CAUT names new executive director

Ottawa, ON – The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has announced the appointment of David Robinson as its executive director, effective July 1, 2014. David Robinson is currently associate executive director of CAUT.

Prior to joining CAUT, he was the senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). He has also been a lecturer at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, and Carleton University in Ottawa.

Currently, he also serves as the senior advisor on higher education, copyright and international trade issues to Education International, the global union federation representing more than 30 million teachers and education workers in 171 countries and territories. He is also a member of the board of the CCPA, and is president of OpenMedia.ca.

He will replace James L. Turk who has accepted a position as distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson University in Toronto.

In making the announcement, CAUT’s executive committee acknowledged Turk’s “profound contribution to the defense of academic freedom and public post-secondary education in Canada,” and encouraged Robinson to continue the important work “in defense of academic staff and public post-secondary education in Canada.”