Dr. MacLatchy was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women for 2012 in a Top 100 list compiled by the Women’s Executive Network.