I am pleased to announce that the Board of Governors has approved the appointment of Professor Barbara Billingsley as Dean of the Faculty of Law for a five-year term, effective July 1, 2020.
Professor Billingsley received her B.A., LL.B. and LL.M from the University of Alberta. Originally from Calgary, she practiced civil litigation in Edmonton at Brownlee LLP and Sharek & Co. before joining the Faculty of Law in 2001. She is a member of both the Law Society of Alberta and the Law Society of the Northwest Territories.
Professor Billingsley's research and teaching focuses on insurance law and civil litigation, and on constitutional law as applied to civil disputes. She is the author of General Principles of Canadian Insurance Law, a contributing co-editor of The Civil Litigation Process: Cases & Materials, and the author of several articles on insurance law, civil litigation, and constitutional law matters. Over the course of her career, her prolific published works have garnered many judicial citations. She is a well-known and sought-after expert in the area of Canadian insurance law and has been invited to nearly sixty conferences, seminars, and guest lectures throughout her career.
Professor Billingsley's teaching dossier includes undergraduate teaching and graduate student supervision. She has received the Faculty of Law's Tevie Miller Teaching Award, the University of Alberta's Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and the Canadian Bar Association/Law Society of Alberta Award for Distinguished Service in Legal Scholarship. She has previously served as the Associate Dean of Research and of Graduate Studies within the Faculty of Law, as a board member of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, and as a board member, Vice-Chair and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Constitutional Studies. She is the first woman to be appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law.
I would like to thank Interim Dean, Professor David Percy, for his service and leadership over the past months. I would also like to thank the members of the selection committee for their commitment, service, and hard work on behalf of the faculty.
Please join me in congratulating Professor Billingsley on her appointment.
Steven Dew
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)