William C. (Bill) Leggett’s distinguished career as an educator, academic administrator and scientist began when he enrolled for a transfer credit in Biology at the University of Waterloo during his final year in humanities at WLU. Inspired by the teaching and mentoring of Professor Geoffrey Power he completed his MSc (Waterloo) and PhD (McGill) and began his academic career as an assistant professor of Biology at McGill.
Rising rapidly through the academic ranks, he served as Chair of Biology, Dean of Science and Vice Principal Academic at McGill before moving to Queen’s as its 17th Principal and Vice Chancellor. It is said that in these roles “everything touched he made better”.
He is one of Canada’s has most accomplished and respected researchers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada and is recognized by the Institute of Scientific Information as one of the most highly cited researchers in his field. His record as an educator is equally impressive. A legion of his graduate students and Post Doctoral Fellows have careers in leading universities and research centers in Canada and Internationally.