NSCAD Provost and Vice-President (Academic & Research) Dr. Ann-Barbara Graff has accepted the position of Provost and Vice-President Academic at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario beginning July 1, 2023.
Dr. Graff, who joined NSCAD University in 2014 as the Academic Dean, went on to serve in executive leadership roles including Provost and Vice-President Academic & Research. A graduate of Harvard’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education and a current student in Osgoode Hall Law School’s Executive LLM – Labour Relations and Employment Law, Dr. Graff also holds a faculty position in Art History and Contemporary Culture and an adjunct position in the Graduate Faculty at Dalhousie University.
Over the past decade, Dr. Graff has helped advance NSCAD’s academic and operational sustainability, with a focus on research and strategies to address racism and promote inclusion across the university. During the pandemic, she actively worked to support academic and creative teaching and learning through coordinated online curriculum development. Dr. Graff has led the academic portfolio at NSCAD through two academic plans, has actively supported external funding for research, and has provided leadership for NSCAD’s evolving Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Targeted Action Plan, including the launch of successive equity censuses. Nationally, Dr. Graff has contributed to leadership in the sector as a member of the management committee of Faculty Bargaining Services (FBS), most recently as chair.
“As a former dean at Nipissing University, this is a homecoming of sorts for Dr. Graff,” says NSCAD President Peggy Shannon. “She is extraordinarily well-positioned, accomplished, and ready. The people and communities of North Bay will benefit from her engagement and commitment. Please join me in thanking Dr. Graff for her dedicated service to NSCAD. We wish her every success in her new role.”
“To my friends and colleagues at NSCAD, the decision to leave was not an easy one,” says Dr. Graff. “However, Nipissing University has presented me with an opportunity where I can use my experience to help the institution achieve its goals. I feel incredibly fortunate to be joining a leadership team serving a community of 3,500 full-time students. There is the pleasure and reward in working as a team to innovate and build as well as fortify and secure the programs in which students, faculty and researchers thrive.”
Jana Macalik, M. Arch, Architecture, LEED ID+C will step into the interim role of Provost and Vice-President (Academic & Research) for one year to facilitate the transition. Macalik is currently the Acting Dean of the Faculty of the Arts at OCAD University and is an Associate Professor of Environmental Design.
“I am grateful to Dr. Graff for her leadership, and I offer her my best wishes for her exciting new position at Nipissing,” says Macalik. “I am looking forward to serving NSCAD students, faculty and staff, and to assisting President Shannon and her leadership team in fulfilling the university’s strategic priorities for future development.”
