The following message to the University community is from York President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton:
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to share the exciting news that Robert Haché, York University’s vice-president of research and innovation, has been selected to become Laurentian University’s 11th president and vice-chancellor. While I am sorry to lose such a wonderful colleague, this is an outstanding opportunity for Rob and a testament to his achievements here at York.
Rob came to the University after serving as vice-dean of research at the University of Ottawa and as associate vice-president of research at the University of Calgary. He is an accomplished molecular and cellular biologist and biochemist who has a substantial record of publications and has held grants from the Canadian Institute of Health (CIHR), the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC), and the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). He was one of the first Ottawa Health Research Chairs, and is the recipient of the CIHR Investigator Award and the MRC Scholar Award.
At York, Rob has played an instrumental role in advancing our strategic research priorities. He led the development of our Strategic Research Plan, a collegial and collaborative vision for research intensification at the University. Under his leadership, York also exceeded $100M in research income for the first time in 2017-18. In 2016, Rob was integral to securing Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) support for our cutting-edge Vision Science to Application (VISTA) program.
Rob founded and continues to nurture Innovation York, our successful commercialization, entrepreneurship and knowledge mobilization group. This hub now engages over 3,000 York community members, and has grown our activity in these important areas fivefold since 2012. The knowledge mobilization stream in particular has gained international recognition for its leadership in social innovation. York has also benefitted greatly from the York Research Chair program, which is another of Rob’s signature initiatives.
The York community will miss Rob’s leadership and commitment to engaged, global, and high-impact research. He leaves the University with a much stronger and focused research & innovation portfolio, and students, faculty, and staff have all benefitted from the initiatives he has launched and built. On behalf of York, I wish Rob all the best in his new role and look forward to seeing what he accomplishes next.