Provost and Vice-president, Academic

Mary Vaughan

Provost and vice-president, Academic

Biography

Mary Vaughan

Mary is a highly relational and strategic academic leader with more than 25 years of experience across Canada’s polytechnic and college sector. She brings deep expertise in partnership development, student-centred leadership, institutional transformation and workforce-aligned education.

Mary joins Saskatchewan Polytechnic from Sheridan College, where she served as provost and vice-president, Academic. In that role, she led one of the institution’s most ambitious academic transformations, revitalizing 65 percent of program credentials, launching 45 new workforce-aligned programs and advancing Sheridan’s applied research profile to a top national ranking.

Prior to Sheridan, Mary served as senior vice-president, Academic and Student Success at Lambton College, where she led significant academic and institutional growth, expanded the college’s geographic reach, championed new credentials and helped establish Lambton as a military-connected college. Earlier in her career, she served as dean of the Faculty of Business at Seneca Polytechnic, stewarding one of Canada’s largest business schools and strengthening connections between applied education, industry and community.

Mary also spent 18 years with College of the North Atlantic, leading business and information technology programs across all 17 campuses throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. During that time, she developed a deep appreciation for the transformative role colleges play in strengthening communities and creating opportunity across an entire province. She also played a pioneering international role in establishing Qatar’s first co-educational technical college through CNA-Qatar, helping bring Canadian polytechnic expertise to a global stage.

An internationally respected leader in business education, Mary became the first Canadian to serve as chair of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), representing institutions in more than 60 countries and helping shape global standards for business education quality.

Before entering higher education, Mary worked as an economic geologist on mineral exploration projects across Canada and internationally, including work connected to the development of the Voisey’s Bay nickel deposit in Labrador.

Mary holds a Master of Business Administration in Information Technology Management from University of Leicester, along with a Bachelor of Education (Post-secondary) and a Bachelor of Science in Earth Sciences from Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is currently completing a PhD in Leadership and Policy at Niagara University.