Colleen M. Hanycz is a Canadian academic who is currently the president of Xavier University. She served as principal of Brescia University College from 2008 to 2015 and president of La Salle University from 2015 to 2021. On January 11, 2021, it was announced that Hanycz would become the 35th President of Xavier University starting July 1, 2021. She was the second lay person principal in the history of Brescia, a Catholic school and Canada's only women's university, and she was the first woman and layperson to serve as president at La Salle and Xavier.
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Early life and education
Hanycz earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. She completed her J.D. at Dalhousie University. Hanycz earned her LL.M and Ph.D. at Osgoode Hall Law School while working as a securities litigator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and then as assistant dean and associate professor of law at Osgoode.
Brescia University College
In 2008, Hanycz left her teaching and assistant dean position at Osgoode to become Brescia's Principal, succeeding Theresa Topic. At Brescia, Hanycz led a strategic plan that resulted in an increase in Brescia's enrollment, student, faculty, and staff retention, and consolidation of academic programs. While she served as president, she taught in Brescia's women's leadership program and continued in the LL.M. program at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Under her leadership, Brescia saw a 60 percent jump in enrollment to 1,500 full-time equivalent students.