List of presidents of the University of British Columbia

A sculpture of Norman MacKenzie, at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia (UBC) serves as the administrative head of the institution.

There have been fifteen people have served as president in the history of the institution, including those that held the position on an interim basis, with Martha C. Piper serving twice as president.

Although David H. Farrar served as the university's interim president and vice chancellor from 1 July to 14 August 2016, unlike other interim (pro tem) presidents, the university did not include him in the official numbering of past presidents.

List of presidents

No.	Name	From	To	Notes	Ref.
1	Frank Wesbrook	1913	1918		[1]
2	Leonard Klinck	1919	1944
3	Norman MacKenzie	1944	1962
4	John B. Macdonald	1962	1967
5	Fredrick Kenneth Hare	1968	1969
6	Walter Harry Gage	1969	1975
7	Douglas T. Kenny	1975	1983
8	George Pedersen	1983	1985
9	Robert H. T. Smith	1985	1985	Pro tem
10	David W. Strangway	1985	1997
11	Martha C. Piper	1997	2006
12	Stephen J. Toope	2006	2014
13	Arvind Gupta	2014	2015		[2]
14	Martha C. Piper	2015	2016	2nd time
– [a]	David H. Farrar	2016	2016	Interim	[4]
15	Santa J. Ono	2016	2022
16	Deborah Buszard	2022	2023	Interim	[5]
17	Benoit-Antoine Bacon	2023	present		[6]

See also

• List of chancellors of the University of British Columbia
• List of University of British Columbia people

References

1. "Past Presidents of the University of British Columbia". University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on May 13, 2007.
2. "UBC announces leadership transition". University of British Columbia.
3. "Past Presidents". Office of the President. Archived from the original on June 3, 2025. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
4. "Welcome to Professor Ono and thank you to Dr. Farrar". ubc.ca. University of British Columbia. August 12, 2016. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
5. "UBC appoints Dr. Deborah Buszard as Interim President and Vice-Chancellor | UBC Today". ubctoday.ubc.ca. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
6. "Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon named UBC president". UBC News. July 20, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2025.

Notes

1. Although David H. Farrar served as the university's interim president and vice chancellor from 1 July to 14 August 2016, unlike other interim presidents, the university did not include him in the official numbering of past presidents. ^[3]