Ali Blythe

Summary

Ali Blythe brings his warmth, creativity, and vision to the Royal Roads community as Associate Director of Digital Experience. He is an attuned poet who works to bring equity and the representation of everyone’s story to all he does. Currently, he is also an RRU graduate student in the Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration and Leadership program, helping him to bring a systems-minded perspective to university life.

Experience

Over eight years at RRU, Ali has helped translate institutional priorities into storytelling that supports student success and highlights the university’s commitment to changemaking. He leads the strategy and growth of the digital ecosystem, including web and social platforms that connect current and future students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the public with the university. His work frequently brings together leadership, administration, and academic units to ensure the university’s digital presence reflects its academic mission and the experiences of its community. In 2024, he received the university’s Changemaker Award for continuous learning and knowledge mobilization.

Before joining Royal Roads, Ali worked in communications roles with the Government of Alberta, BC Transit, and the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, where he contributed to major initiatives and campaigns.

Alongside his professional work, Ali is a poet whose writing traverses the mysteries, sorrows, and pleasures of transformation and becoming. He is also a volunteer arts organizer, editor, and mentor who is committed to supporting emerging 2SLGBTQ+ writers. At RRU, he has contributed to efforts that foster creativity and community dialogue, including workshops and events that bring artistic practice into conversation with the university’s social and environmental commitments.

Ali is drawn to places where art and scholarship converge, having experienced the transformative potential of both across his work and life. His graduate research, supported by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, explores one such place of convergence: artist- and writer-in-residence programs in Canadian public universities. He also earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria.

Through this work, Ali has become increasingly attentive to how universities navigate complex governance challenges by drawing on the perspectives of staff, faculty, and students so that it might continue to serve learners and society. He lives with his partner, poet and counsellor Melanie Siebert, on the Lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking peoples.