By McGill Reporter Staff
The Board of Governors approved two senior administration appointments and one reappointment during its meeting on December 1, 2016. Yves Beauchamp will join McGill as the new Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) and Martha Crago take on the portfolio of Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation). The Board approved the reappointment of Dr. David Eidelman as Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
Beauchamp’s term begins January 1, 2017; he replaces Michael Di Grappa, who left McGill for the private sector in June. Crago starts her term on July 1, 2017, immediately following the end of current research V-P Dr. Rosie Goldstein’s term. Both Beauchamp’s and Crago’s appointments end on June 30, 2022. Eidelman’s second five-year term begins on July 1, 2017, and ends June 30, 2022.
Principal Suzanne Fortier announced the appointments and reappointment in a message to the community this morning.
Yves Beauchamp “brings to McGill a wealth of experience and expertise in academia, administration, government and institutional relations, and project development,” said Principal Fortier. Beauchamp is the former Director General (2003-2013) of École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), where he is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Fortier praised ÉTS’s “extraordinary growth” under Beauchamp’s decade of leadership: “more than doubling its student body, an almost five-fold increase in contracts and research grants, almost doubling the number of staff, implementing a sustainable development action plan across all services and departments, and conducting a major campus expansion and renovation.” She also noted that the Quartier de l’innovation, a partnership between McGill and ÉTS, began during Beauchamp’s tenure as rector. Most recently, Beauchamp spent a two-year loan of service to the Université de Montréal, where he worked on major infrastructure projects: the university’s new Site Outremont satellite campus and Science and Engineering Complex.
“I’m very proud to have this opportunity to join the management team of this prestigious institution and to serve the McGill community with the same energy, commitment and results-oriented work ethic that I’ve applied throughout my career,” says Beauchamp, who is a graduate of West Virginia University (PhD) and the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (BEng, MScA).
Martha Crago’s appointment as V-P (Research and Innovation) marks a homecoming for the McGill veteran, who has spent the past decade at Université de Montréal and Dalhousie University. She called McGill home for more than 35 years, first as a student – she completed her BA, MSc and PhD here – and then as a professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and a senior administrator. Her five years as Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (2000-2005) earned her the honour of having a lounge named after her in Thomson House. Crago is currently the Vice-President (Research) at Dalhousie University.
“My colleagues at Dalhousie often jokingly complain to me, saying ‘Oh no, there you go again, talking about McGill,’” she says. “Coming home to my alma mater is a great pleasure for me. I left to learn about, and have more exposure to, other universities – but everywhere I went I took the research ambition and excellence that I learned from McGill with me. I can hardly wait to come back to work with my former and new colleagues, who embody the very excellence and ambition that makes McGill one of the world’s top research intensive universities.”
“Prof. Crago has a deep understanding of how universities and stakeholders can support and encourage research excellence and drive innovation,” said Principal Fortier. “Under her eight years of leadership, Dalhousie significantly increased its overall research funding, created a strategic research plan, successfully led several large-scale national research funding initiatives, and instituted new funding and productivity reporting.” In addition to her own research in the areas of language acquisition and socialization, Crago is active in organizations such the Advisory Panel for the Review of Federal Support for Fundamental Science, and is the current Chair of the U-15 Research Committee of Vice-Presidents of Research.
David Eidelman received unanimous approval for a second term as Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine because, said Principal Fortier, his “leadership, together with his clinical and research skills, has been essential in the planning and support of the Faculty’s programs that prepare students for their roles as health care providers and scientists in the 21st century.” Fortier cited such achievements as the new MDCM curriculum, a renewed MD-PhD program, an $84-million grant from CFREF to support neuroscience research, and an operation plan to create a satellite medical campus in Outaouais. A McGill graduate, Dr. Eidelman began his first term as V-P and Dean on January 2012. His previous positions at McGill include the Chair of the Department of Medicine, the Director of Division of Respiratory Diseases, and Physician-in-Chief at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
“I am privileged to have had the opportunity to contribute to McGill’s tripartite mission over the last four years,” says Dr. Eidelman, “as together we work toward our vision of healthier societies through education, research, clinical care and collaboration. The Faculty of Medicine is an incredibly stimulating place comprised of amazing individuals. I am inspired each day. With this reappointment, I am thrilled to continue our work together, with our partners at McGill and in the community, and embark on new and exciting initiatives that will enable us all to excel in the coming years.”
In addition to congratulating Beauchamp, Crago and Eidelman, Principal Fortier thanked the members of the three advisory committees tasked with their appointments. She commended Rosie Goldstein on her “six years of exemplary service” as V-P (Research) and thanked Prof. Morty Yalovsky for his leadership as Interim V-P (Administration and Finance).