Prof Dr Sunniva Whittaker

Sunniva Whittaker is serving her second period as the elected rector of the University of Agder (2019 – 2027) and is also the Chair of the University Board. From 2021-2025, she was the Chair of Universities Norway and is currently a Member of the Board. Before becoming rector, Whittaker was the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education at UiA and has also held positions as Department Head and Vice Rector at NHH Norwegian School of Economics. Sunniva was elected to the European University Association Board in 2025.
Whittaker aims to create a culture of learning where students feel like partners in a community of knowledge. She works to achieve close collaboration with students through cooperation with student organizations and associations and by having her own student mentors. Ensuring good research conditions for research groups and individual researchers is also a top priority. In line with UiA’s vision of co-creation of tomorrow’s knowledge, she stresses the importance of further development of collaboration between industry and public institutions in the region, including ensuring that students are connected to the labour market during their education. Whittaker was born in Trondheim and was raised in Canada, and considers both Norwegian and English as her mother tongues.
Whittaker holds a PhD in French Linguistics from the University of Bergen. She has studied French, Literary Science and Russian and is also a trained conference interpreter. Her PhD dissertation, which was written in French, explores how argumentation is integrated into language structures.