predecessor successor birth_place title birth_date term_start article_title term_end name occupation alma_mater
myer horowitz george pedersen w. john mcdonald -lrb- acting -rrb- amit chakma summit , new jersey , united states president university of western ontario of the university of alberta president of the 24 december 1946 1989 1994 paul davenport
 1994 2009 paul davenport economist , academic administrator stanford university university of toronto
paul davenport

paul theodore davenport , -lrb- born december 24 , 1946 -rrb- was the tenth president of the university of alberta and ninth president of the university of western ontario .
born and raised in summit , new jersey , he graduated magna cum laude from stanford university in 1969 with a ba in economics .
he moved to canada and earned an ma and ph.d in economics from the university of toronto .
from 1973 until 1989 , he taught economics at mcgill university and from 1986 to 1989 , he was vice principal for planning & computer services .
he served as president of the university of alberta from 1989 until 1994 , and became president of the university of western ontario on july 1 , 1994 .
davenport 's tenure as president of the university of alberta was tumultuous .
several years into his term , during a period of tight provincial budgets , he sought to close the faculty of dentistry and drop the football program .
these controversial proposals proved unpopular and brought resistance on many fronts , including that of the university 's board of governors , and he was not offered a second term .
he has honorary degrees from the university of alberta -lrb- 1994 -rrb- , the university of toronto -lrb- 2000 -rrb- , and the international university of moscow -lrb- 2002 -rrb- .
he was made a chevalier de la légion d'honneur in 2001 , one of only a few foreigners to be awarded this honour .
he was also named an officer of the order of canada in 2002 .
among uwo students , especially the student newspaper the gazette , he was often referred to as `` the french knight . ''
he is a member of the economics department at uwo and continues to supervise theses and publish articles .
his term ended 2009 , making him only the third president of western to serve longer than ten years .
he was succeeded by amit chakma .
davenport is the chair of the board of governors of the university of rwanda , and is also a member of rwandan president paul kagame 's presidential advisory council .
