The Council of Ontario Universities today announced the members of the Selection Panel that will oversee the process for the creation of Ontario Research Chairs at universities across the province.

The Panel will be chaired by David Strangway, former president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation and past president and vice-chancellor of the University of British Columbia.

Panel members are Judith Maxwell, founding president of the Canadian Policy Research Networks; Arthur William May, past president of Memorial University and former president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council; and Harold Shapiro, president emeritus of Princeton University and former president of the University of Michigan.

Also appointed is Harry Swain, who will serve as secretary to the Panel. Swain is a management consultant and former deputy minister of the federal departments of Indian Affairs and Industry.

In the 2005 Ontario Budget, the provincial government committed $25 million to the Council of Ontario Universities to establish the Chairs, which will focus on leading-edge research in eight key areas of public policy.

Further information can be found on the Selection Panel website at http://orc.cou.on.ca.

The Panel is currently refining the details for the application and selection process. These will be made available on the website in late June, 2005.