Dr. Murali Chandrashekaran, Vice-Provost International, has let us know that he will not be seeking reappointment for a second term. He will continue in the role until his term is completed on August 31, 2022.
Since being appointed to his role in 2017, Dr. Chandrashekaran has made a significant impact within the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, and UBC as a whole.
As UBC’s first Vice-Provost International, Dr. Chandrashekaran served to create a new office, bringing under one umbrella Go Global, Global Partnerships, St. John’s College, Vantage College, Vancouver Summer Program, UBC-Ritsumeikan Joint Academic Program, and UBC satellite offices in Hong Kong and Delhi, India. The reorganization included the creation of a new communication platform spotlighting UBC’s global engagement, with an emphasis on storytelling — amplifying the meaningful efforts, alliances and research collaborations of faculty, staff, students, emeriti and alumni across the UBC community worldwide.
Dr. Chandrashekaran led extensive consultation to co-create UBC’s new global engagement strategy ‘In Service,’ to harness the university’s collective capacity to help build a better world while developing students as global citizens. The strategy recast “international” in terms of “issues of global relevance,” such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and local capacity-building initiatives on challenges identified by communities themselves.
Embracing the principles of equity, reciprocity, and respect, Dr. Chandrashekaran and the VPI team forged partnerships in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe, developed programs for faculty and students across the university, and led UBC’s engagement in global alliances such as Academics Without Borders, U7+ and Scholars at Risk. In 2019 UBC earned the APLU Gold Award (Internationalization of Research and Engagement), and, in 2021, received a Universities Canada Innovation Fund award to support UBC’s Global Indigenous Connection project over four years to widen access, build community and nurture personal relationships between Indigenous people around the world.
In the coming months, Dr. Chandrashekaran will be leading the creation of an implementation framework for the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force recommendations for the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver.
Upon completion of his term, Dr. Chandrashekaran will return to his faculty position at the Sauder School of Business to resume his teaching and research activities, and direct the Collaborative for Urban Resilience and Effectiveness (CURE) to develop equitable partnership platforms involving colleges and universities, communities, corporates, cities and countries to engage in research, pedagogy, and the service of locally led resilience efforts in informal urban settlements in developing countries.
On behalf of the university, we would like to thank Dr. Chandrashekaran for his leadership, and his stewardship of UBC’s global engagement over the last five years.
We are currently working with the President's Office to determine the process and timeline to fill the role of Vice-Provost International, and will make an announcement on next steps shortly.
Gage Averill
Provost and Vice-President, Academic, pro tem, UBC Vancouver
Lesley Cormack
Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UBC Okanagan