USask presidential extension and search process

Dear colleagues,

I share this news with a range of feelings but want to let you know that President Peter Stoicheff has recently informed the Board of Governors that he does not intend to pursue a third term as president of USask. At the request of the board, he has agreed to a six-month extension to his second term (originally to end June 30th, 2025) and will be stepping down from the presidency at the end of December 2025.

Appointed the 11th president of USask in 2015, Peter has left an indelible mark on our institution. For close to a decade as president so far, and after 30 previous years at USask as professor, vice-dean and dean, his leadership has elevated USask to become one of the top research-intensive universities in Canada, with global impact in water and food security, pandemic preparedness, agtech, one health, and many more areas of excellence. As he promised when stepping into the role, he has remained true to the university's storied past while enhancing its future as the university the world needs.

Under Peter’s presidency, USask has defined its important role in advancing innovation, reconciliation, sustainability, and equity, diversity and inclusion. In so doing he has set a clear vision for our institution that will guide us for years to come. These areas are not just significant to USask, but to the city, province, country and beyond.

Peter saw USask playing a crucial role in driving local, provincial, national and international innovation agendas. He believed USask could play a vital role in empowering and unleashing the curiosity and bold ambition that will allow us to imagine a brighter, more sustainable future. He developed formal relationships with the City of Saskatoon and leading cultural institutions here, and with many institutions worldwide. He knew the world needed a university in which the realities and aspirations of Indigenous peoples are respectfully woven into the tapestry of learning, research, scholarship, creativity, and community engagement – in short, into everything USask does. The Prince Albert campus was opened in 2020 to help realize that commitment. He recognized that USask needed to be a university for everyone, an institution which embraces diversity and ensures fair, respectful and inclusive treatment of all its members.

Peter assumed the presidency when USask was in a period of crisis, and has led the university to achieve its highest position by far in the most influential international rankings, achieve the highest research revenues by far in its history, experience year over year the highest enrolments in its history, and attract the largest donations by far in its history en route to what will be a successful $500M Be What the World Needs Campaign. He became the first chair of the U15 Group of Canadian Universities outside of Ontario, Quebec and B.C., and will be serving a second term in that role. He successfully led USask through the pandemic.

As chair of the Board of Governors, I have worked closely with Peter for many years. I appreciate his thoughtful and considerate approach and admire his dedication to USask. Our university, with its financial resilience, strong relations with all governments, world-class faculty and facilities, passionate employees, students of the highest quality, clear vision, mission, values, and priorities, and commitment to excellence, is now in an enviable position in Canada’s post-secondary sector.

I and my Board of Governors colleagues look forward to what Peter and the university community will achieve during the last year-and-a-half of his presidency. Leading up to December 2025, plans to celebrate Peter’s legacy will be shared with the campus community, partners and stakeholders, and beyond. The search for USask’s 12th president and vice-chancellor will begin in early 2025. Updates will be provided to the campus community as the search progresses.

Sincerely,

Shelley Brown
Chair, Board of Governors
University of Saskatchewan