Dr. Julia Christensen Hughes, MBA, Ph.D.
President & Vice Chancellor
Yorkville University
Yorkville University’s Dr. Julia Christensen Hughes, PhD, is a globally recognized academic innovator who is passionate about the transformational power of post-secondary education to change lives and improve society. As President and Vice Chancellor of Canada’s largest private university, she has led the creation of Yorkville’s Signature Learning Outcomes, a university-wide commitment to develop the next generation of ethical, highly skilled, and socially conscious business leaders, psychotherapists, educators, and creative storytellers and designers.
Before joining Yorkville in 2022, Christensen Hughes enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public higher education, where she held a number of leadership roles. She served as President of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) from 2004 to 2007, while also directing the University of Guelph’s Teaching Support Services, providing leadership for the University’s commitment to “student-centred learning.” Following those achievements, she went on to serve as founding dean of the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, establishing its unique vision of “being and developing leaders for a sustainable world”. Under her guidance, Lang’s MBA was ranked in the top ten in the world by Corporate Knights.
Christensen Hughes earned both her MBA and PhD from the Schulich School of Business at York University: her dissertation was on the topic of organizational empowerment.