Benoit-Antoine Bacon
Bacon has rolled up his sleeves on many occasions, working alongside colleagues to leverage opportunities to enhance Concordia’s reputation as a next-generation university. And he has been thoughtful in his leadership approach, fostering an environment that supports students, academic leaders and faculty.
On July 1, when Bacon leaves Concordia to assume the role of provost and vice-principal (academic) at Queen’s University in Kingston, he will leave behind a renewed and dynamic academic leadership team, improved relationships with the full- and part-time faculty associations, and a transformed Student Life and Student Services portfolio.
“I have a lot of respect for Benoit,” says Concordia’s president Alan Shepard. “He is a very talented academic leader who has made important contributions that have included a rise in admissions and in our reputation, both nationally and internationally.”
“When I’m travelling across the country, I see that people are taking more notice of Concordia. We’ve made great strides in important rankings. We’re pushing the envelope on many fronts. So I’m not surprised that Queen’s has said, ‘We want him.’ ”
Born in Montreal, Bacon is an alumnus of Concordia, where he completed his BA honours degree in psychology. He also holds an MSc and a PhD in neuropsychology from the Université de Montréal, and he completed a two-year NSERC-funded post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Upon returning to Canada, Bacon taught for one year at Concordia before joining Bishop's University in 2004. He became chair of the Department of Psychology in 2008, dean of Arts and Science in 2011, and concurrently AVP Research in 2012.
Bacon was appointed Concordia's provost and VP of Academic Affairs in July 2013.
“It’s hard to leave Concordia, especially at such an exciting time, but the opportunity at Queen’s is one that simply cannot be turned down,” he says.
“I’m very proud of what we have been able to achieve as a community over the past three years. It has truly been a privilege and I sincerely thank my colleagues across the university for their support over the years and their understanding as I take on a new challenge.”