Call for submissions: President’s Prizes in Creative Writing Competition
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Get writing! The President’s Prizes in Creative Writing Competition is seeking original pieces in one or all of the following genres: poetry, short fiction, screenplay and stageplay.
The contest is open to all full- or part-time York University undergraduate students at the Keele and Glendon campuses. The deadline for submission is Monday, Jan. 13, 2020 by 5 p.m.
Although students can submit work to more than one category, they may only submit one work per genre. Submissions must fall within the four genres.
A prize of $400 will be awarded to the best entry in each genre. Material submitted must be original, unpublished and cannot have previously won any other contests.
The entries will be judged anonymously. Results of the competition will be announced within three months of the deadline. Prizes will be awarded at the President’s and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Creative Writing reception in the spring.
Winners’ names will be published in YFile and posted on the English Department and Creative Writing Program websites.
For more information, contact Michelle Anacleto, creative writing program assistant, at ext. 33304 or by email at michana@yorku.ca.
Research on girlhood brought to forefront in two-day symposium
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A symposium presented by the Institute for Research on Digital Learning (IRDL) at York University aims to bring together researchers to explore the notions and practices of the young girl-child.
“The Girl: From Expansive Imaginings to Embodied Experience” is a two-day event, running Nov. 15 and 16, and will ask questions such as:
What does it mean to be a young girl?
How do we delineate the boundaries of girlhood?
Which girls are visible and which are invisible in these boundaries?
What are the everyday practices of actual girls that work to challenge these narrow definitions and representations?
How do girls themselves negotiate, engage, take up, resist, or reassemble the cultural frames of girlhood offered to them?
Young girls have been overlooked in recent scholarship, left out of narrow definitions of what constitutes girls and girlhood. On one hand, girl studies has mainly focused on the teenage girl, overlooking challenges specific to younger children. On the other, research in child studies rarely isolates gender as the main focus.
The symposium takes as its starting point that the girl is a cultural construct – a discursive formation onto which social anxieties and debates are often inscribed.
The girl has been used as an image to justify many things; she is an image of the future, as a girl becoming, and an image of failure, needing to be saved. The purpose of this symposium is to reposition, relocate, and reframe younger girls within the context of both girl and child studies.
The symposium runs in Room 519, Kaneff Tower, Keele Campus, and is open to all. To learn more, visit the IRDL event page.
Centre for Jewish Studies hosts discussion, lecture on Charlottesville
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The Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies will present a lecture and discussion entitled “(En)countering Hatred: Lessons from Charlottesville” on Nov. 18 at 5 p.m.
The event will feature Deacon Don Gathers of the First Baptist Church and Rabbi Tom Gutherz of Congregation Beth Israel, both of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The speakers will address their experiences during the hateful events that took place in Charlottesville two years ago and about how the town’s community has come together to counter the hatred expressed by the Unite the Right rally in 2017.
Following their presentations, the floor will be open for discussion with the two speakers.
The discussion and Q-and-A will begin at 5 p.m. in 519 Kaneff Tower, at York University’s Keele Campus. Kosher refreshments to follow.
Professor Kean Birch takes a deeper dive into Web of Science’s ‘most cited’
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Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Professor Kean Birch recently learned that two of his papers were the “Most Cited” and “Most Read” articles at the world’s leading science and technology studies journal, Science, Technology, & Human Values, at the same time. And this got him thinking.
Kean Birch
What other sorts of metrics are out there about him?
Part of the reason for thinking about metrics is that they are central to the way that universities are ranked nowadays, whether that is national rankings like Maclean’s magazine, or global rankings like Times Higher Education, QS World University Rankings, or Academic World University Rankings. Such rankings are a fact of life for any university researcher and for any university, and these rankings are configured – in one way or another – by metrics including citations counts.
Metrics matter for professorial careers, since they can and do play a major role in hiring and promotion decisions. It’s worthwhile then, thought Birch, to try and understand his own personal citation score and its relationship to his academic career and to the University’s reputation. So, he decided to look at his citation performance and achievements in more depth.
Web of Science, the world’s leading citation index, is the best starting point for this. It covers more than 21,000 journals, 104,000 books, and eight million conference papers according to its website. Exploring Web of Science, Birch came across something interesting. Web of Science classifies some publications as “Highly Cited Papers,” representing those publications that “As of May/June 2019 … received enough citations to place it in the top one per cent of the academic field of Social Sciences, general based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year.” In order to avoid a range of problems with comparing citations, Web of Science adjusts crude citations by discipline, time since publications, and so on in order to come up with this ranking.
In looking up his own research, Birch discovered that he has three “highly cited papers” according to Web of Science, meaning that all three are among the top one per cent of the world’s most cited social science publications. These articles are:
According to Web of Science, York University has a total of 289 “highly cited papers” by current – and sometimes past – researchers, although they are distributed unevenly across the University. For example, as far as Birch could discern from the Web of Science database, there are another two “highly cited papers” by current researchers in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies:
“It’s obviously great to find out that your work is in the top one per cent of the world’s research,” said Birch in light of these findings, “and it’s gratifying to be recognized by Web of Science like this. I’m only 42, so hopefully I’ll be able to produce a few more influential pieces over the rest of my career.”
A screen capture of the Web of Science results for Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Professor Kean Birch
Writer and scholar Jesse Thistle headlines 2019 Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture
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The 2019 Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture will be presented by best-selling author and scholar Jesse Thistle, author of the memoir From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way (2019). Thistle’s talk will be followed by a discussion with panellists Shane Belcourt, ShoShona Kish and Jesse Wente.
Jesse Thistle
All are welcome to this signature event presented by the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies’ on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at York University’s Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre, Accolade East Building, Keele Campus.
The event kicks off with an opening reception at 6 p.m. in the CIBC Lobby, where light refreshments will be served. Thistle’s book will be available for purchase, and the author will be in attendance to sign copies. The lecture begins at 7 p.m., space is limited and those interested in attending should RSVP here.
Thistle, who identifies as Métis-Cree-Scot, is PhD candidate in history and an assistant professor in the Department of Equity Studies at York University. His work focuses on theories of intergenerational and historic trauma of the Métis people.
Thistle’s talk will explore the themes of his debut memoir, From the Ashes. Chronicling his experiences with trauma, addiction, and homelessness, From the Ashes is an eloquent exploration of what it means to live in a world surrounded by prejudice and racism. In this honest memoir, Thistle writes about his painful experiences with abuse, uncovering the truth about his parents, and how he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family through education.
This year, the Kitty Lundy Lecture will feature three panellists who will engage with Thistle’s memoir and share their own politically engaged creative practices: Shane Belcourt, an award-winning Métis filmmaker, writer and musician; ShoShona Kish an Anishinabekwe community organizer, producer, activist, songwriter and JUNO award-winning touring artist; and Jesse Wente, a long-time film and pop culture critic, and self-described “Ojibwe dude” with a commitment to organizational diversity and inclusion.
More about the Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture
The annual Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture honours the late Kitty Lundy, an admired educator of sociology who was associated with York University’s former Atkinson Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies from 1986-89. Lundy was concerned with the fields of education, occupation and women’s studies, and cared deeply about students pursuing their studies. To honour her, the memorial lecture seeks out an individual whose scholarship and creativity address principles to which Kitty Lundy exhibited commitment: engaged learning, equity and social justice, interdisciplinary exchange, and the dissemination and exchange of ideas and knowledge with communities residing within and outside of York University.
Forum looks at microinsurance and its role as a driver of Sustainable Development Goals
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What is microinsurance, why is it important and why has it fallen short of its potential global market? A one-day Risk & Insurance Studies Centre Forum will delve into questions about where microinsurance stands today and where it is headed.
The forum will take place on Monday, Nov. 25, starting with a reception and breakfast at 8 a.m. in the Miles S. Nadal Management Centre in the East Tower of the Toronto Dominion Centre at 222 Bay St., Suite 500, in Toronto.
Ida Ferrara, an associate professor of economics in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and Ed Furman, a professor of mathematics and statistics in the Faculty of Science, both part of the Risk & Insurance Studies Centre, are organizing the forum and will deliver an introduction at 8:30 a.m.
Michael J. McCord of the MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman, and one of the leading global experts in developing and managing microinsurance products, will deliver the keynote speech at 9 a.m.
Microinsurance, which is often labelled the next revolution in insurance, has witnessed explosive growth in developing countries, covering nearly 500 million low-income individuals in 2011. The current outreach of microinsurance is far below its estimated global market potential of four billion people.
What is this exclusion due to? Is it because of self-imposed constraints, or a result of credit and institutional barriers and market imperfections? Is there a role for microinsurance to play in developed countries? Can microinsurance become a game-changer for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals?
The event is co-organized by Ferrara and Furman and is sponsored by York University, the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences.
Aquatic Research Group Seminar to focus on the bioassessment of freshwater ecosystems
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Robert Bailey
The second event in the 2019-20 Aquatic Research Group (ARG) Seminar Series features Ontario Tech University biology Professor Robert Baileypresenting a talk titled “Bioassessment of freshwater ecosystems.” It takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 12:30 p.m. in 140 Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building (HNES). The seminar will be followed by a free lunch at 1:30 p.m. All members of the York community are welcome to attend.
The pan-Faculty ARG Seminar Series, organized by biology Professor Sapna Sharma in York University’s Faculty of Science, brings top ecologists from across the province to York to talk about their research in aquatic ecology and what’s causing stress in our waterways.
Professor Bailey came to Ontario Tech University from Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S., where he was provost and vice-president academic and professional studies. His career as a professor and senior academic leader includes serving as the inaugural director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Environment & Sustainability at Western University in London, Ont.
At Cape Breton University, Bailey led an ongoing academic planning process that transformed the university’s research and educational culture. While at Western, he brought together more than 75 professors from five Faculties for the development and execution of Western’s environmental undergraduate, graduate and research programs.
Bailey received his PhD in zoology from Western University. He completed his MSc in zoology and his BSc in ecology at the University of Guelph.
Here’s a look at the rest of the ARG Seminar Series lineup:
Feb. 12: Assistant Professor Claire Oswald (Ryerson University), “Impacts of road salt inputs on GTA streams” (tentative title)
Feb. 24: Assistant Professor Carly Ziter (Concordia University), “Thinking beyond the park: landscape structure, land-use history and biodiversity shape urban ecosystem services”
March 11: Professor Karen Kidd (McMaster University), “Local through global influences of human activities on mercury in aquatic ecosystems”
Each seminar will start at 12:30 p.m., followed by a free lunch at 1:30 p.m. The seminars will all take place in HNES 140 except for the talk on Feb. 24, which will be in 306 Lumbers Building.
The ARG includes researchers who focus on aquatic science from the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Environmental Studies, and Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. The seminar series is designed to engage this multidisciplinary scientific community at all levels, including graduate and undergraduate students, both at York University and in the wider aquatic science community.
Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics celebrates student success
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Students in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics (DLLL), in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), were recognized for their success during an awards reception on Oct. 24 at the Founders College Assembly Hall.
The event celebrated the academic achievement and volunteerism of 51 students and included students from the 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years. Hosted and sponsored by Founders College, more than 85 guests attended the event, including: students; their support networks; DLLL faculty; Pablo Idahosa, the head of Founders College; and LA&PS Associate Dean (Faculty Affairs) Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano.
The student award recipients are:
Arabic – Ola Salama (Top Student, 2018-19)
Classical Greek – Shakeel Ahmed (GK 1000, 2017-18); Michael Tersigni (GK 1000, 2018-19)
The award winners are students from Faculties across the University. Some are majors or minors in DLLL programs, some are pursuing certificates of proficiency in several languages to enhance their professional or personal goals and some are returning to university later in life.
The volunteer award recipients are students in linguistics who are also actively involved in the Linguistics Student Association and work to promote the DLLL program at a variety of events each year such as the annual Fall Campus Day and Spring Open House.
In her welcome address, Professor Maria João Dodman, Chair of the DLLL, congratulated students on their academic success and thanked the volunteers for their contributions to the department. She told students that the department is invested in forming students who will become great world citizens who understand not only language as one of the most basic and needed elements of our humanity, but also acquire intercultural skills that narrow the space between cultures, students who think in informed, critical and empathic ways, and who dialogue in knowledgeable and respectful ways.
“May the time you’ve spent at the DLLL continue to inspire you in your becoming a better version of yourselves,” Dodman said.
Professor Idahosa echoed some of the points highlighted by the Chair of the department and congratulated the DLLL on their signature event. Associate Dean Iannacito-Provenzano gave remarks on behalf of the dean and reminded all of those present of the importance of the humanities and a liberal arts education.
“Courses in language, literature, culture and linguistics give students the skills to relate to the other, no matter what life path they choose,” said Iannacito-Provenzano. “Our mission is to give students the tools to understand themselves better but also to better understand today’s world in all its complexities.”
The department also welcomed Susan Costa from Azores Airlines, who delivered a voucher for a free round trip to the Azores to Beatriz Aguiar, this year’s student award winner. Costa also spoke of the value of travelling, of experiential education and of learning about other cultures. In addition to Azores Airlines, the department also recognized other sponsored awards from Santander Totta Bank, Academia do Bacalhau de Toronto and Peter Sato.
Students receiving awards highlighted the lifelong skills they learned from their courses, and, in some cases, revealed that their experiences in the DLLL have been life-changing due to the care of their professors.
To add to an already heartwarming and inspiring evening, Adam Faux, a PhD student in music and award winner in Swahili, surprised everyone with a song in Swahili, while Claudia Ruiz, who won an award in Chinese, sang in Chinese.
Update on the York University delegation attending COP25 of the UN Climate Change talks
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York University holds observer status at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as a registered member of the “Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations” (RINGO) constituency: https://ringosnet.wordpress.com. The RINGO is one of the nine officially recognized constituencies in the UNFCCC. As a RINGO, York University is represented at the United Nations Climate Change negotiations within civil society and non-governmental organizations for the purpose of research advancement and dissemination.
This year, the delegation from York University to the 25th annual Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (known as COP25), is comprised of 11 climate change researchers and students from across the University, along with alumni and colleagues from other Canadian institutions. This is York’s largest accredited delegation since the University obtained observer status for COP15 in Copenhagen, in 2009. It includes members of the York University community who hail from Chile and have provided logistical support and guidance, as COP25 was to be hosted by Chile in Santiago.
Unfortunately, due to ongoing civil society protests in Santiago, the UNFCCC Secretariat announced on Nov. 1 that COP25 would be moved to Madrid, Spain, while retaining the Chilean presidency. York University’s UNFCCC Focal Point, Faculty of Science professor Dawn Bazely and Head of Delegation, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies professor Idil Boran, have been working with delegates as they navigate this fluid situation with its complex logistics.
While this year’s delegation membership process is closed, organizers are aware that many members of the York Community are interested in learning more about opportunities to participate as members of civil society and the research community for positive action, engagement, and knowledge-sharing on Global Warming and Climate Change. COP26 is scheduled to take place Nov. 9 to 20, 2020 and will be hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with Italy. No further details have been officially released by the UNFCCC. The process to form a delegation will take place in 2020 following the UNFCCC timeline and guidelines.
Following COP25, the York University delegation will hold a reporting back session for the York University community. The reporting back session will take place early in 2020.
McLaughlin Lunch Talk Series serves up 10 events for November
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McLaughlin College invites the York University community to come and listen to interesting speakers as they share their knowledge on a variety of topics, and enjoy a free lunch.
The long-running Lunch Talk Series continues this month, and will present 10 talks and presentations. Students who attend six or more Lunch Talks throughout the year will receive a Certificate of Participation, while those who attend 10 or more will receive a Certificate of Honour.
The talks take place in the Senior Common Room, 140 McLaughlin College, Keele Campus.
Here’s what’s on the menu for November:
Nov. 5 – Social Reconstruction of State-Indigenous Legal Relations in Canada
Michael Giudice
Presented by Michael Giudice, this talk considers that a prominent way to think about law is to adopt a state-centred view, which characterizes law as a special kind of normative system with special status within the society in which it exists. Giudice will aim to explore this view in the context of state-Indigenous legal relations in Canada. He hopes to show that such a perspective is not necessary, as some have maintained, but represents a social choice. He will also argue that the state-centred view creates serious moral and political difficulties for reconciliation.
Giudice is an associate professor of philosphy at York University, where he is also co-founder and co-director of York’s combined JD/MA (philosophy) program. He specializes in the philosophy of law, with a focus on questions of general jurisprudence, international law, constitutional law, legal pluralism and methodology. Recent book publications include Understanding the Nature of Law: A Case for Constructive Conceptual Explanations (Edward Elgar Press, 2015) and, with Keith Culver, The Unsteady State: General Jurisprudence for Dynamic Social Phenomena (Cambridge University Press, 2017). He earned his PhD in philosophy from McMaster University.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 6 – 30 Years of Changes at the Immigration & Refugee Board
David Vinokur
Why was the Immigration & Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) established in 1989 to replace the former Immigration Appeal Board? How has the process for refugee status determination changed since 1989? How have the grounds for obtaining refugee protection in Canada changed since then? This presentation by David Vinokur will explore the legislative changes over the years that have attempted to make the refugee determination system fairer and more efficient. Among the changes: elimination of screening for “no credible basis,” single-member panels rather than two-member panels, proactive decision-makers at the Refugee Protection Division and an internal appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division.
The regulatory body for immigration consultants has changed twice and is about to change again. The presentation will discuss the difference between a “convention refugee” and a “person in need of protection,” and will also discuss the difference between the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement and the new restriction on referral of a refugee claim to the IRB if the claimant has previously made a refugee claim in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand.
Vinokur is currently general counsel and manager of the law at the IRB. He started his career in the federal public service as an adjudicator, conducting quasi-judicial inquiries and detention reviews under the former Immigration Act. Vinokur has been integrally involved in numerous immigration and refugee legislative reform projects since the 1980s, including the establishment of the IRB. He is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and York University, and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 7 – Too Much Transparency in Policy Making? How Municipal Government’s Messy Policy Making Can Improve Public Confidence in Public Institutions
Joey Coleman
Joey Coleman, Canada’s first crowdfunded local journalist, looks at the challenges municipalities face as the most transparent level of government in Canada; how to improve public confidence in government processes by highlighting the messy process of municipal policy making; and how adversarial journalism can create more professional staff leadership at the municipal level.
Coleman is the St. Clair Balfour Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College. He operates an independent news outlet called The Public Record in Hamilton, Ont. His journalism focuses upon municipal government, land-use planning policy and administrative tribunals. His research at the University of Toronto is focused on municipal engineering, aboriginal law and the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 11 – Special Remembrance Day Presentation: Here’s to Heroes
George Blake
This event is presented by George Blake as we commemorate the 101st anniversary of the end of the First World War. This presentation will highlight the military involvement of Canadian Forces since the Boer War. Using stories from family history and first-person accounts from the front lines and the home front, Blake will delve into the history of the Canadian military, the ideas of service and sacrifice, and the impact on real people in our society.
In addition to the Lunch Talk, there will be an exhibition of authentic military artifacts dating from the Boer War to present day.
Blake received a bachelor of arts in specialized history from York University in 2009 and a master of arts in war studies from the Royal Military College of Canada in 2013.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 12 – Advancing Gender Claims in Post-Pink Tide Brazil: Bolsonaro’s Project for Women
Simone Bohn
After 13 years of progressive gender policies enacted by Workers’ Party federal governments, Brazil, under Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, is shifting this public policy area in a different direction. Its gender project is founded upon a rhetoric that invokes a reimagined past that essentializes and glorifies women’s roles as mothers and homemakers and seeks the advancement of fundamentally feminine public policy claims.
Using extensive archival research and in-depth interviews with officials in charge of Bolsonaro’s women’s portfolio as well as women’s movement actors, presenter Simone Bohn will demonstrate the current government’s strong rejection of feminist public policy claims. The latter are equated to a radical leftist subversion of Brazilian family and societal values. Feminine-centric public policy, on the other hand, is portrayed as one of the key paths to restore a nation in which “Brazil is above all things, and God is above all.”
Bohn is an associate professor of political science at York University. She co-edited Mothers in Public and Political Life and is currently working on a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council-funded project on Brazil’s women’s policy agency. Her articles have been published in the International Political Science Review, the Latin American Research Review and the Journal of Latin American Politics, among others.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 13 – Ontario’s Ethical Framework and Public Service in Turbulent Times
Derek Lett
It is often said that the only constant is change. This is true both locally and globally as governments struggle to offer stable leadership in the face of rapid demographic, economic, technological, ecological and cultural shifts that societies are experiencing. This presentation by Derek Lett will examine Ontario’s public sector ethics framework as it applies to provincial public servants and elected officials. It will explain how the public service values of professionalism, integrity and neutrality can be helpful to public servants, and aspiring public servants, as useful guides in navigating these turbulent times.
Lett has worked in the Ontario Public Service for the past 27 years. He is currently the director of operations, outreach and education in the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He holds a specialized honours BA in public policy and administration from York University, a master in public administration from Queen’s University, a certificate in change management from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and a certificate in alternative dispute resolution from the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor. He is the recipient of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Prix Excelsior Award for “professionalism, exceptional dedication and commitment to public service in Ontario,” as well as the Alumni Recognition Award and the Practicum Award from York University’s School of Public Policy & Administration.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 14 – Ethics: My Beliefs from Life and Learning
Ian Macdonald will reflect on practical issues and dilemmas that he has faced over the course of 62 years as an academic, deputy minister in the Ontario government, university president, corporate director and volunteer in the not-for-profit world.
Ian Macdonald
Macdonald is president emeritus (York University), professor emeritus of economics and public policy, and former director of the Master of Public Administration Program (Schulich School of Business). He was president of York U from 1974-84. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College). He is former chief economist of Ontario and deputy treasurer of Ontario, and deputy minister of treasury, economics and intergovernmental affairs. From 1994 to 2003, he was the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth of Learning. Macdonald is also a Fellow of McLaughlin College and a past director of a number of international academic organizations. In 1977, he was made an officer of the Order of Canada. He was awarded the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Silver, Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medals, and the Canadian Centennial Medal. He also earned the Vanier Medal for public service and is a recipient of a variety of honorary degrees in Canada and abroad. He is also former Chair of Hockey Canada.
This event runs from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 20 – The Toronto Office of the Integrity Commissioner – Fruits of a Major Public
Valerie Jepson
This event is presented by Valerie Jepson, who will discuss the development and operation of Toronto’s Office of the Integrity Commissioner, the first municipal integrity commissioner in Canada. The integrity commissioner is part of the City of Toronto’s overall accountability framework and is responsive, in part, to recommendations made by the significant public inquiry known as the Bellamy Inquiry.
Since 2014, Jepson has been the integrity commissioner for the City of Toronto. From 2007 to 2014, Jepson was counsel to the integrity commissioner for the Province of Ontario. Prior to joining the public sector, Jepson practised as a litigator in private-sector law firms in Calgary and Toronto in a variety of areas of law. In 2018, she was awarded the Society of Ontario Adjudicators & Regulators Medal. In 2019, was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by the University of Victoria Faculty of Law.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 25 – Crisis Management or Hysteria? Policy Reactions to the 2015 Refugee Arrivals in Austria and Germany
Julia Kienast and Constantin Hruschka will present this talk, looking at the policy reactions to refugees arriving in Austria and Germany in 2015.
Constantin Hruschka and Julia Kienast
Kienast graduated from the University of Vienna in 2014 with a general law degree and a specialization in criminology as well as European human rights. From 2015 to 2019, she was employed as a research and teaching assistant in the Department of Constitutional & Administrative Law at the University of Vienna. Kienast has published in the area of migration, asylum and human trafficking, and he co-edited two handbooks on pretrial detention standards for juveniles and on radicalization of juveniles in detention. In the course of her PhD thesis, Kienast is researching sustainable and adequate instruments for the management of mass migration in Austria. Currently, she is an LLM candidate at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor under the auspices of Fulbright and the Michigan Grotius Fellowship program. Kienast is a member of the German Netzwerk Migrationsrecht, the Viennese Refugee Law Clinic and the Academic Council on the United Nations System, amongst others.
Hruschka is currently working as a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law & Social Policy in Munich, Germany. In this capacity, he is participating in the Research Initiative of the Max Planck Society on the Challenges of Migration, Integration and Exclusion. Hruschka has previously worked, inter alia, with the Swiss Refugee Council (2014-17) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2004-14), and he is a member of the Swiss Federal Commission on Migration. He teaches European asylum law, inter alia, at Bielefeld University. His areas of research include: international and European, German and Swiss asylum and migration law; human rights law; refugee law and refugee rights; integration and social rights; and ethics of migration. Hruschka has extensively published on asylum and migration law, with a strong focus on the common European asylum system and its implementation.
Get writing! The President’s Prizes in Creative Writing Competition is seeking original pieces in one or all of the following genres: poetry, short fiction, screenplay and stageplay.
The 
Thistle’s talk will explore the themes of his debut memoir, From the Ashes. Chronicling his experiences with trauma, addiction, and homelessness, From the Ashes is an eloquent exploration of what it means to live in a world surrounded by prejudice and racism. In this honest memoir, Thistle writes about his painful experiences with abuse, uncovering the truth about his parents, and how he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family through education.
