Mount Royal University appoints new provost

Mount Royal University has appointed a new provost, who is set to take over the position July 1.

Lesley Brown was chosen as provost and vice-president, academic, after a national, nearly year-long search.

Brown, who said she’s “absolutely thrilled” to take over the position, noted she aims to advance the MRU mission of “an exceptional undergraduate experience,” and to enhance the reputation of the university locally and across the country.

Brown replaces previous MRU provost Kathy Shailer, who left the position in March 2016 amid a budget dispute.

Duane Anderson, vice-president of administrative services with MRU, said an institution-wide task force was struck last summer to take a longer-term look at the university’s budget and planning processes. “It’s done a ton of great work over the past year,” he said. “We’re not done, but we’ve implemented some new processes, better communication, better structures around how we do our budget planning and resource allocation, and we believe we’re headed in the right direction, and we’ve managed to continue to ensure that we engage the entire community as we’ve been working through that process.”

Anderson said Brown brings good background and experience and called her a “very well-respected academic and very wellrespected administrator.”

The new provost has spent the past 20 years at the University of Lethbridge, most recently as viceprovost and associate vice-president, academic. She has a PhD in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo and has pursued research in balance and fall prevention with the elderly and people with Parkinson’s disease.

In her new role, Brown will be responsible for leading academic staff in line with Mount Royal’s Institutional Strategic Plan and a soon-to-be finalized academic plan, MRU said in a news release.