Colleen Hanycz has been reappointed to a second term as Brescia University College’s principal, the Council of Trustees recently announced. Hanycz’s four-year renewal will begin July 1.
“Since her arrival at Brescia, Dr. Hanycz has worked tirelessly to emphasize and promote Brescia’s unique position as Canada’s only women’s university and its core mission of engaging and developing young women as leaders,” said Liz Hewitt, Brescia’s Council of Trustees, co-ordinator. “… Dr. Hanycz is a tremendous role model and mentor for our students and we are happy that she has agreed to remain with Brescia and we look forward to another four years with her at the helm.”
Since 2008, Hanycz has overseen a period characterized by growing success in the recruitment and retention of high-quality students, faculty and staff, along with the development of innovative academic programs as well as the completion of a Residence & Dining Pavilion, opening in September, that is both environmentally progressive and architecturally unique among residential spaces.
“The passion I have for Brescia continues to be driven by a desire to serve our students, and, in doing so, to serve the broader society,” Hanycz said. “I remain convinced of the need for women’s educational institutions, especially those like Brescia that take its mission of forming leaders so seriously. Our world continues to hunger for the innovative, relational and collaborative forms of leadership that women are best equipped to practice, and we need institutions like Brescia to ensure that critical leadership formation is ongoing.”
Prior to her arrival in London, Hanycz joined the faculty of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in 2003, following several years in practice as a securities and employment litigator in Toronto. While at Osgoode, she focused on civil procedure, dispute resolution and legal negotiation. In addition to her work at Brescia, Hanycz continues her scholarship and teaches in Osgoode’s graduate program in law.
This year, Hanycz was recognized for her contributions to education and the broader community through the awarding of a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. She sits on the London Health Sciences Centre Board of Directors, chairing its Governance and Nominating Committees. She is also currently the chair of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities of Canada, and served this year on the Campaign Cabinet of the London-Middlesex United Way Campaign as its co-chair of the Education Sector.