Biography

Magda Fusaro has been Rector of the Université du Québec à Montréal since January 2018. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences from Université Paris XIII, as well as a Master's in Communication from UQAM and a Master's in Communication Science and Techniques from Université Paris XIII. In 2001, she joined the ranks of her alma mater, launching a career that would lead to several academic and administrative positions.

While an associate researcher at the International Network of UNESCO Chairs in Communications (2001-2005), she served as assistant to the Vice-Rector for Academic Services and Technological Development from 2003 to 2005. She became a professor in the Department of Management and Technology in 2006 and assumed the direction of its Academic Programs in Information Technology from 2008 to 2015. Appointed Vice-Rector of Information Systems in 2016, she established herself as a visionary administrator who employs the uses and development of technologies in the service of teaching, research and creation. She has taken part in and originated a number of significant institutional projects, such as the implementation of digital learning environments, the free-access movement, and the integration and diffusion of technological pedagogy at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Her work has involved sitting on a number of  institutional committees and working groups, and representing UQAM with various inter-university and research organizations, including CRÉPUQ, Techno-Montréal and SmartCities. Convinced that the internationalization of universities is crucial to the development of research, she also chaired the Network of UNESCO Chairs in Canada from 2016 to 2018. She has been the holder of the UNESCO Chair in Communication and Technologies for Development since 2006 and has established a variety of research partnerships with socioeconomic and international communities. Her research, funded notably by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Bell New Media Fund, focuses on the social uses and appropriation of information and communication technologies. Her work has been the subject of numerous publications and presentations in Canada and abroad.

Magda Fusaro currently sits on the boards of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and the Quartier de l'Innovation. Since April 2018, she has been a member of the digital council (Conseil du numérique) established by the Government of Quebec. Ms. Fusaro joined the International Committee of Universities Canada in October 2018, and the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal appointed her to its board of directors for a one-year term.