Heather Anne Elyse Lilian Munroe-Blum, OC, OQ, FRSC (born August 25, 1950) is the principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Royal Bank of Canada.
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Munroe-Blum was born in Montreal and raised in Ontario. She received her B.A. and B.S.W. from McMaster University, M.S.W. from Wilfrid Laurier University, and Ph.D from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to her appointment as principal of McGill, she was a professor at York University, McMaster University, and the University of Toronto, where she later served as the vice-president of research and international relations) between 1994 and 2002. In January 2003, Munroe-Blum replaced outgoing principal Bernard Shapiro as McGill's principal, becoming the first woman to occupy the position.
Trained as an epidemiologist, Munroe-Blum has led large-scale epidemiological investigations related to psychiatric disorders. She is the author or co-author of over 60 scholarly publications, including four books. She has served on the board of directors of the Medical Research Council of Canada (now the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) as well as on international reviews of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Mental Health (USA).
As principal, Munroe-Blum has sought to rectify what she often cites as systemic underfunding of McGill, which is currently running a minor budget deficit, expected to be eliminated by 2011. Examples of this can be seen in her attracting of Canadian philanthropists such as Marcel Desautels and Seymour Schulich to make large donations to the university, resulting in the renaming of the faculties of management and music respectively. She has campaigned publicly for significant increases in the tuition fees paid by McGill students, arguing that the current, heavily subsidized, fees amounted to a "dollar store" policy on tuition. She does not hesitate to bypass Quebec government rules and to increase the MBA tuition fees without government approval (Le Devoir, January 21, 2010). Since beginning her role as principal at McGill, Munroe-Blum has introduced semi-annual town hall meetings in which students and faculty can openly ask questions of concern and raise issues of interest.
Since September 2011, Munroe-Blum has received criticism for responses to members of the University who took action to support McGill's Non-Academic Worker's union (MUNACA) in their labour dispute with the university, requiring faculty to take unpaid leave if they were unwilling to cross picket lines, instead of allowing them to teach off-campus in coffee shops or their homes.[1] In an editorial for the Montreal Gazette, Dr. Anthony Paré, a professor in the Education department at McGill University, denounced the various tactics used by the McGill administration as unethical.[2]
Munroe-Blum was principal during the November 10th, 2011 student protests, first instance of riot police entering McGill University's campus since March 1969, after a city-wide student protest against increases in tuition fees ended in a student occupation of the McGill Principal's office.[3][4] Five days later, there was an open rally at McGill regarding the events of November 10. The event was attended by nearly 1,000 students and staff that were virtually unanimous in their denunciation of the McGill administration, headed by Munroe-Blum, and their handling of the November 10th protest and occupation.[5]
Munroe-Blum has received many accolades from the academic community including honorary degrees from the Université de Montréal, University of Edinburgh, the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, and École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. She is also an officer of the Order of Canada and fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2009, she was made an officer of the National Order of Quebec.
She is married to screenwriter Len Blum. They have one daughter.
In 2005, she attended the elite international Bilderberg conference. See List of Bilderberg attendees.
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