President's Biography
Prof. Stephen J. Toope
Professor Stephen J. Toope is the 12th President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of British Columbia. His five-year term began in July 2006.
An International Law scholar who represented Western Europe and North America on the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances from 2002-2007, Professor Toope's academic interests include public international law, legal theory, human rights, international dispute resolution, and family law.
Professor Toope is currently Chair, World University Services Canada (WUSC), Director of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), and member of the Research Council of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR).
Prior to joining UBC, Professor Toope was founding President of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation in 2002. The foundation uses a $140 million endowment to support outstanding interdisciplinary research among social sciences and humanities scholars and policymakers in government, business, and the arts.
From 1994-1999, Professor Toope served as the youngest dean in the history of McGill University's Faculty of Law. As dean, he launched and managed a strategic plan to reorganize the Faculty's undergraduate curriculum and led the successful completion of the then-largest capital campaign in Canadian law faculty history, resulting in the rebuilding of the McGill Law Library. He achieved full professorship in 1999.
Professor Toope served as the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Research at McGill Faculty of Law from 1991-1994. He became an Associate Professor in 1993 after serving as an Assistant Professor in McGill's Faculty of Law from 1987-1993 upon completion of his PhD. He served as Law Clerk to the Rt. Hon. Chief Justice Dickson of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1986-1987.
As a former president of the Canadian Council on International Law, Professor Toope has served as board chair and member of various non-governmental organizations promoting human rights and international development, including the Canadian Human Rights Foundation and the World University Services of Canada.
The recipient of academic publishing awards from the Canadian Tax Foundation and the American Society of International Law, Professor Toope has provided extensive consultation on international human rights, international law, and legal reform to the Canadian Departments of Foreign Affairs and Justice, and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). He has also conducted human rights seminars for government officials in many countries and was a member of the UN observer delegation to the first post-apartheid South African elections.
A Canadian citizen, Professor Toope earned his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge, England and his undergraduate degree in common law (LLB) and civil law (BCL) with honours from McGill University (1983), and graduated magna cum laude with his AB in History and Literature from Harvard University (1979).
Stephen Toope is married to Paula Rosen and they have three children.
