Karen R. Hitchcock - Queen's University

Queen's University

Hitchcock became the Principal of Queen's University in July, 2004. Queen's University is one of Canada's most prominent universities, according to several national and international rankings, such as Maclean's magazine, The Globe and Mail, and The Times Higher Educational Supplement (THES), and Hitchcock was notable both as an American import and as that institution's first female Principal.

At the beginning of her term as Principal, Hitchcock pushed for a major and controversial new infrastructure project, the Queen's Centre. It was to be the largest project undertaken by a Canadian university to that time, encompassing expanded and upgraded sports facilities, a student life centre and a new academic building. The project had a budget of $230 million, and was scheduled to take nearly a decade to complete. Groundbreaking took place two and a half years later, in February, 2007. Within fourteen months, the massive project would be 20% over budget.

Soon after Hitchcock arrived at Queen's University, she began taking extended leaves of absence, ostensibly to tend to her husband, Murray Blair, who by that time required the use of a wheelchair. Despite campus disgruntlement with her absences, Hitchcock applied for a second five-year term as Queen's principal in January, 2008.