Doug Surtees to be interim associate dean, academic, during Heavin's leave
The University of Saskatchewan College of Law has announced the appointments of Ibironke Odumosu-Ayanu as associate dean, graduate studies and research, and Heather Heavin as associate dean, academic, with Doug Surtees serving in Heavin’s role in the interim.
Odumosu-Ayanu, who joined the law school as assistant professor in 2008, will assume her new role on July 1 and serve for five years. She replaces Barbara von Tigerstrom. In a news release, the law school thanked von Tigerstrom, full professor, for her contributions as interim associate dean.
Meanwhile, Heavin will commence her three-year term in her new role on Jan. 1, 2026, as she will be on administrative leave from July 1 to Dec. 31 this year. Most recently, she served as interim associate dean, academic.
Heavin taught at the law school on a term basis in 2001 before permanently joining its faculty in 2003. She has been associate dean for research and graduate studies and chair of the graduate studies committee. She also helped establish the CREATE Justice research centre.
According to the law school’s news release, Surtees will be interim associate dean, academic, while Heavin is away. He joined the law school’s faculty in 2005, held a term appointment from 2002–03, and taught as a sessional lecturer starting in 1994.
According to the law school’s website, Odumosu-Ayanu teaches contracts and business organizations. Her research presently focuses on local communities and extractive industries.
Before joining the University of Saskatchewan, she worked as a sessional lecturer at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Law and at the Canadian Institute of Resources Law in Calgary.
Odumosu-Ayanu has served as a consultant for the United Nations University, vice president for conferences of the Canadian Law and Society Association and a member of its board of directors, and a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
She has sat on advisory boards, spoken at international conferences, written articles that appeared in international journals, and received numerous academic awards, scholarships, fellowships, and grants.
Odumosu-Ayanu earned her PhD from UBC in 2010, her LLM from the University of Calgary in 2005, her barrister-at-law (BL) designation from the Nigerian Law School in 2003, and her LLB (honours) from the University of Lagos in 2001.
A recipient of teaching awards, Heavin has taught courses on business organizations, business skills and risk management, contracts, commercial relationships, international commercial transactions, international trade law, oil and gas law, and secured transactions.
Her research focuses on international and domestic trade and business law, as stated in her profile on the law school’s website.
Heavin practised at the law firm now known as MLT Aikins LLP in Regina from 1997–2002 and clerked with former Chief Justice Edward Bayda of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal from 1996–97.
She has served on numerous committees at the University of Saskatchewan, on the executive of the Canadian Bar Association’s Saskatchewan branch, and in other community organizations.
Heavin obtained her LLM at Harvard University in 2003 and her LLB as a gold medalist and magna cum laude at the University of Saskatchewan in 1996.
Surtees has taught courses on elder law, contracts, trusts, insurance law, wills, and disability law. His research areas include elder law, disability law, wills, guardianship, public legal education, and contract law, as stated in his profile on the law school’s website.
He served as co-director of the Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan from 1994 to 2005, as well as a board member and past president.
Surtees has acted as a labour adjudicator and arbitrator. He is a certified mediator and a member of the Saskatchewan bar.
He was president of Easter Seals Canada and the Saskatchewan Abilities Council. He has also sat on numerous boards.
Surtees received his LLM in 1994 and his LLB in 1987, both from the University of Saskatchewan.
