McGill has created a new senior leadership position to coordinate and strengthen opportunities for students, faculty and staff to learn, teach, work and engage in French across the University. Natallia Liakina has been named the University’s first Associate Provost (Rayonnement du français), a position that will also serve to deepen McGill’s engagement with Quebec’s society, culture and history.
In addition to strengthening various types of programming in French, Liakina’s mandate includes undertaking a consultative process for the development of a new strategic plan.
“We are delighted Natallia has agreed to take on this new role. She brings to it a deep understanding of McGill’s linguistic context and extensive experience developing French as a second language courses and programming,” said Angela Campbell, Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic).
“She has a proven record of leadership and of working with colleagues, students and external partners to expand French language learning opportunities, to develop innovative co-curricular programming and to strengthen McGill’s engagement across Quebec,” said Campbell.
Dedicated to French at McGill
Prior to her new appointment, Liakina served as Special Advisor to the Provost (Rayonnement du français). Her work at McGill has evolved through roles in teaching French as a second language, academic leadership as Director of the French Language Centre, and broader institutional initiatives aimed at strengthening the presence of French across the University. She is an experienced instructor and researcher in second language education, specializing in the teaching and learning of oral skills, task-based language teaching, and technology-mediated language learning. She has also co-authored several textbooks on French language learning.
“Since my arrival at McGill, my work has centred on creating environments where French can be experienced as a shared and accessible resource across the University, while cultivating durable relationships with Montreal and Quebec’s francophone communities. This new mandate reflects McGill’s intention to provide a coherent and sustainable structure to support that vision,” said Liakina.
She said she believes that the new associate provostship will allow for stronger co-ordination and support of projects, more impactful outcomes and strengthened partnerships, including with other universities and community organizations.
“This new portfolio creates an opportunity to develop, through broad consultation, a flexible and sustainable structure that can accompany existing initiatives, support future growth and strengthen collaboration across the University and with our external partners. It also opens space for ongoing dialogue and shared priority setting, in a way that reflects the diversity of voices that shape McGill’s French-speaking and plurilingual community,” she said.
Asked about current initiatives, Liakina highlighted “Délie ta langue!”, the interuniversity public speaking competition, and “Mignardises littéraires,” a creative writing initiative for francophone students launched this year, in collaboration with UdeM Français. She also pointed to an interdisciplinary project co-led with Teaching and Academic Programs that brings students and professors together to co-create discipline-specific terminology resources supporting learning and professional engagement in French across faculties.
French engagement by choice
Liakina was not born into French culture. Like many who move to Montreal from abroad, she chose to become Québécoise. She describes herself as a committed francophile who actively built and nurtured her relationship to the language and its many communities.
“My bond with the language and its cultures developed over time, through curiosity and engagement,” she said.
She also credits her experiences at McGill – rooted in openness and dialogue – with allowing her to engage with the many francophone communities on campus and across Montreal. In her new role, she aims to continue building bridges among these communities and celebrating the diversity of the Francophonie at McGill.
“For our Québécois and francophone students and staff, feeling fully at home within an anglophone university is essential. At the same time, for many members of our community who arrive from outside Québec, building a relationship with French is part of settling into their new home here – often by gradually overcoming linguistic insecurity. At its heart, this mandate seeks to bring these experiences together, fostering a shared sense of belonging through dialogue and intercultural exchange, where French can be lived confidently and meaningfully by all.”
That local engagement is one also highlighted by Campbell in announcing the new portfolio.
“McGill is a proud Quebec institution, one that recognizes the importance of the French language and embraces our role in promoting its use and vitality within our academic and community life. This is emphasized in the President’s Strategic Priorities, including our firm commitment to engage locally,” said Campbell.
Read more about the new position of Associate Provost (Rayonnement du français) through the Provost’s webpage announcement.