Project Benchmark, led by the Vice-President Finance & Administration and championed by York University’s president and vice-presidents and the University Executive Committee, is a benchmarking evaluation process that will help York University to bring together previous data provided by the PRASE and AAPR initiatives with new information.
It will establish, for the first time, the baseline data to help York University better understand the distribution and costs of administrative services across the institution in support of the University Academic Plan.
The project will provide the necessary data that York University needs to better inform the development of the Service Level Agreements under the Shared Accountability & Resource Planning (SHARP) budget model.
Retired York Region Chairman William Fisch offers grads a masterclass in ethics
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Bill Fisch stands at the podium on the convocation stage.
William Fisch
Osgoode Hall alumnus William Fisch (JD ’74), a respected lawyer, former city councilor and regional government chairperson, returned to his alma mater on Friday, June 16 to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University during spring convocation ceremonies.
As chairman and chief executive officer of the Regional Municipality of York from 1997 to 2014, Fisch demonstrated steadfast commitment to enhancing the York Region community at a time when it had become Canada’s fastest-growing constituency. Fisch received his JD from Osgoode Hall Law School and practiced law in Thornhill before entering local politics. During his time in office, he advocated for the University’s interests by spearheading initiatives such as the new subway extension, and by lending instrumental support for the University’s proposal for a new Markham Centre campus and the opening of the eponymous Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre, a living laboratory where visitors learn about forest ecosystems and natural resources.
In his trademark gentle but firm style, Fisch’s honorary degree address to graduands of the Faculties of Health and Environmental Studies was a masterclass in ethics and how to thrive and earn respect as a politician. During his address, Fisch also took the time to reflect on his own life and the rewarding intersections with York University.
“I received my law degree at Osgoode. I have connections to York University starting almost 50 years ago. How strange fate can be,” said Fisch, “I remember in 1968 driving all the way up to York University to visit my then-girlfriend, who I am happy to say is now my wife of 46 years.
“In that year, it was a fledgling campus in many respects. It was one big open field. I recall there was one group of colleges, my wife was a member of McLaughlin College,” he said, noting with a grin that York University in the late 1960s was a very different place, complete with windswept fields and a few buildings.
William Fisch is congratulated by York University Chancellor Greg Sorbara
That was York’s beginning, said Fisch, and over the years he watched with delight as the University grew into an internationally recognized centre of learning with a stellar reputation for its many and varied faculties.
He spoke about his important role in helping that growth by bringing transit in the form of new bus routes and the Spadina subway extension to the Keele campus. Then, in 2014, he worked with the University to bring a satellite campus to York Region. “A year before I retired, I was approached by York President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri to assist him in his quest to open a satellite campus in York Region. That was also my quest at the time. About three months before I left office the province announced their approval for a campus in Markham.
“These accomplishments were all team efforts, I was the leader of the team and when progress stalled or faltered; I stepped in and did what needed to be done to make a tough phone call, take part in the difficult negotiations, and sometimes make the ultimate decisions, all behind the scenes. That was my job, my responsibility,” he said. “But on route to each success, I always made sure that I recognized the people I worked with, and for me. My successes were their successes, and by recognizing them, I gained not only their respect but also their willingness to extend themselves again and again.
“I tell you this because as you proceed into the next stage of your life, you may at times be the leader and at times not, but always lead with strength and humility. Complete your part of each team effort with pride and confidence as you proceed to make your mark in the world, which I advise you to do so not just by what you achieve but by how you achieve it,” he said.
“My next piece of advice paraphrases a line that many of you are familiar with, which is ‘to thy own self, be true,’ I would say to ‘others be true.’ This refers to promises. As a lawyer and a politician, I was asked to help many individuals and groups and I was asked to make many promises.
William Fisch delivers his convocation address to graduands of the Faculites of Health and Environmental Studies
“My policy was to never make a promise that I did not have the ability to or capacity to keep, but once that promise was given, I made sure to always deliver on it. If you gain a reputation for always delivering on your promises, people remember that your word can be trusted,” he said.
Finally, he asked graduands to remember to treat everyone they encounter in their lives with the respect and to value other opinions.
CBC host Matt Galloway urges new grads to ‘listen’ to life
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In a speech peppered with humour and contemplation during the fourth Spring Convocation ceremony at York University, CBC radio personality Matt Galloway offered graduands a simple piece of advice: to listen.
The York alum (BA ’94) received an honorary doctor of laws during the June 19 convocation that celebrated students in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design.
A staple voice at the CBC for more than 10 years, Galloway is the host of CBC Radio One’s “Metro Morning” in Toronto and co-host of “Podcast Playlist.” One of Canada’s most respected radio personalities, he began his career as music director for CHRY-FM at York.
Matt Galloway
Galloway shared with guests that he followed in his mother’s footsteps when he came to York. He also noted that some things had changed drastically since his time on campus (like his shoulder-length dreadlocks), and some things had stayed the same (like the promise of a subway).
But he turned to a more serious tone when he credited York for his job – “the best job in radio in this entire country.”
He shared with guests that he learned how to talk on the radio here, on CHRY, and also met the woman who would eventually become his wife, through the program he hosted on campus.
“And I learned what I think is the most important thing for my job,” he said. “You might have guessed it, I like to talk. And I like to say that I talk for a living, but that’s not really true. In the best case scenario, I listen for a living.”
Now, as a radio personality, he conducts about 11 interviews every day and talks to people from all walks of life – from prime ministers to community leaders and everyone in between.
“It’s my job to ask questions, sometimes really difficult questions,” he said, “but, really, it’s important that I listen.”
Listening is something he has to be mindful of, he said, but when he does it, amazing things happen.
He shared a story about an interview he did with a young woman a few years ago – an incredibly sad story. The day before, her brother had been shot while with his friends, who saw the shooting, took him to the hospital, dropped him at the doorstep and drove away. They didn’t come forward to say who the shooter was. The woman had the bravery to call them out and tell her story through tears.
“It was an extraordinary conversation, a heartbreaking interview,” said Galloway, “and those of us in the studio just held our breath while she talked. I had a million questions I wanted to ask her, but the most important thing in that moment was to just to close my mouth and let her talk.”
Later that day, Galloway heard from a big bank executive who had been listening to the show while making his tea. He became so engrossed in the story that he stopped in his tracks while carrying a kettle and was immobilized by the story he was hearing.
Matt Galloway receives his honorary doctor of laws from President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, as Chancellor Greg Sorbara looks on
Suddenly he felt the handle of the kettle burning his hands. He dropped it and the kettle smashed onto the floor, said Galloway.
“He said, in that moment, while his hand was burning, it felt like the entire city stopped moving as she told that story,” said Galloway. “And that to me, in many ways, captured the power of listening – that you could talk, or you could just listen.”
Galloway reminded grads and their guests that we live in a culture where it’s very easy to talk, and we have so many tools to have our voices heard. He urged them to use those tools to make their voices heard.
“But I also hope that you use those tools to listen,” he said.
What’s even more important is to listen – to those around you and to yourself.
He said he would have never ended up in his job without someone taking the chance to listen to him, and without listening to his own inner voice telling him to go for it.
“You’re going to get a lot of advice … about what you should do and how you should lead your life…. My request to you, as you get set for that next chapter, is to be an active listener, a vigorous listener, somebody who leans forward and wants to hear what other people are saying,” said Galloway. “It will change your life, but it will change how you see the lives of other people as well.”
Pride at York U kicks off June 20 with flag drop
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The Pride Flag will fly at York University during Pride month, the flag drop will take place June 20 at 3:30pm
York University community members are invited to stand proudly with the LGBTQ2+* communities this week during PRIDE Toronto festivities.
York@Pride events are organized by The Art Gallery of York University (AGYU), The Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion (REI), York Federation of Students (YFS), Trans, Bi, Lesbian & Gay Allies at York (TBLGAY), Glendon Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (GLgbt*), and the SexGen York committee.
Pride festivities at York University officially kick off on the Keele campus with a Flag Drop Opening Ceremony and Reception on June 20, from 3:30 to 4:30pm, in the Student Centre. All are welcome.
Events continue on June 21 with a Summer Jam Pride Barbeque, from 4:30 to 8:30pm in the Catalpa Court located behind the Student Centre. Also on Wednesday, the Trans Bisexual Lesbian Gay Asexual at York (TBLGAY), a student-run organization, is hosting a Pride potluck dinner and movie night at the TBLGAY Office, Room 449a, Student Centre.
York University community members are invited to join the Trans* Pride Rally and March on June 23 at the North Stage Intersection of Church and Isabella in downtown Toronto. The rally begins at 7pm and the march starts at 8pm.
On June 24, the festivities continue with the Pride Community Street Fair on Church Street. The fair starts at 10am and continues until 6pm. As part of PRIDE Toronto events, University community members are invited to the Dyke March on Saturday at 2pm. The march begins at Church and Bloor.
PRIDE Toronto events wrap with the Pride Parade on June 25 at 2pm. The parade starts at the intersection of Yonge and Bloor at 2pm and continues to Dundas Square.
Want to be part of the festivities? Join York@Pride at the Trans* Pride Rally and March, the Dyke March, and Pride Parade or volunteer at the Streetfair booth. Contact YFS Campaigns & Equity, campaigns@yfs.ca for more information on how you can march with York University in the parade. Bring your re-usable water bottles as it is going to be hot.
York@Pride is supported by the Office of the Vice-Provost Students, AGYU, REI, YFS, TBLGAY and the SexGen Committee. For more information on the events, contact Suzanne Carte, assistant curator, AGYU, at 416-736-5169 or by email to scarte@yorku.ca.
* LGBTQ2+ is an abbreviation used to represent a broad array of identities such as, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, two-spirited, pansexual, asexual, gender and sexual minorities and allies.
Trans* refers to a person whose gender identity is not the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. Community members who may self-identify as trans can be transgender, transsexual, intersex, third gender, genderqueer, genderfluid, non-binary, bigender, or any other identity that is not cisgender (cisgender people are those whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth).
Karen Weiler receives honorary doctorate, inspires a new generation of grads
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During the first ceremony for York University’s Spring Convocation, graduands of the Faculty of Health’s psychology program heard words of inspiration from Justice Karen Weiler, one of the University’s most distinguished alumni.
The event, held Friday, June 16, recognized Weiler’s transformative work in law with an honorary doctor of laws. One of the most eminent judges in Canada, Weiler (LLB ’67, LLM ’74) has dedicated her career to improving access to justice for litigants in need and combating societal discrimination. She is a double graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and was first appointed to the former District Court of Ontario in 1980 at the age of 35, making her the youngest person ever to have been appointed to the federal judiciary.
Karen Weiler and Chancellor Greg Sorbara
During her speech, she remarked that she first graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School 50 years ago, and posed to graduands, “You’re probably asking yourself, ‘What does someone who graduated 50 years ago have to tell me that’s relevant to my life today?’ ”
Weiler said it took some soul searching to realize there were three lessons in life that brought her to this moment, and she shared her valuable insight with students and their guests.
“The first is don’t let others define who you are, or what your career will be – you, and no one else, should define what you can be,” she said, drawing from her personal experience in 1967 after being one of six women to graduate with a law degree in a class of 160.
She recalled the challenges of being a woman in the late ’60s and trying to find an articling job that would allow being called to the bar – “an uncertain career choice for a woman” at the time. A career so uncertain that when she did take a position in 1967 in Thunder Bay, Ont., she was the only woman practising law in all of Northern Ontario, which made headlines in the Fort Williams Daily Times-Journal.
“The novelty of a woman lawyer in the north opened up an unforeseen opportunity for me,” she said. Men in the process of separating from their wives chose Weiler to represent them because they thought it would be to their advantage to have a woman acting for them. Women started to call her because they felt more comfortable talking about matrimonial issues with a woman.
“I decided to accept their cases, with the result that I expanded into a new area of practice – family law,” she said.
Her second life lesson came from that decision, she said, and she urged grads to “use your degree to question and to challenge the way things are, and to help bring about change.”
Left to right: Chancellor Greg Sorbara, Karen Weiler, President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri
She saw an opportunity in family law and took on her firm’s volunteer legal aid work, a great deal of which was related to Section 8 of the Training School Act. This section of the law, she explained, allowed any person in a position of authority to send a child deemed “unmanageable” to training school – sometimes as far as 900 miles away from his or her family.
“I used to fight those applications like hell, but I usually lost,” she said. “I wanted to see that law repealed.”
Not long after, she returned to Osgoode Hall Law School to get her master of laws degree, and with the help of a study by government researchers who shared her concerns, she argued strongly for repeal of Section 8. In 1975, the Ontario legislature voted to repeal.
“Today these children are more appropriately served by Child & Family Services,” she said. “My refusal to be limited by others’ conceptions of what I could do, and my willingness to take on areas in which others weren’t interested, but which I felt passionate about, led to the opportunity to work to make a difference.”
The value of your degree, she told grads, is that it trains you in a way of thinking that is adaptable to different circumstances and enables you to challenge the way things are, as well as to help bring about change.
Lesson number three, Weiler continued, is to be willing to continue to learn.
After practising law for 11 years, she became a judge – what most would consider the pinnacle of a legal career. But for Weiler, it was just the beginning. Appointed to the trial court in Ontario, and unhappy with being assigned a “disproportionate share of procedural motions,” she resolved to change her situation.
Weiler decided to return to Osgoode Hall Law School in the part-time, two-year master’s program in criminal law. She juggled a full caseload, family commitments and her studies.
“In the 50 years since I graduated from law school, the law hasn’t stopped evolving and I haven’t stopped learning,” she said. “Preparing these remarks about the three lessons in life I’ve shared with you today made me realize that the opportunities I was fortunate enough to receive arose in large measure out of the challenges I faced, and the confidence that with the support of my family, these challenges could be overcome.”
In her closing remarks, Weiler reminded graduands to continue to grow and expand their intellectual reach.
“Good luck on your climb,” she said.
York U sponsors welcome Syrian refugees to Canada on World Refugee Day, June 20
“World Refugee Day is an international day observed on June 20 to raise awareness about refugee crises and situations across the world,” said SRRI Student Ambassador and third-year Global Health student Humaima Ashfaque, a member of the Glendon Collective sponsor team who helps coordinate the project’s Refugees Welcome Here! campaign.
She and fellow Glendon Collective student team members, Hammad Saif, a kinesiology and health science student, and Sara Wasef, a biomedical science student, point to their prior experiences as newcomers to Canada and values of solidarity for their participation in the sponsorship project.
Wasef expresses her gratitude for “a feeling of security; security to be myself, speak my mind, and go out on the street without having to fear for my life or dignity,” and a desire to have “the honor to provide a semblance of that to those who need it most” as motivations.
The Team Math&Stats
“This program has taught me a lot of things about advocacy and truly working towards a vision and goal that you believe in I am glad that I got to be a part of this whole endeavor and I would absolutely do it again if given the chance,” said Saif.
The desire to act is echoed by their team lead, Glendon College Associate Professor María Constanza Guzmán, who shares her team’s appreciation “to have had the chance to respond in this way to the global refugee crisis” as they “remain committed to engaging actively in what we view as our responsibility.”
Teams in the RULSC Challenge have committed to fundraising and managing the necessary funds to support Syrian refugees and provide settlement support for up to one year upon their arrival in Canada.
Centre for Refugee Studies Director Jennifer Hyndman and SRRI Project Lead John Carlaw agree. “The York sponsors should be commended for their preparations, patience, and tenacity in waiting for the Syrian families to arrive. The work began more than a year ago, and will continue for more than a year after their arrival,” they said in a joint statement.
Jennifer Hyndman
“Some have said that private refugee sponsorship defines what it means to be a resident or citizen of Canada,” said Hyndman.
The Syria Response and Refugee Initiative, housed at York’s Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) with significant support from Osgoode Hall Law School also engages with and highlights the work of students and student groups in other forms of refugee support and activism within the University. The Muslim Students Association, for example, has raised more than $1,500 for the Glendon Collective’s sponsorship efforts and worked with the project’s student-led Refugees Welcome Here! campaign on a clothing drive for clients of Toronto’s FCJ Refugee Centre.
John Carlaw
“Sponsorship creates many different opportunities for York, opportunities to build and support the University community and the communities around us, opportunities for experiential education about the refugee system and about the positive difference every individual can make in the lives of those who come to Canada as refugees, and finally opportunities to gain and share a better understanding of the global dynamics that have created the refugee crisis, and the policies that might solve that crisis,” said Osgoode Hall Law School Dean and Special Advisor to the President on Community Engagement Lorne Sossin.
Faculty of Science Mathematics & Statistics Professor Mike Zabrocki, the lead of Team Math&Stats notes that for his team, “many members are themselves immigrants to Canada and the reason we originally wanted to participate in the sponsorship of Syrian refugees is that we felt like we were in a position to help.”
While highly motivated, Zabrocki’s team, like several others, has found the long wait times for sponsored refugees to arrive a major challenge. He hopes that members of the University community “make their politicians aware that there is still interest from groups like ours for Canada to do more to sponsor refugees. We are anticipating welcoming a second family, but the wait times indicate that the family may not be approved for a very long time.” After the arrival of the Syrian families on June 20, the York University teams will still be waiting for the arrival of 16 Syrian refugees with the length of those waits being uncertain.
Hyndman echoes Zabrocki’s concerns and the importance of refugee sponsorship. “Refugee resettlement is the only ‘durable solution’ that works in the current order we call the global refugee regime. It’s a WWII invention that needs serious rethinking, but private sponsorship such as that underway by the York teams, remains relevant and important to providing permanent high-quality protection for refugees,” said Hyndman.
Professor Dawn Bazely to receive the title of University Professor during spring convocation
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Dawn Bazely
Faculty of Science Biology Professor Dawn Bazely will receive the title of University Professor during York University’s spring convocation ceremonies. The University Professorship is one of the highest accolades given to an academic by York University. Bazely will be honoured during morning convocation ceremonies for the Faculty of Science and the Lassonde School of Engineering on June 22.
A University Professor is one “who has made an extraordinary contribution to the University as a colleague, teacher and scholar” and the recipient is selected by the Senate of York University’s Committee.
“Over nearly three decades, Dawn has cemented her early international reputation as an ecologist working at the leading edge of plant-herbivore interactions, and invasive plants,” writes her nominator and colleague Professor Sapna Sharma. “She is also one of relatively few STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) scholars who is internationally recognized for her research and expertise at the intersection of science, policy and politics.”
Bazely not only has a strong scholarly record, she brings her work to the community and is frequently interviewed by the media. She inspires and educates students in outreach initiatives (particularly to high school students), is a regular speaker at many school science conferences and events, and is active on social media, continuing to raise awareness of women in STEM.
Bazely is also an award-winning teacher at the Faculty and University level and a valued mentor, many of whose graduate students have gone on to prestigious fellowships and academic careers. Her service to the University is wide-ranging, including long-term leadership of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability, as well as active Senate committee membership.
One nominator states: “Professor Bazely is one of those all-too-rare individuals who recognizes the significance of interactions between research, scholarship, teaching and community leadership.”
She is the recipient of a 2013 President’s University-Wide Teaching Award and earlier this year, she was awarded a President’s Sustainability Leadership Award.
York University grad students sweep Autism Scholars Awards
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York University scholars Rebecca Shine and Karen Black have been recognized with the 2017-18 Autism Scholar Awards for leading the way in research to improve Ontario’s capacity to diagnose, assess and treat autism.
The 2017 Autism Scholars Awards, administered by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), include one award at the doctoral level and one at the master’s level.
Rebecca Shine
Shine will receive $20,000 to continue her doctoral research on parent and child outcomes in families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her research will examine the factors that have an impact on the well-being of children with ASD and their parents, to gain a better understanding of how they influence each other. As she pursues a doctoral degree in clinical developmental psychology at York, Shine hopes this research will lead to a better understanding of the way parents and children with ASD influence each other, improve treatment planning for children with ASD and provide better supports for families.
Karen Black
Black will receive $18,000 for her master’s degree research involving the study of mindfulness training for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD can experience difficulties interpreting how bodily sensations connect to one’s emotions. Mindfulness-based therapy can help children to “tune in” to bodily sensations through techniques such as noticing, describing and acceptance. Black hopes to study physiological changes during mindfulness practice to improve understanding of the impact mindfulness activities can have on children with ASD. Black is completing her first year as a master’s student at York University, studying clinical developmental psychology with a specialization in neuropsychology.
“The work of these Ontario researchers will lead to a better understanding of the way parents and children with ASD influence each other, improve treatment planning for children with ASD and provide better supports for families and communities across the province,” said David Lindsay, president and CEO of Council of Ontario Universities.
With the support of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD), The Scholar Awards Program in Autism was established, with the support of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD), to ensure that Ontario attracts and retains pre-eminent scholars. The community of autism scholars fostered by this awards program aims to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge concerning child autism, and its translation into improved health for children, more effective services and products for children with autism, and increase the province’s capacity in diagnosis and assessment of autism and a strengthened treatment system.
According to Lindsay, autism is now the fastest growing and most commonly diagnosed neurological disorder in Canada and the prevalence of ASD has doubled over the last decade. One in 68 children are currently diagnosed with ASD, while mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression are common in individuals with ASD and their families.
“Ontario’s universities are proud to work with our partners to educate and train tomorrow’s future makers, while helping to develop and maintain our robust health-care system,” said Lindsay. “We commend these individuals for expanding the bounds of knowledge about autism, and in this way helping to build a brighter future for Ontario.”
Kenneth and Sylvia Marantz Fellowship for Picturebook Research awarded to York PhD candidate
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Stacey Bliss, a second-year PhD candidate at York University in the Faculty of Education, has earned the 2017 Kenneth and Sylvia Marantz Fellowship for Picturebook Research, which encourages and engages scholars from around the world with the resources of the Marantz Picturebook Collection.
The research fellowship is offered through the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science and is possible due to a donation supported by the late Dr. Kenneth A. Marantz and Sylvia Marantz.
Bliss was at Kent State University, Ohio from June 4 to 9 with Lauren Christie, a fellowship recipient from The University of Dundee in Scotland. Over the week, Bliss researched the library’s collection for her project titled “Welcomed and Unwelcomed Guests in Picture Books: Querying Uncertainty and Unpredictability of the Environment, Self, and Others”.
She drew from her initial inspiration and analysis from Kyo Maclear (Faculty of Education PhD candidate) and Katty Maurey’s (2015) contemporary picture book The Specific Ocean. Within The Specific Ocean, readers experience the interwoven nature of external and internal environments where welcomed and hospitable guests, including the ocean, the creatures in it, as well as nature within – the breath. Bliss queries: What then of unwelcomed others such as unexpected guests, monsters, silence, or death?
Her study casts a fresh look at picture books through the lenses of Derridian and Levinasian ethics, calling into question the responsibility to and for the other, whether the other presents itself as real, imaginary, scary, or benevolent. The project rethinks Marah Gubar’s (2011) notion of not defining children’s literature and similarly does not define the illustrations as particular to children; rather extends the query “Is there such a thing as children’s picture books? Is there such a thing as the unwelcomed in the illustrations and what or who is unwelcomed?”.
Bliss is utilizing the Marantz extensive collection to look at Maurice Sendak’s artwork and contemporary titles such as Duck, Death and the Tulip, and Du Iz Tak?. She will present her research at the upcoming International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL Congress) on July 31. The IRSCL Congress will be held at York University from July 29 – Aug. 2 with the theme ‘Possible & Impossible Children: Intersections of Children’s Literature & Childhood Studies’.
York PhD candidate named assistant deputy minister, Anti-Racism Directorate
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York University PhD candidate Akwatu Khenti has been named to the position of assistant deputy minister, Anti-Racism Directorate in the Inclusion, Diversity and Anti-Racism Division, Cabinet Office of the provincial government, effective June 26.
Akwatu Khenti
Khenti holds a masters in political science from the University of Toronto and is a PhD candidate in health policy and equity at York University. He is a recipient of the Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence and the Ethno-Racial Education Initiatives Award from the Department of Public Health Science, University of Toronto.
He is currently the director of Transformative Global Health at the Centre for Addition and Mental Health (CAMH), and holds a position as assistant professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
“This is a unique opportunity to apply the in-depth social determinants of health and critical race theoretical perspectives which I’ve gained from my health equity studies at York,” said Khenti.
Khenti ‘s legacy of transformative and collaborative initiatives include: leading the cultural adaptation of cognitive-behavioral therapy for spiritual leaders in Haiti; a post-Tsunami three-year mental health capacity building initiative in Sri Lanka; and, recent efforts to strengthen mental health care in India.
Khenti has also been co-leading a hemispheric research capacity building collaboration with the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission of the Organization of American States and 30 universities across Latin America and the Caribbean. His research focuses on effective primary care interventions for reducing stigmatizing attitudes and practices among health professional staff as well as Black homicide victimization in Toronto.
“Akwatu is a seasoned executive leader with deep experience in the implementation of complex multi-sector initiatives with varied stakeholders and partners,” said Sam Erry, associate deputy minister, Inclusion, Diversity and Anti-Racism Division, who led the search for the successful candidate.
“Akwatu brings wide ranging racial equity experience having established CAMH’s Substance Abuse Program for African Canadian and Caribbean Youth and has led international programs to address health gaps for marginalised communities. He also co-chaired CAMH’s Diversity Initiative that focused on ensuring respect and equity for diverse groups within institutional policies, procedures and practices.”
Stacey Bliss, a second-year PhD candidate at York University in the Faculty of Education, has earned the 2017 Kenneth and Sylvia Marantz Fellowship for Picturebook Research, which encourages and engages scholars from around the world with the resources of the 
She drew from her initial inspiration and analysis from Kyo Maclear (Faculty of Education PhD candidate) and Katty Maurey’s (2015) contemporary picture book 
