Don Tapscott Named As Trent’s Eleventh Chancellor
Bestselling author, entrepreneur and one of the world’s top business Thinkers50, Don Tapscott will officially be installed as Trent University‘s eleventh chancellor during the campus’ convocation ceremonies on Friday, June 7 at 10am. As part of the installation ceremony, Mr. Tapscott will address graduating students, their families and members of the Trent community prior to the conferring of degrees. Following the presentation of degrees, Mr. Tapscott will officially be installed as chancellor by taking the Oath of Office. Representatives of different sectors of the University, including faculty, the Board of Governors and alumni, will divest Mr. Tapscott of his honorary robes and invest him with his chancellor robes to complete the installation.
Recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on innovation, media, and the economic and social impact of technology, Don Tapscott has been an advisor to business and government leaders and has introduced ground-breaking concepts that are part of our understanding of a rapidly changing world. A graduate of Psychology and Statistics at Trent University and a recipient of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2006, he was re-named one of the most important living business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 in 2011. On June 1, 2013 Forbes.com listed him as the #1 management thinker in the world according to influence on social media.
Mr. Tapscott is CEO of Toronto-based think tank The Tapscott Group, and was previously founder and chairman of New Paradigm. He is vice-chair of Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations, a new company building a portfolio of companies in the collaboration and social media space. With a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Alberta, he is also an adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and the inaugural fellow of the school’s Martin Prosperity Institute where he is currently leading a large investigation of new models of global problem solving, cooperation and governance.
Mr. Tapscott is the author and co-author of 14 widely-read books about information technology in business and society, including: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything; Macrowikinomics: New Solutions for a Connected Planet; Paradigm Shift (1992); and Growing Up Digital (1998). He has given more than 1500 keynote speeches and presentations to many of the most important audiences in the world, including being invited to speak to world leaders by the World Economic Forum in Davos many times.
His clients include top executives of many of the world’s largest corporations and government leaders from many countries. The Washington Technology Report called him the most influential Canadian media authority since Marshall McLuhan. Mr. Tapscott and his wife Ana Lopes, an honorary and former member of Trent’s Board of Governors, sponsor the biennial Tapscott-Lopes Business and Society Lecture at the University.
Duties of Trent University Chancellor
The role of the chancellor includes conferring all degrees and diplomas and sitting as an ex officio member of the Board of Governors and the Senate. In addition, the chancellor serves as chair of the Senate Executive sub-committee on University Honours and represents the University in an official capacity at external functions from time to time. Each chancellor brings his or her special talents and interests to the position, and enters into and enhances the life of the University.
The term of the office is normally for three years but is renewable upon the recommendation of Senate Executive and the agreement of Senate and the incumbent.
