York University takes significant step forward in journey to net zero
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As part of recent operational actions underway to help York University meet its aspirational target of becoming a net-zero university by 2040, York U has stopped running its fossil-fuelled co-generation units around the clock this summer.
No longer running the co-generation units 24-7 will lead to a more efficiency-based operation schedule that maintains service to the York community while minimizing strain on the provincial energy grid. The change is expected to reduce emissions by 22,000 tonnes and account for 80 per cent of the University’s 2030 emission reduction target.
Co-generation is the simultaneous production of two or more forms of energy from a single fuel source. In York’s case, natural gas has been used to produce both electricity and steam, which is then used for heating and cooling the campus. In traditional generation, excess heat generated through the process of producing electricity is expelled as waste into the atmosphere and waterways. The dual production of both electricity and recoverable heat made co-generation more efficient and cost-effective than other options previously available.
As years have passed, the measure of sustainable practices has changed. Operating the co-generation units around the clock is no longer the most sustainable means to deliver services on campus, and it accounts for a significant portion of York’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.
To reduce the continuous operation of the co-generation units, the University’s Energy Management team created a plan to deliver heating and cooling to the campus by employing strategies that use data analysis to help determine the most effective, efficient and sustainable way to do so, while maximizing comfort and minimizing carbon emissions. While the co-generation units may still be used, it is expected that they will run only when necessary and for approximately five per cent of the year – a significant shift from around-the-clock operation.
In November 2023, President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lentonannounced York’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions a decade earlier than originally planned. The aspiration is part of the University’s recently renewed Sustainability Policy, which includes a commitment to develop and implement a process to track, measure, evaluate and report progress toward net-zero emissions.
The adjustment to the co-generation units will get York 80 per cent of the way to its target of curbing emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 – a near-term target on the journey to net zero.
“In the 1990s, York was an early adopter in making operational improvements to reduce our emissions, including transitioning away from coal-generated electricity and using natural gas instead to help lower our emissions,” says Carol McAulay, vice-president finance and administration. “This significant step to decarbonize our central plant for heating and cooling highlights our continued leadership and innovation to support our net-zero target.”
The co-generation shift is the first of many projects the Energy Management team expects to implement as part of its action plan to decarbonize the central plant and modernize energy management at York. Additional projects that better use data to inform operations are forthcoming.
York-affiliated athletes competing for gold at 2024 Olympic Games
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Athletes and medical team members with ties to York University are set to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, beginning July 26, representing a spectrum of sports such as volleyball, judo, rugby and more.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will host several York-affiliated athletes who have competed at previous games, including Tokyo 2020, as well as several new faces making their Olympic debut.
The Olympic-bound people are:
Amandev Aulakh
Amandev Aulakh: Team Canada Medical Team Aulakh, a sports medicine physician at York University, has been a member of the Lions team since July 2022 and has previous experience serving on the medical staff for Team Canada at the 2022 Under-17 (U17) FIFA Women’s World Cup. She will travel to Paris to be part of the core medical team for Team Canada.
She served in a similar role for the 2019 Winter Universiade, the 2019 Parapan American Games and the 2020 Summer Paralympics, and she was the chief medical officer at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games.
Charlotte Bolton
Charlotte Bolton: Para Athletics A member of the Lions track and field team from 2021 to 2022, Bolton is an athlete who won gold medals in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) para shot-put and para weight throw, as well as the U Sports para shot-put gold medal.
Since then, Bolton has earned several Canadian throwing records in women’s F41 – a classification for field athletes with short stature – and currently ranks in the top 10 in the world in shot-put and discuss.
Bolton previously represented Canada at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games. In Tokyo, Bolton placed sixth in both the shotput and discus.
Dan Dearing
Dan Dearing: Beach Volleyball Dearing played with the Lion’s men’s volleyball team from 2011 to 2013 following a successful high-school career, having won the under-18 national championship in 2008 as a tournament all-star. While at York U, he captured the gold medal at the Ontario provincial beach volleyball championships in 2012.
Paris 2024 marks Dearing’s Olympic debut, after winning the North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Olympic Qualification Tournament in June, building on previous wins of silver at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and winning the NORCECA Beach Tour Final in 2022.
Shady El Nahas
Shady Elnahas: Judo Elnahas competed as a wrestler at York U in 2017. That year, he was nominated for rookie of the year (based on a near-perfect 23-1 record in OUA competition) and was named the men’s wrestling most valuable player.
Since then, Elnahas has earned several prestigious medals as he shifted from wrestling to judo, including two golds at the Pan American Judo Championships in 2019 and 2020; gold at the 2021 International Judo Federation (IJF) Judo Grand Slam; gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games; gold at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games; five back-to-back golds at the Pan American Championships; and silver at the 2024 IJF World Championships.
Elnahas made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo Olympics, where he finished with a fifth-place ranking after playing his way to the bronze medal match. He is headed into the Paris 2024 games as the third-ranked man in the world in his weight class.
Melissa Humana-Paredes
Melissa Humana-Parades: Beach Volleyball Humana-Parades played with the Lion’s women’s volleyball team from 2010 to 2014 – winning back-to-back OUA Championships – and was recognized as York U’s 2011-12 female athlete of the year and a three-time OUA all-star.
Since then, Humana-Parades has become a six-time International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) gold medallist, a 12-time FIVB medallist, a five-time Canadian champion, a two-time Association of Volleyball Professionals champion, a Commonwealth Games champion and, most recently, a world champion, earning the first-ever gold for Canada at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Humana-Parades previously represented Canada at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Asia Hogan-Rochester
Asia Hogan-Rochester: Rugby Hogan-Rochester played with the York Lions women’s rugby team in 2018, while at the same time competing on the track and field team. Afterwards, they went on to represent Canada’s women’s rugby sevens senior squad at the Lima 2019 and Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
During their career, Hogan-Rochester also earned the women’s rugby rookie of the year award and the women’s track and field rookie of the year award for their efforts in the 2019 U Sports season.
Arthur Szwarc
Arthur Szwarc: Volleyball Szwarc played with the Lions men’s volleyball team from 2014 to 2016, earning an OUA bronze medal with the team in the 2014-15 season.
While at York University, Szwarc was already representing Canada competitively – at the 2015 Universiade and FIVB Junior World Championship, and winning bronze at the 2015 U21 Pan Am Cup. He debuted with the senior national team at the 2017 FIVB World League, helping Canada win a bronze medal – the team’s first podium finish at a FIVB international event.
Szwarc made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, where Canada finished eighth after making it to the quarterfinals.
Syed Muhammad Haseeb Tariq
Syed Muhammad Haseeb Tariq: Swimming Tariq was a member of the York University Lions competitive swim team before going on to compete for Pakistan at the South Asian Games in 2016, earning four gold medals during the trials in 2015. He won the 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle events and also broke two national records while winning the 50-metre and 100-metre backstroke events.
In 2018, he participated in the Commonwealth Games and made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 competition, where he finished 62nd in the men’s 100-metre freestyle.
Katie Vincent
Katie Vincent: Canoe-Kayak Sprint Vincent, a student in York U’s Faculty of Health, first represented Canada in rowing at the 2013 World Junior Championships, making a quick impact by earning the team two gold medals the following year at the same competition.
Vincent has since added to that accomplishment, having earned over 10 medals – almost half of them gold – at the Canoe Sprint World Cup before going into the 2024 Paris games. She has also earned several World Championship medals.
She made her Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2020, finishing in eighth place in her solo competition and earning bronze for Canada in the team competition.
Brandie Wilkerson
Brandie Wilkerson: Beach Volleyball Wilkerson played with the Lion’s women’s volleyball team from 2010 to 2014. During that time, she was York U’s female rookie of the year in 2010-11, an OUA rookie of the year award winner and a four-time OUA all-star.
After York U, Wilkerson went on to represent Canada at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where she and her partner Heather Bansley made it to the quarterfinals, matching Canada’s best-ever Olympic result in women’s beach volleyball.
Wilkerson will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a new partner, fellow York U alumna and teammate Humana-Paredes.
The pair have been competing as partners since October 2022, and have earned several notable wins, including top-five placements at FIVB world events and silver at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Shannon Westlake
Shannon Westlake: Shooting Westlake, an alumna of York University, won bronze medals in the women’s 50-metre rifle three positions events at both the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games and the 2024 Continental Championships of the Americas in early April.
Paris 2024 marks Westlake’s first Olympic Games, but she is no stranger to the competitive arena. With three Pan Am Games – including her debut at Toronto 2015 – under her belt, she brings a wealth of experience and unwavering determination to the Olympic stage.
Doctoral student named Trudeau Scholar
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By Alexander Huls, deputy editor, YFile
Zoe M. Savitsky, a doctoral candidate at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, was named a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar for work that promises to examine the ways corporations gained the power of expression and how they have expanded and defended that power. The recognition marks not just a professional accomplishment for Savitsky but one reflective of a new chapter in her journey.
Before becoming a PhD student at York U in 2023, Savitsky approached her legal work in an altogether different manner. For over a decade, she had a successful legal career in the United States working in high-impact government and non-profit organization litigation and leadership roles, including at the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
As a Trudeau Scholar, Savitsky will pursue work rooted in experiences from her legal career, notably her time with the Oakland City Attorney’s Office. There, Savitsky collaborated with in-house teams, other local and state governments, non-profits, civil society groups, and the private bar on litigation involving local, national and multinational corporations – such as opioid companies, fossil fuel companies and real estate companies – whose actions harmed Oaklanders. Many of those cases centred on allegations that the corporations in question had engaged in false, deceptive or misleading speech that caused real-world harm.
Zoe M. Savitsky
Savitsky found herself considering larger questions around how modern systems of litigation sometimes allow corporations to “get away” with harmful deception. As she noted, it has often taken decades for litigants to win cases about corporate deception, if they ever do, citing as examples cases about how tobacco companies misled the public about the health risks of tobacco; how paint companies continued advertising lead paint despite their knowledge that it was a dangerous neurotoxin; and how the opioid industry understated the risks and harms and oversold the benefits of its products.
“My current project is very much an extension of all of that work,” says Savitsky of the work she will now pursue through her scholarship, which examines how corporations became legal persons with speech or expression rights, and how corporations have expanded and defended those rights in the litigation ecosystems of the United States and Canada.
“I hope to understand how things came to be as they are today in the world of transnational corporate accountability and, in particular, to understand the history and context for how it is often challenging to hold corporations meaningfully accountable for their contributions to some of the most existential problems facing the world today.”
The decision to pursue academic work led Savitsky to Canada, eager to grow as a scholar and learn from people outside the United States who were working on corporate accountability, but it wasn’t easy to move away from a professional and personal support system built over decades. “Leaving that network – which includes people who have become not just colleagues but close friends – for a new country and context was hard,” says Savitsky. “But as my scholarship draws on the issues and themes I had the opportunity to work on in my litigation career, I will continue to get to engage with many of the people I collaborated with and learned from in the past.”
Nonetheless, she saw the move as worthwhile. “Opportunities like the Trudeau Scholarship will allow me to build anew in this new context, in addition to how I’ve already had the chance to start building meaningful new relationships at Osgoode and at York more broadly,” Savitsky says.
The recent recognition from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation should prove a significant stepping stone in accomplishing that.
The Trudeau Foundation Scholarship is a prestigious, three-year leadership program that provides doctoral candidates with skills to translate their ideas into action, for the betterment of their communities, Canada and the world.
It also provides a strong communal element through fellows and mentors who are leaders in respective disciplines and offer scholars important guidance as they move forward in their careers.
“From the beginning, my interest in the Trudeau program has been because of its people,” says Savitsky. “I appreciate the resources the scholarship provides to PhD candidates, but the people are the fundamental heart, and draw, of the foundation. Of course, I am also thrilled that the Trudeau Foundation’s scientific cycle centres the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is at the core of my doctoral work.”
Savitsky hopes that through her work, now supported by the Trudeau Scholarship, she can make a positive impact in the field of corporate accountability – and beyond. “I also hope the story I plan to tell through my doctorate is informative to people outside of the legal academy, including to those in other academic disciplines, such as political science, and to those actively working – whether for governments, for non-profits and NGOs, in civil society, as community leaders and so on – to make the world a better, safer, healthier place overall,” she says.
Professor recognized for exemplary lifetime contributions to the study of Earth
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York University Professor Spiros Pagiatakis received the Canadian Geophysical Union’s J. Tuzo Wilson Medal, which recognizes a Canadian scholar’s outstanding contributions throughout their career to the geosciences – the study of the Earth – and counts as the highest national honour earned by those in the field.
“I am deeply honoured and privileged to be awarded the highest accolade of geosciences and join the previous 45 laureates,” says Pagiatakis of the medal, which was given to him in recognition of a lifetime of contributions to the advancement of knowledge and education in Canadian geosciences. He is only the third York-affiliated person to receive the award.
Spiros Pagiatakis
Pagiatakis joined York U in 2001, after already having made a nearly decade-long impact in the field as a lead senior research scientist for the federal Department of Natural Resources Canada. In both his professional and academic careers, Pagiatakis has dedicated himself to the study of the Earth as observed from terrestrial and space platforms, with highly innovative work and discoveries starting from the Earth’s inner core motions. He has specialized in measuring and understanding the planet’s geometric and physical shape, and how its internal forces – like plate tectonics – bend form, deform and more, as well as how its atmosphere and gravity operate.
Pagiatakis has tackled innovative research questions across the spectrum of geodesy and Earth sciences, with groundbreaking findings that led to the recent recognition.
Among Pagiatakis’s innovations in the field, he pioneered a better understanding of deformation of the Earth due to the dynamics of ocean tides, as well developed the first map of Canada and the U.S. showing how gravity changes with time due to the rebounding of the Canadian land mass due to climate change and the melting of the ice since the last ice age glacial maximum, some 23 thousand years ago.
Since joining York U, his interests have shifted to space science, which has led to important discoveries highlighting how dynamics in the Earth’s lower and upper atmosphere influence, impact and shape climate science.
Pagiatakis’s work has been recognized and funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, the GEOIDE National Centre of Excellence, the Carbon Management Canada National Centre of Excellence, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Innovation Trust and Natural Resources Canada.
Pagiatakis’s impact has also extended beyond research by influencing future generations in the field, notably at York University. He was one of a handful of pioneers who created the first engineering programs and accreditation at York U, which ultimately led to the founding of the Lassonde School of Engineering, where he served as the inaugural associate dean of research and graduate studies for five years. He has also led the development of innovative methods of teaching in a virtual classroom environment and in blended course delivery to university students and engineering professionals before online teaching became commonplace.
A lifetime of efforts aren’t limited to the administrative, however. Pagiatakis has been a passionate teacher, deeply invested in collaborating and supervising graduate students to help guide the next generation of pioneers in the field of geophysics. Former students – many of whom now work for top organizations like NASA, the European Space Agency and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, and in academia in Canada and abroad – credit him for providing high-quality graduate education, training and mentoring opportunities in an equitable, safe, welcoming and encouraging environment built on trust, where acceptance, openness, motivation, enthusiasm and curiosity have been paramount.
For his part, Pagiatakis is reluctant to take too much credit for what he has accomplished. “My graduate students are the heart, the soul and inspiration of our research; without them nothing would be possible” he says.
Nonetheless, as one of his J. Tuzo Wilson Medal nominators emphasized, Pagiatakis “is one of those exceptional scientists who do not shy away from various administrative and organizational duties someone has to undertake in order to keep science healthy.” His dedication to doing just that – keeping his field of science thriving with his career, academic work and mentorship – are what now have earned him the recognition his students would agree he’s long deserved.
New funding supports training in vaccine production at York U
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Thanks to new funding from the Ontario Ministry of Colleges & Universities, the Faculty of Science is launching a new micro-credential in Vaccine Production and Quality Assurance in Winter 2025 at York University’s Markham Campus.
“Our new programs in vaccine production and biotechnology aim to bridge talent gaps in the pharmaceutical industry in Canada and to offer students and professionals a variety of training options for upskilling for industry jobs,” says Hovig Kouyoumdjian, associate dean of curriculum and pedagogy in the Faculty of Science.
Spearheaded by Kouyoumdjian and faculty members Jade Atallah, the Markham biotechnology graduate program director, and Luz Adriana Puentes Jácome in the Department of Biology, the micro-credential in Vaccine Production and Quality Assurance will provide accelerated, experiential and industry-centred training on the fundamentals of vaccine production, including emerging technologies.
“It will be offered as an eight-week, blended program, shaped by input from a variety of industry partners,” says Jácome. “The micro-credential offers more rapid, vaccine-focused training relative to the new Graduate Diploma in Biotechnology and Master’s in Biotechnology Management programs, which are broader in scope and completed in one year or two, respectively.”
With the new funding, the Faculty of Science will also purchase new equipment that will not only benefit student training in the micro-credential but also the Master’s in Biotechnology Management and Graduate Diploma in Biotechnology programs starting this fall at Markham Campus. The equipment will include cell culture tools for various expression systems (bacterial, yeast, insect and mammalian cells) and novel vaccine platform technologies (DNA, RNA and recombinant proteins) that are highly aligned with current advancements in the vaccine industry.
“Given the focus of these biotechnology postgraduate programs on applied training, the new equipment will support a curricular delivery that is hands-on and highly experiential in nature,” says Atallah. “Our students will complete their training with the knowledge and skills they need to secure in-demand jobs in the biotechnology and vaccine production industry.”
“We are grateful to the Ontario Ministry of Colleges & Universities for supporting the creation and enhancement of these important programs at York University,” says Kouyoumdjian.
Résolution envers des changements positifs et un avenir solide pour l’Université York
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Chers collègues, chères collègues,
Beaucoup d’entre vous ont sans doute lu l’annonce du lancement du plan d’action En avant York dans YFile. Cette initiative pluriannuelle cruciale contribuera à assurer le succès continu de notre établissement en tant qu’université d’enseignement et de recherche de premier plan consacrée à l’amélioration du bien-être des communautés que nous servons.
À l’instar de nombreux autres établissements de l’Ontario, nous sommes confrontés à des défis importants en raison d’une série de facteurs externes, notamment le gel des droits de scolarité, le plafonnement des visas pour les étudiants internationaux, l’inflation et les effets persistants de la pandémie. Parallèlement, les besoins, les intérêts et les attentes de la population étudiante ne cessent d’évoluer. Ce plan d’action trace la voie à suivre pour assurer notre viabilité financière de manière à répondre à ces changements et maintenir l’élan que nous avons pris pour réaliser la vision audacieuse de York pour l’avenir.
Notre succès dépend de l’engagement collectif de notre communauté. Nous devons passer à l’action rapidement et de façon judicieuse. Cette initiative nous oblige à nous concerter, de manière différente et créative, pour redéfinir ce que l’Université peut accomplir.
Le chemin à parcourir ne sera pas toujours facile, mais il est nécessaire. En étant transparents au sujet des défis à surmonter, nous pourrons atteindre un consensus et aller de l’avant avec les changements nécessaires si nous voulons continuer à répondre aux besoins de notre population étudiante et de la société. En adoptant ce plan, nous garantissons que notre université reste pertinente et influente.
J’encourage chaque membre de notre communauté à lire les informations contenues dans YFile et à s’engager dans le plan d’action En avant York. Votre engagement est primordial tandis que nous gérons ensemble ce processus transformateur. Nos idées nouvelles, notre ouverture au changement et nos efforts de collaboration nous conduiront vers une Université York plus forte et plus résiliente.
Merci pour votre dévouement et votre soutien indéfectible.
Rhonda Lenton Présidente et vice-chancelière
Advancing YU empowers Black, women students
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Advancing YU is a mentorship and scholarship program in York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) that links Black and/or women third- and fourth-year students with experienced alumni mentors, and provides professional and personal development opportunities.
A critical component of the Advancing YU program is matching student mentees with alumni mentors who share identities and experiences, and who have faced similar barriers.
“By connecting them with alumni mentors who share aspects of their identities, and many of whom have navigated similar challenges, we provide contexts within which our participants can excel and where they receive supports to encourage success in their academic and professional pursuits,” says Michele Johnson, interim dean of LA&PS.
Advancing YU consists of two streams – Advancing Black Students and Advancing Women – and offers a $1,000 scholarship upon completion of the program requirements. The program has benefited over 300 LA&PS students since 2020.
“Advancing YU has been a game changer for our Black and women students, offering targeted mentorship and resources that are meant to address some of their specific needs and aspirations,” says Johnson.
Within the program, students are organized into “quartets” consisting of one mentor and three students. They are required to invest 40 hours total (10 hours per month) into meeting with their mentor, joining workshops and personal reflection.
The program has engaged over 70 mentors in the past three years and continues to provide accomplished Black and/or women mentors a platform to give back to the York U community.
Alumni mentor Anika Holder, vice-president of human resources at Penguin Random House Canada, had this to say about the program: “One of the reasons I wanted to participate in the Advancing YU program is because, at this point in my career, I felt it was time to reach back and lift up. It’s helpful [for students] to have a real-life example who can offer their thoughts and help them to uncover and shape their vision.”
Keisha Porter
Lynette Furtado
Lynette Furtado, a past participant in Advancing YU who now works as a policy consultant and mental health advocate, calls the program transformative in helping her navigate post-graduation life.
“[It was] vital in allowing me to network and develop strong connections, while providing resources tailored to my needs,” Furtado says. “My mentor guided me in the complexities of the legal field and helped me explore paths available to me.”
Keisha Porter, a recent mentee in the Advancing Black Students stream, echoes that being accepted into the program was life changing, both professionally and personally.
“Aside from building great contacts and networks, this program has taught me how to show up and advocate for myself in a variety of situations and environments. As a result, I am empowered and prepared to face both future obstacles and victories.”
“This program exemplifies our commitment to supporting diverse groups within our community and creating pathways for the advancement of Black and women scholars,” says Johnson.
Advancing YU student applications are open now until Oct. 4. Students must be in their third or fourth year of study in an LA&PS program, with a minimum of 54 credits completed. To learn more and apply for the 2024-25 Advancing YU program, students can visit the Student Information page.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to share Advancing YU program information and the application deadline with students.
Students gain experiential education in South Korea
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Fifteen undergraduate students, from across Faculties and disciplines, travelled to South Korea for a Global Political Studies course designed to immerse undergraduates in the history and culture of the country – both academically and experientially.
Each year, students in the course South Korea: The Politics of Youth and Old Age participate in a unique opportunity representative of York University’s commitment to experiential education.
Thomas Klassen
Beginning with one week of study at York U’s Keele Campus, students in the course embark on a three-week trip to Seoul, South Korea. There, the students “take advantage of every opportunity to understand, and participate in, Korean society,” notes Professor Thomas Klassen, who teaches the annual course.
This year, in addition to absorbing the culture through visiting museums, palaces and temples, the students learned to cook, watched live shows and a professional baseball game. They also met with staff at the Canadian Embassy in Seoul for a presentation on Canadian diplomacy and the life of diplomats. The course – and trip – concluded with a full-day guided tour to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Kavindi Perera, a student in the course, says, “Getting to visit and study in South Korea was a dream come true for me. I was able to learn and experience so much.”
During their visit, students spent two days collaborating with Korean undergraduate students at Chung-Ang University, exchanging knowledge on – and designing solutions to – major social problems in both Canada and Korea.
Each student developed a research project while in Seoul, covering topics such as the K-pop industry, gender inequality, Korean beauty standards, fertility trends, education fever and international relations. Speaking and observing Koreans, seeing local advertisements and clothing, and living in Seoul provided students with a rich knowledge base that would have been impossible to obtain otherwise.
York University students wearing traditional Korean clothes while visiting a palace.
“I learned enormously by being immersed in Korean culture, politics and society,” says student Alex Singh. “The knowledge I acquired helped me grow as a person and will be an integral part of my university education.”
Another student, Samantha McConnell, says the course was “the greatest and most fun adventure of my academic career.”
Klassen adds, “The students learned more, not only about Korea but about themselves. They returned with a much deeper understanding of the world around them, but also their place in it, and the possibilities they have to make positive changes.”
Committing to positive change and a strong future for York University
Many of you will have read about the launch of the York U Forward Action Plan in this morning’s YFile – a crucial multi-year initiative that will help to ensure our University’s continued success as a leading teaching and research university committed to enhancing the well-being of the communities we serve.
Along with many other institutions in Ontario, we are facing significant challenges due to a range of external factors including a tuition freeze, international student visa caps, inflation and the lingering effects of the pandemic. At the same time, the needs, interests and expectations of students are changing. This action plan provides a path forward for financial sustainability in ways that will continue to respond to those changes and maintain the momentum that we have achieved towards realizing York’s bold vision for the future.
Our success hinges on the collective engagement of our entire community. We must act thoughtfully and without delay. This initiative requires us to think together, differently and creatively, to redefine what our University can achieve.
The path ahead may not always be easy, but it is necessary. Transparency around the challenges we face will help us reach consensus and move forward with the changes that are required if we are to continue to meet the needs of our students and of society. By embracing this plan, we are ensuring that our University remains relevant and impactful.
I encourage every member of our community to read the information in YFile and engage with the York U Forward Action Plan. Your commitment is crucial as we navigate this transformative process together. Our fresh ideas, openness to change and collaborative efforts will lead us to a stronger, more resilient York University.
Thank you for your dedication and unwavering support.
Rhonda Lenton President and Vice-Chancellor
Jean-Thomas Tremblay
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Department of Humanities Professor Jean-Thomas Tremblay has co-authored a new book, Negative Life: The Cinema of Extinction, which incorporates film studies, queer theory and psychoanalysis
