Dr. Bill Owen is the Interim President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia.

Since joining UNBC in 2002 as a faculty member in the Department of Psychology, Dr. Owen has held a wide range of progressive academic leadership roles. These include Vice-Provost Faculty Relations, Interim Dean of the College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences, Vice-Provost Student Engagement, and most recently Interim Provost and Vice-President Academic. In each of these positions, he has worked closely with faculty, staff, students and community partners to advance the University’s mission while fostering a collaborative and dynamic academic environment.

As a professor, Dr. Owen has taught extensively, offering courses from foundational statistics to advanced seminars in cognition and psycholinguistics. His teaching excellence has been recognized with awards, and he continues to contribute through guest lectures. His scholarly background centers on visual word recognition, psycholinguistics and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Owen has a Bachelor of Science from Augustana University College and a Master of Arts and PhD from the University of Saskatchewan. 

Dr. Owen’s leadership is rooted in UNBC’s founding vision as a university “in the North, for the North,” as well as in the UNBC Strategic Plan READY and the READY Roadmap: Academic Plan 2025–2031. With a strong focus on student success, faculty engagement and institutional excellence, he is deeply committed to ensuring that UNBC continues to serve as a beacon of academic innovation, inclusivity and community impact.