Professor Myra Tawfik to receive Distinguished University Professor appointment

Effective July 1, 2020 Windsor Law Professor Myra Tawfik, will be promoted to the rank of Distinguished University Professor. This is the University of Windsor’s highest rank, and it recognizes Professor Tawfik’s many talents as an innovative research scholar and teacher. Professor Tawfik will be awarded the title during the University of Windsor’s spring Convocation ceremony.

“Professor Tawfik’s expertise on intellectual property law and intellectual property law strategy has been recognized locally, provincially and nationally, but despite this prominence her commitment to mentoring students on our campus has never wavered,” says Dean Christopher Waters.

Professor Tawfik has been a professor at the University of Windsor since 1991, and has extensive experience in teaching and research in intellectual property law with a focus on copyright law, trademark law, trade secret/confidential information law, international intellectual property law, intellectual property strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship and law. She is a pioneer in experiential learning, an original scholar and thinker, and has a deep commitment to serving the entrepreneurial community in Canada. She has founded and led a number of intellectual property clinical and experiential initiatives to support Windsor-Essex start-ups and is a champion for promoting greater intellectual property literacy for Canadian innovators.

In 2016, she was appointed EPICentre Professor of IP Commercialization & Strategy to continue her research, teaching and outreach activities. Professor Tawfik is also a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).

Professor Tawfik has assumed administrative roles at Windsor Law throughout the years. She served as Associate Dean from 1998-2000, and in 2011 and 2017 she served as Acting Dean of the faculty.

“I am deeply honoured and proud to receive this recognition from the University of Windsor and am very grateful to the very many colleagues and students with whom I have worked and who have inspired and supported me along the way,” says Professor Myra Tawfik.

In 2018, she was recognized with a University of Windsor Award for Outstanding Community Outreach, Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Mobilization. And in 2019, Professor Tawfik was appointed to an expert panel on the commercialization of University generated intellectual property by the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities before being named Tech Researcher of the Year by Windsor’s own WEtech Alliance.