With over twenty years of experience in the field of International Education, Livia E. Castellanos is currently on secondment from the University of Regina, where she serves as the Associate Vice-President (International), to the Ministry of Advanced Education, Government of Saskatchewan. In her role as the Executive Lead for International Education and Jurisdictional Initiatives within the Ministry of Advanced Education, Ms. Castellanos leads with a focus on elevating Saskatchewan's profile on a global front by championing the important work required to reinforce Saskatchewan Growth Plan priorities. Within this portfolio her primary responsibilities are: a) policy related to international education both in the provincial advanced education sector and from a national and global perspective; b) advancing Saskatchewan student study abroad efforts including re-attracting students back to Saskatchewan with global competencies to support population labour force targets, c) articulation of provincial positioning on federal-provincial relations with respect to international education, international partnerships, the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC); and d) lead policy development and implementation processes on the Ministry’s Francophone affairs file.​

​During the last decade, Ms. Castellanos has been responsible for leading, managing and spearheading all international initiatives at the University of Regina. She is the creator of UR International, a centralized operation of six departments that manage all things international at the University of Regina. Ms. Castellanos led the successful formation of the Saskatchewan Education Alliance, an alliance that works towards the internationalization of higher education in the Province of Saskatchewan, and was the catalyst for the prestigious Confucius Institute at the University of Regina. Prior to coming to the University of Regina, Ms. Castellanos served as the Director of Enrolment and Institutional Relations at the University of Winnipeg and an International Relations Officer at University of Alberta International.​

​Ms. Castellanos has served as the Executive Secretariat for Canada in the Inter-American Organization of Higher Education (IOHE), a board member and Chair of the Membership Relations Committee for the Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE), and a member of various provincial international education boards. She has consulted for several universities and higher education organizations across North America and written articles published by the European International Association of Education. ​

​Ms. Castellanos has been recognized for her contribution to the field of International Education. She has been honoured by receiving the United States Government State Department’s premier award of the 2016 International Visitor Leadership Program for foreign emerging leaders, the 2017 Intercultural Dialogue Institute’s Saskatchewan Multicultural Education Award, the 2017 Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration’s (CONAHEC) Award of Distinction for exemplary leadership and many others.​

​Livia E. Castellanos, born and raised in Mexico, came to Canada during the late nineties as an international student. She is a lawyer by training, is married, and is a mom to a fourteen year old son.​