Alaa Abd-El-Aziz is a Canadian academic and former president of the

University of Prince Edward Island The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) is a public university in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the only university in the province. Founded in 1969, the enabling legislation is the ''University Act, R.S.P.E.I 2000.'' H ...

Early life

Abd-El-Aziz completed his bachelor's and master's at the

Ain Shams University Ain Shams University ( ar, جامعة عين شمس) is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. History Ain Shams University was fou ...

in 1985 and 1989 respectively. He completed a PhD at the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1989.

Photo of Alaa S Abd El Aziz taken 15 March 2010 in Kelowna

Career

Abd-El-Aziz joined the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

as a lecturer in 1989. In 1990, he joined the University of Winnipeg as an assistant professor and became a full professor in 1997 and worked there till 2006. From 1991 to 2008, Abd-El-Aziz was an adjunct professor at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba. He was also an adjunct at the Université de Sherbrooke and the University of Winnipeg. Abd-El-Aziz was the former Provost of

University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus) The UBC's Okanagan Campus (commonly referred to as UBC Okanagan and UBCO) is University of British Columbia's campus located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The campus is the research and innovation hub in the province's southern interio ...

. From 2006 to 2011, he was the professor of chemistry at University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus).

University of Prince Edward Island

Alaa Abd-El-Aziz assumed the presidency of

(UPEI) in July 2011 after being selected in November 2010. In 2013, university employees filed

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

complaints against Abd-El-Aziz before the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission. According to Tom Cullen, then-chairman of UPEI's board of governors, it involved allegations of "inappropriate comments between colleagues". Later the same year, UPEI reached a settlement with the two complainants, with non-disclosure agreements signed by all parties involved. Abd-El-Aziz's contract was renewed in 2015, 2018 and 2021. Atlantic Business Magazine declared him innovator of the year in 2020. Abd-El-Aziz agreed to stay at the university until 2025 but resigned in December 2021 citing health reasons following a report by

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

alleging that numerous non-disclosure agreements at UPEI had created "a culture of silence and fear" on campus and a toxic workplace Following Alaa Abd-El-Aziz's resignation, Greg Keefe was named Interim President and Vice-Chancellor on 13 December 2021. Appointed by UPEI a few days after the resignation, law firm Rubin Thomlinson found 29 non-disclosure agreements were signed at UPEI in the decade Abd-El-Aziz was in charge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abd-El-Aziz, Alaa Living people Academic staff of the University of Prince Edward Island Ain Shams University alumni University of Saskatchewan alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto Academic staff of the University of Manitoba Academic staff of the Université de Sherbrooke Academic staff of University of Winnipeg Egyptian emigrants to Canada Year of birth missing (living people)