Alexander Mills

About

I teach undergraduate courses in Evolution, Ecology, Conservation Biology, and Environmental Law, as well as Biology of Sex in the NATS program. I also teach field courses, most recently in Algonquin Park (Ornithology and Biodiversity) but also in Belize (Tropical Ecology), and I am the York faculty lead for the Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology (OUPFB).

I was the 2014 recipient of the Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2018, my book Biology of Sex was published by University of Toronto Press.

I continue to study bird migration as time and funds allow, with particular interest in the conservation and demography of migratory species and in effective ways of monitoring them.

I serve the university community in diverse ways. I was an Associate Dean during the 2016-2019 period with a diverse portfolio related to undergraduate students; one legacy from this period was the establishment of York’s Neuroscience program, shared between the Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Science. I am often in supporting roles in the Petitions, Academic Standards, Tenure and Promotion, and Teaching Committees, and I have the ongoing pleasure of advising students in both the Environmental Biology and Environmental Science programs. I am the Biology lead for the 2026 revision of environmental programming in the Faculty of Science.

I volunteer in the community, especially in areas related to conservation and public education. I annually conduct Breeding Bird Surveys (Environment Canada), and I have just finished filling a lead position in the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas project (2021-2025). As that project wound down in 2025, I switched my community outreach work to the land conservation sector, where I have joined the Board of one of the province’s most active Land Trusts.

Research Areas