Word, Sound, Power annual celebration shines spotlight on Black artists
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Members of the York University community are invited to celebrate Black artistic talent during a showcase of performances on Feb. 8 when the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora presents Word, Sound, Power: An Annual Celebration of Black Artistic Expression.
The Black History Month event spotlights Black cultural and artistic expression through performance, which this year includes drumming and dance, spoken word, a jazz ensemble, an R&B ensemble, The Toronto Gospel Choir and more.
An opportunity to highlight Black artists and creativity, the event will be open to the community and is free to attend. It begins at 5:30 p.m. with a welcome reception in the CIBC Lobby, Accolade East Building at the Keele Campus, and performances will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Tribute communities Recital Hall, Accolade East Building.
“As usual, we will be hosting a Black History Month event at which time we will be showcasing and celebrating the talents, artistry and ingenuity of Black university and high school students through their music, poetry, dance and singing. Our annual event recognizes the contributions of Jean Augustine to this national recognition of Black presence in Canada” says Professor Carl James, the Jean Augustine Chair and Senior Advisor on Equity and Representation.
Featured performances include:
• York University doctoral student Miss Coco Murray with Coco Collective with a presentation in drumming and dance; • Peel District School Board student Marie Pascoe with a spoken word performance; • a performance by York’s Oscar Peterson jazz ensemble; • a spoken word performance by Canadian poetry slam champion Dwayne Morgan; • a performance by York’s R&B ensemble; • a performance by spoken word artist Ryan Burke; • a presentation by the Toronto Gospel Choir; and • a spoken word presenation by York University student Ashley Keene.
Remarks will be offered by Jean Augustine, the first Black woman elected to the Parliament of Canada, and champion of the unanimous vote in 1995 that saw February designated as Black History Month; Robert Savage, dean, Faculty of Education; and humanities Professor Andrea Davis, special advisor, Anti-Black Racism Strategy, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. Representation from York’s Division of Equity, People and Culture, along with Christine Maclin of Unifor – a sponsor of the event, will also share remarks.
Word, Sound, Power is co-presented by the Faculty of Education, the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, the Department of Humanities (Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies) and the Division of Equity, People and Culture.
Doris Anderson Award honours for two York University grads
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The awards, which commemorate the trailblazing legacy of Chatelaine magazine editor Doris Anderson, celebrate Canadians who exemplify the grit and ingenuity, two characteristics often used to describe Anderson.
The iconic Canadian magazine announced the awards earlier this month. York grad Birgit Uwaila Umaigba (MEd ’18, BScN ’16) leads the list of recipients of the award, and Osgoode Hall Law School grad Michelle O’Bonsawin (LLM ’14) received an honorable mention.
The two York grads were named among a 2022 cohort that includes such luminaries as Canadian politician Anita Anand and Olympian Marie-Philip Poulin.
Umaigba was named a Doris Anderson Award recipient for elevating the voices of Canadian nurses on the front lines of pandemic care. Umaigba has a masters of education and a bachelor of science in nursing from York University.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Umaigba was on the front line highlighting to the media the stories and struggles of Canadian nurses. A clinical instructor and professor at Centennial College’s nursing program, Umaigba has an intimate understanding of the issues Canada’s nursing sector faces.
As a new mother, clinical instructor and master’s student, Umaigba decided to work as an agency nurse while she juggled the many demands in her life. Agency nurses work outside the facilities where they are employed and have no benefits, paid sick days or job security. During the pandemic, she became well known as she spoke out about the challenges that health-care workers and in particular, agency nurses, faced during the pandemic.
Through her advocacy, Umaigba has raised awareness about how racialized and poor communities have borne the brunt of the pandemic, the mental health struggles nurses face and the injustice of Ontario’s Bill 124.
Michelle O’Bonsawin
Michelle O’Bonsawin. Image courtesy of the Supreme Court of Canada
In 2022, O’Bonsawin became the first Indigenous justice named to the Supreme Court of Canada. A member of the Abenaki First Nation of Odanak, she’s a champion of using Gladue principles – a judicial approach that takes into consideration Indigenous oppression.
With a distinguished legal career that has spanned more than 20 years, O’Bonsawin is a highly respected jurist. She was first appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa in 2017. Prior to her appointment, she was general counsel for the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group for eight years. In this role, she developed a thorough understanding of legal issues related to mental health and performed significant research regarding the use of Gladue principles in the forensic mental health system, appearing before various administrative tribunals and levels of courts, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Consent and Capacity Board, the Ontario Review Board, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Appeal.
She began her legal career with the legal services at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was then counsel with Canada Post, specializing in labour and employment law, human rights, and privacy law. O’Bonsawin has taught Indigenous law at the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Program and was previously responsible for the Indigenous Relations Program at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group. She is a frequent guest speaker on Gladue principles, Indigenous issues, as well as mental health, labour and privacy law.
More about the Doris Anderson Awards
In 2021, Chatelaine magazine renamed their annual Women of the Year honours to celebrate Doris Anderson, who began as the magazine’s senior editor in 1957. Over the course of her 20-year tenure as editor of the magazine, Anderson became well-known for her her tenacity, grit and determination. In her vision for Chatelaine, Anderson set out to create a women’s magazine that gave its readers information to re-imagine their lives, moving away from the “perfect, little hem-stitched housewife” that magazines during the 1950s were urging woman to be. Instead, Anderson published features on abortion, birth control and reproductive rights, equal pay, universal childcare and more, long before many of these topics were covered by other forms of media. Anderson died in 2007, the awards commemorate her enduring legacy.
Associate Professor Sarah Barrett earns 2022 Dean’s Research Impact Award
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Associate Professor Sarah Barrett is the recipient of the 2022 Faculty of Education Dean’s Research Impact Award (Established stream). Barrett was recently recognized and presented with the award at an internal Faculty event.
Sarah Barrett
The Dean’s Research Impact Award is awarded annually to a tenure stream member of the Faculty of Education in the Emerging and Established scholar streams, whose sustained programs of research displayed significant impact, broadly defined and relative to their career stage. The award recognizes research excellence, leadership, and innovation including sustained and significant contributions to the field, exceptional research achievements and leadership in research.
“In nominating you for this award, your colleagues were inspired by the interdisciplinary nature of your work, spanning as it does cultural studies, feminist theory, science education, and teacher education,” said Dean Robert Savage. “They were particularly moved by your recent report, Emergency Distance Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic, highlighting that it is one of the first of its kind to offer a comprehensive analysis of teachers’ experiences at one of the most difficult times in the profession.”
As one of Barrett’s nomination letter writers commented, “the report amplified the voices of teachers whose frustrations, hopes, creative ideas and fears had not been adequately captured or mirrored back to them.” Another letter writer noted that Barrett’s approach to research generates “the hope of building something more,” while another Faculty colleague recognized the power of Barrett’s research to engage “what needs to be done to ensure socially just conditions of learning both during COVID-19 and re-imagine education in the coming years.”
Barrett’s research focuses on teachers’ experiences of how their values and beliefs influence their practice; the ethical aspects of environmental education; teaching science for social justice; science teacher education; and developing more inclusive high school science curricula. Her current research revolves around teachers’ experiences of teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has authored several articles on teachers’ experiences of their unions and workplaces, teacher education and teacher identity, and presented at several national and international conferences.
Year in Review 2022: Top headlines at York University, January to April
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As a new year emerges, YFile takes a look back on 2022 to share with readers a snapshot of the year’s highlights. “Year in Review” will run as a three-part series and will feature a selection of top news stories published in YFile. Here are the stories and highlights for January to April, as chosen by YFile editors.
January
SEEC helps develop Business Recovery Project for York Region, Aurora Chamber York Region entrepreneurs were offered free access to the Schulich Executive Education Centre’s (SEEC) Certificate in Business Essentials course thanks to the leadership of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce and the support of the provincial government, York Region, Town of Aurora, and the York Region Chambers of Commerce.
York University launches report on progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals The UN Sustainable Development Goal Report is York University’s first annual progress report on the SDGs. Both the report and its accompanying website share stories of progress and facts about York University’s leadership, commitment and progress toward the 17 goals through inspirational stories, facts and figures, and forward-looking action.
York researchers publish novel findings on role of tumor suppressor protein in muscle health In a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Jonathan Memme, lead author, PhD student in Kinesiology and Health Science (KAHS), Ashley Oliveira, contributing author, PhD student in KAHS, and David A. Hood, senior author, professor and Tier I Canada Research Chair, and director of the Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC), show that the importance of p53 is most evident under stress conditions where the maintenance of mitochondrial function is essential.
Melissa Grelo and Emmanuella Owusu
Emmanuella Owusu is the inaugural recipient of Melissa Grelo Entrance Award for Black and Indigenous Excellence First-year Bachelor of Commerce in Information Technology student Emmanuella Owusu was awarded the Melissa Grelo Entrance Award for Black and Indigenous Excellence. The award is granted to a woman entering the first year at the School of Information Technology or the Department of Economics, in York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS).
February
York Capstone Network partnership with BHER expands opportunities for students The partnership with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER) provides more experiential learning (EE) opportunities that give students hands-on experience and help develop skills that enable them to create impact and drive positive change.
The project, titled “Teaching Against Anti-Black Racism and Toward Black Inclusion,” was conducted as part of the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (DARE) program for undergraduate students enrolled in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS)
York University establishes research fund to support Black scholars The York Black Research Seed Fund provides $150,000 in funding and mentorship to support the research activities of Black academics. The fund aims to promote equitable and inclusive funding to set roots for research projects and support future growth.
All aboard! Next stop is the autonomous train Autonomous cars conjure images of beetle-like vehicles zipping around the streets, but what about the potential of autonomous rail transport? One researcher at the Lassonde School of Engineering is bringing this vision to life and it has the potential to significantly improve a nation’s ability to transport both passengers and freight.
Do octopuses, squid and crabs have emotions? Octopuses can solve complex puzzles and show a preference for different individuals, but whether they, and other animals and invertebrates, have emotions is being hotly debated and could shake up humans’ moral decision-making, says York philosophy Professor Kristin Andrews, an expert in animal minds.
The new MCL offers equitable access to space, equipment and resources for students and faculty who are creating multimedia as part of learning, research and teaching
The coalition is open to students, alumni, staff, faculty members and community partners, who will work together to advance the school’s efforts to promote an academic environment that is equitable, diverse and inclusive and is shaped by decolonizing principles
Check back in the next edition of YFile for Year in Review 2022: Top headlines at York University, May to August.
Black scholars form new interdisciplinary research cluster
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By Elaine Smith
A group of professors affiliated in various ways with York University’s African Studies Program join forces to create a unique, interdisciplinary research cluster focusing on adaptive knowledge, response, recovery and resilience in transnational Black communities.
The research cluster focuses on the nexus between structural injustices and Black communities’ adaptive knowledge systems and resources for mitigating, responding to and recovering from epidemics.
The Overcoming Epidemics: Transnational Black Communities’ Response, Recovery and Resilience cluster was born in response to a call from the vice-president, research and innovation to accelerate interdisciplinary research with a focus on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) around key institutional strategic initiatives.
Mohamed Sesay
“We built on our existing relationships to develop a team to harness our expertise and research interests to look at inequity concerns in disease outbreaks among Black communities,” says Mohamed Sesay, assistant professor and co-ordinator of the African Studies Program in the Department of Social Science in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). “We were interested in connecting health questions to structural and social justice questions.
“We’re not just interested in outbreaks among Black communities, but in knowledge systems. We want to develop an intersectional, feminist and decolonial framework to interact with communities’ responses to epidemics and the barriers they face.”
While the call for funding may have given the group the impetus to formalize the project idea, the members all have an interest in creating an interdisciplinary consortium. In addition to Sesay, the interdisciplinary team of researchers includes LA&PS Professors Sylvia Bawa, Mary Goitom, Uwafiokun Idemudia and Nathanael Ojong, Glendon Professor Gertrude Mianda, Faculty of Science Professor Jude Kong, Lassonde Professor Solomon Boakye-Yiadom, Faculty of Health Professor Oghenowede Eyawo and Faculty of Education Professor Oyemolade Osibodu. The group is currently working in partnership with the Black Creek Community Health Centre in Toronto and leveraging ongoing collaborations to consolidate/establish research partnerships around Africa.
“Our partners appreciate that we are Black scholars researching pressing issues of inequality and epidemics that affect us as Black people,” says Sesay.
Sylvia Bawa
“All members of the cluster are aligned in our interests to conduct research differently and in ways that move away from orthodox extractive practices,” says Bawa, an associate professor of sociology.
“We want to be sure the knowledge we create has practical policy implications, but you can’t study epidemics in isolation without considering historical events and the current climate. We plan to create knowledge in a decentralized way, collaborating with communities so that we serve them without exploiting them.”
Jude Kong
Adds Kong, an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and director of ACADIC, “We want the communities to tell us what the problems are. We are tools for them to use to solve these problems. It is research being done from the grass roots up and we want to see the learning that takes place.”
Western PhD candidate Alice Sedziafa, the co-ordinator of the cluster, says that epidemics are the common starting point for their research, but they want to see what other issues each community faces, such as the gender-based violence and to create evidence-based solutions.
Oghenowede Eyawo
Notes Eyawo, an assistant professor of global health epidemiology, “We will be centering the voice of the communities in knowledge and solutions production, which is quite unique. In the past researchers have come to communities and acted as experts. We will co-create the research questions and generate knowledge together with the community.”
In addition to the initial cluster funding, they are currently preparing Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Development and Engage grants applications and have applied for the second round of cluster funding with an eye toward a three-year cycle of research activities.
Join discussion on how leaders are using evidence to end homelessness
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Making the Shift (MtS), a youth homelessness social innovation lab co-led by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University, will host a virtual discussion on “Using Data and Evidence to End Homelessness: Drawing lessons from the United Kingdom” on Nov. 17 at 11 a.m.
The housing crisis in Canada is continuing and getting worse. This means that the homeless-prevention sector needs to review its current interventions and develop new ones. Even more of our vulnerable populations are struggling to access housing, especially our young people. Embracing data and evidence-based decision-making are key steps to finding solutions.
Stephen Gaetz
Join Stephen Gaetz, professor in York University’s Faculty of Education and director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Homeless Hub, and Lígia Teixaira, co-editor of the book Using Evidence to End Homelessness, for a discussion on how leaders in government, academia and communities are developing and using evidence to end homelessness.
To create Using Evidence to End Homelessness, the Centre for Homelessness Impact brought together a range of expert voices to form a definitive evidence-led approach to bring about a sustainable end to homelessness. The contributors to this volume envisage a future in which data and rigorous evidence is created efficiently, as a routine part of government operations, and is used to drive improvements to policies and services aimed at helping people access and maintain stable, affordable housing.
Leveraging data and technology is a key strategy for Making the Shift in preventing and ending youth homelessness, with the goals of using data to impact policy and practice as well as drive the creation of innovative tools and resources to support communities.
Professor Sue Winton to deliver talk on privatization and public education
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Sue Winton, associate professor in York University’s Faculty of Education, will draw on her book Unequal Benefits: Privatization and Public Education in Canada, (University of Toronto Press), to explain how growing education privatization is undermining public education and democracy during a public talk, Nov. 8.
Sue Winton
Winton, a critical policy scholar and and co-director of the World Educational Research Association’s International Research Network on Families, Educators, and Communities as Educational Advocates, will show how policies, such as fundraising, fees and specialized schools and programs among others, enable some kids to accumulate more advantages from public education than other children. These policies, she argues, often reproduce patterns of social inequality that exist outside schools.
Winton will then discuss ideas for resisting education privatization and strengthening public education’s commitments to equity, inclusion, open decision-making processes and the collective good.
Her current research examines privatization and public education. The focus of one of her projects is to examine advocacy for and against public funding of private schools in various Canadian provinces.
In a second study, Winton and colleague Beyhan Farhadi are investigating online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This talk is presented as part of the Faculty of Education’s Public Lecture Series that features leading scholars from the Faculty sharing their research and scholarship on key publicly relevant issues in education and society.
For more information, or to register to attend, visit the event webpage.
York lands in top five in ‘Maclean’s’ comprehensive university ranking
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York University has advanced to the top five in the 2023 Maclean’s University Rankings in the comprehensive category, moving up one spot from last year.
Universities in the comprehensive category have a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. Over the last 10 years, York has also advanced 19 spots on the national reputation ranking, this year moving up one spot to No. 17 in Canada.
“York’s impressive fifth-place ranking as one of Canada’s top comprehensive universities confirms to our students, and the broader community, the growing importance of the work we are doing to drive positive change,” said President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. “Rankings are important indicators, and we always strive to do well. It is through teaching, research and discovery, innovation, and community building, that we achieve our goal: to have a lasting impact on the world around us. That’s exactly what we will continue to do.”
Other highlights include:
Sixth place ranking in Best Education Programs (Faculty of Education)
Seventh place ranking in Best Business Programs (Schulich School of Business)
New Provostial Fellows engage community to lead on Sustainable Development Goals
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Four new Provostial Fellows have taken up their roles this year. The program is now in its second year running, with current fellowships in place until spring 2023.
As an initiative led by the provost, each of the Fellows will build capacity across the institution to advance the University Academic Plan and York University’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Challenge. At the same time, the program offers tenured faculty an opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with University leadership. Here is a look at what the Fellows will be doing in Fall 2022 through to Spring 2023.
Changing transportation patterns to reduce York’s carbon footprint
Burkard Eberlein Professor of Public Policy and Sustainability Schulich School of Business
Burkhard Eberlein
Burkard Eberlein’s project, “Advancing Carbon Neutrality at York: Reimagining Mobility,” targets carbon emissions from commuting and travel related to studying, research and other University business activities.
The project will support University Academic Plan priority “Living Well Together” and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Action.
The first phase of this project identified best practices for reducing emissions from other universities around the world. Data from York’s carbon inventory was also weighed to understand the dynamics of York’s current carbon footprint. This data analysis will enable the project to match innovative ideas and best practices with York’s emissions profile so that proposals for action can target relevant areas and make an impact. The next phase of this project will involve a community-wide transportation survey, set to roll out this October. The goal of this survey is to gain a better understanding of community’s support for reducing mobility-related emissions. Overall, the project aims to find opportunities to reduce emissions within York’s current carbon footprint, so that the University can right the future on climate change.
Ensuring LGBTQ2S+ students can access support to successfully launch careers
Jen Gilbert Professor Faculty of Education
Jen Gilbert
Jen Gilbert’s project, “LGBTQ2S+ Students’ Experiences in their Professional and Clinical Placements,” will engage the York community in identifying new ways to better support early career nurses, social workers and teachers.
The project will support University Academic Plan priority “From Access to Success” and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities.
This work will look at the experiences of LGBTQ2S+ professionals as they embark upon clinical placements and positions in their field. Often, as students leave the university and begin working in their professions, they can enter less LGBTQ2S+ positive spaces. These students frequently enter the field full of excitement only to encounter homophobia and transphobia from supervisors, co-workers, clients, patients or students.
Faculty, staff and students will meet to talk about what kinds of supports should be put in place to best prepare these students in their professional education. A pan-University advisory group will also be created, alongside focus groups and consultations across the York community.
During Pride Month in June, 2023, meetings will be held over the course of a day to formally identify ways to support 2SLGBTQ+ students through experiential education. Students, program administrators and representatives from professional accrediting associations will meet, share strategies, and hear from student representatives. The project will conclude with a report on best practices for supporting 2SLGBTQ+ students in experiential education.
Diversifying and decolonizing curriculum at York
Lalai Ameeriar Associate Professor Department of Anthropology Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Lalaie Ameeriar
Lalaie Ameeriar’s project “Diversifying and Decolonizing Curriculum” sums up the progress made at York in this area and looks to identify opportunities to further maximize impact. As an anthropologist and ethnographer with more than 10 years of experience in research and teaching, Ameeriar brings unique expertise to this work.
In order to understand more about the experiences and viewpoints of various units and faculties who have implemented these efforts, a wider consultation will take place. Meeting with members of the Indigenous Council and the Advisory Council on Black Inclusion, the project will examine what efforts are making a difference at York University. A report will identify these experiences and create a benchmark for action.
Ameeriar will also review the literature, exploring what is meant by decolonizing the curriculum. Texts written on decolonizing and Indigenizing the curriculum in Canada, such as Sheila Cote-Meek’s Colonized Classrooms: Racism, Trauma and Resistance in Post-secondary Education (2014, Fernwood Publishing), will guide the review.
Supporting international student success after the pandemic
Saskia Van Viegen Associate Professor Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Saskia Van Viegen’s project “Engaging the Multilingual University” sets out to improve experiences and support for bilingual and multilingual international students at York.
Saskia Van Viegen
The pandemic had a disproportional impact on international students. Restrictions to global travel interrupted access to campus life and many of the benefits of studying abroad.
This project examines levels of support that are currently available to students and will identify opportunities to enhance the student experience, with a particular focus on factors that drive academic success and persistence towards graduation. It will delve into how students navigate and access the University’s support networks.
Van Viegen will consult with students and stakeholders from across the primary faculties, departments and programs that admit international students. The project will also identify critical networks of support and effective changes to program delivery models within an equity, diversity and inclusion framework. Finally, the project will provide a concrete set of recommendations that align with University Academic Plan priorities on 21st Century Learning and Next Generation Student Supports, and contribute to advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education
Welcome to YFile’s New Faces feature issue
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Welcome to YFile’s New Faces Feature Issue 2022. In this special issue, YFile introduces new faculty members joining the York University community and highlights those with new appointments.
In this issue, YFile welcomes new faculty members in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design; the Faculty of Education; the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change; the Faculty of Health; the Lassonde School of Engineering; the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; Osgoode Hall Law School; and the Faculty of Science.
