Presenters:

��Live, via Zoom:

• Kate Tilleczek
• Deborah MacDonald
• Roxanne Cohen
• Canada Youth Advisory Committee:
  • Zakirah Allain
  • Jessica Huang
  • Polina Vaynshtok
  • Sierra Gogol
• Kasia Lujan
• Costa Rica Youth Advisory Committee:
  • Marilyn Rodríguez Arias
  • Oscar Iván Hernández Vásquez
  • Gabriel “Yoyo” Maroto Morales
  • Carlos “Kaliche” Gómez Morales
• James Stinson
• Elodio Rash

Contributing via video submission:

• Pablo Aranguiz
• Chile Youth Advisory Committee:
  • Miguel Ángel Calbucoy Levin
  • Siomara Belén Oyarzo Leiva
  • Diego Adriano Cárcamo Oyarzo

This presentation is part of the Faculty of Education's Public Lecture Series

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A  led by 91��ɫ follows Class of '73 high school graduates over the span of five decades in The Story of a Generation, a book that offers powerful insights on the baby boomer generation.

Culminating in a new book titled , the research marks the longest-running Canadian generational study of its kind, following nearly 50 years in the lives of a cohort of high school students who graduated in 1973. 

The project originated with Paul Anisef, professor emeritus at 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies who began with a survey of high school students to help the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities understand and project post-secondary enrolment.

“I didn’t have in my mind at all that this would become a long-standing longitudinal study,” says Anisef. “It started as a ministry-sponsored survey of high school students, and one thing led to another.” 

Encouraged by colleagues after the initial survey, Anisef returned repeatedly to the same group of students – just under 2,500 members of the class of 1973 – surveying and interviewing them in seven waves, from adolescence through midlife and into their early to mid-'60s. 

The final phase, conducted between 2019 and 2021, captured their reflections as many approached retirement, offering a rare, lifespan perspective on Canadians. 

The newly released book is co-authored along with 91��ɫ Faculty of Education professors Paul Axelrod and Carl James, as well as 91��ɫ PhD student Erika McDonald, and includes contributions from Wolfgang Lehmann, Karen Robson and Erica Fae Thomson. It’s a follow-up to an earlier volume, Opportunity and Uncertainty: Life Course Experiences of the Class of ’73 (2000). 

Read the full story in the January 16, 2026 issue of Yfile

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Organized by three 91��ɫ professors, a two-day conference titled “Psychosocial Transformations: The School, The Clinic, and The Archive” will consider the connection between psychological and social change in challenging times, while honouring the impact that Distinguished Research Professor Deborah Britzman has had on the field.

The idea for the conference began with 91��ɫ professors Lisa Farley, Aziz Guzel and Jen Gilbert (now at the University of Toronto) wanting to highlight psychosocial studies, a field that considers how the personal and psychological interweave with the social world in important but often elusive ways.

Driven by a desire to influence positive change, they decided to put together a conference that would foreground the emotional and social conflicts that accompany change in three contexts: the school, the clinic and the archive.  

“We chose to focus on the school, the clinic and the archive because the notion of change is implied in the fields they also represent – education, psychology, and social and political thought,” says Farley. “Particularly in our own time of great change, we wanted to bring together scholars and practitioners who work in these fields to consider the convergent and divergent issues they face, and to reframe conflicts of transformation as part of a collective effort to imagine and action a more viable present and future.”

The organizers hope to offer a unique opportunity to advance theories, practices, and pedagogies that support meaningful emotional and societal change. As Farley explains: “We hope attendees will take away insights that help them raise questions about the necessity and difficulty of change, clarify pedagogical, clinical and scholarly challenges, enjoy thinking with one another, and feel connected to an interdisciplinary community as they go about their work.”

What makes the two-day event stand out, too, is that it is rooted in honouring Britzman, whom Farley credits for changing the way academics think within and study theories of teaching and learning, and whose work has influenced generations of researchers in education and beyond. By design, Britzman and her work are at the core of the event because of her 40 years of inquiries into the interface between psychic life and the social and political world through their scenes of uncertainty, change and conflict. 

Farley and her co-organizers hope the conference will generate theories, initiatives, and practices to drive positive change in educational, therapeutic and scholarly contexts – all while doing justice to Britzman’s work.

“We are most proud of the balance the conference strikes between honouring Britzman’s enormous contributions to the fields of education, psychoanalysis, and social and political thought, and highlighting the major contributions of invited speakers themselves,” says Farley. “This balance is, for us, a true psychoanalytic achievement that brings folks into conversation without the collapse of difference.”

The conference is taking place on Nov. 7 and 8 on 91��ɫ’s Keele Campus. For more information and to register, visit the event web page.

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Reeta Roy, president and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation – an international non-governmental organization focused on empowering young Africans with education – offered several calls-to-action to Faculty of Education graduands to help shape the future of education.

“You have an entire lifetime of impact ahead of you,” Roy promised graduands during their June 17 convocation, as she began her address to them. “Whether you stand in front of the classroom or you get to decide what is taught in the classroom, whether you focus on expanding access to education or you set standards of education, you will make a difference in the lives of learners.”

An advocate for the transformational power of education through her work at the Mastercard Foundation, Roy made several requests of graduands as they move ahead in their careers.

She urged them to lean into one of the most important qualities teachers can possess. “As educators, one of the most important things you do – and you will do – is to recognize promise and talent in others, even before they may perceive it in themselves,” she said. “You have the opportunity to truly see the whole person – not the boundaries and not the limitations around them.”

That, she explained, can lead to something educators are uniquely positioned to do. “More than just see them, you will enable their passions, develop their confidence and help them believe in themselves so they can walk their own journeys and create their own opportunities,” said Roy.

She also called upon graduands to transform the reality of who deserves an education, as she noted there are many who struggle to access learning due to poverty, conflict, distance, disability, lack of teachers, gender and more.

Roy noted she has seen – and worked to change – this directly, through her work with the Mastercard Foundation, which advances the development of educational opportunities for African youth and their families, and looks to empower 30 million young Africans by 2030 with the creation of educational and economic opportunities.

Roy delivered her final call to action in the form of an anecdote. She recounted a trip to Moosonee, a small town in northern Ontario sometimes referred to as “the gateway to the Arctic.” She was doing work there with the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, training Indigenous young people to become health professionals who would help the larger medical system embody Indigenous knowledge and world views about what is healthy and what is wellness.

During her visit, she encountered – in person, for the first time – an ice road.

She learned that during winters, communities transform rivers, lakes and other bodies of water into ice that’s strong enough to sustain trucks and cars transporting food, fuel and necessities to otherwise isolated communities. “I was just stunned by the sophistication and the technical know-how to create these roads,” Roy said. “The ice road reflected Indigenous technology based on traditional knowledge of living with the natural environment.”

At the same time, she marvelled at the cutting-edge knowledge being integrated into the unique type of infrastructure. As climate change threatens those ice roads, making it hard to predict where dangerous cracks might form, she learned that university researchers are applying emerging technologies – like sensors and artificial intelligence – to create better predictive models that can identity where cracks and ridges may form.

The ice road – its past, present and future – reminded Roy of education. “The ice road isn’t just a bridge across waters,” she said. “It’s a bridge connecting communities and cultures. It’s a bridge connecting traditional knowledge with new forms of knowledge, connecting the past and the present.”

In that realization, she found the lesson she wanted to impart on the Faculty of Education graduands she was addressing. “You can be that bridge,” she urged. “Be that bridge.”

Article originally published in the June 21, 2024 issue of

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Three women with affiliations to 91��ɫ have been recognized in the list for their impact and contributions to driving meaningful progress and to the advancement of women in their respective fields.  &�Բ�����;

Every year , a leading global organization dedicated to promoting gender equity in the workplace, announces its list recognizing the achievements and contributions of women who have made significant contributions in their respective fields, driving meaningful progress and change in business and society.

This year, in particular, recipients are recognized for their innovation, leadership and pursuit of gender equity and inclusion.  &�Բ�����;

“Their accomplishments demonstrate the important role that women play in driving meaningful progress in business and society. Through celebrating their stories, we aim to inspire others to challenge the status quo, paving the way for future generations,” said Rumeet Billan, CEO of Women of Influence+, about the recipients.

Among the list of 2024 recipients are two 91��ɫ alumnae and one honorary degree recipient:

Pamela Farrell (BEd ‘07) &�Բ�����;
The founder and executive director of the GROW Community Food Literacy Centre, Canada’s first community food literacy centre, Farrell has sought to provide vulnerable Canadians with access to healthy and culturally relevant foods as well as essential food literacy skills. Her community work has also looked to address health disparities, as well as promote health and social equity. Furthermore, combining her expertise in special education with equity, diversity and inclusion, Farrell looks to play a transformative role in guiding and inspiring the next generation of educators.

Tina Singh (BA ‘04)  &�Բ�����;
Singh is an occupational therapist, digital content creator and the founder of Bold Helmets, which creates helmets to fit over Sikh kids’ head coverings. As a mother and therapist working in the areas of head and brain injuries, Singh understood the importance of helmets but was unable to find any suitable for her children, leading her to create the first safety-certified, multi-sport helmet for Sikh children.  

Lynn Posluns (LLD [Hon.] ‘19) &�Բ�����;
Posluns is the founder, president and CEO of Women’s Brain Health Initiative, the only organization dedicated to protecting the brain health of women, caregivers and families. Through this initiative, she has raised awareness of women’s cognitive brain health and the inequity in women’s brain aging research, funding and preventative health programs. &�Բ�����;

Article originally published in the March 20, 2024 issue of

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Join the Faculty of Education for “,” a May 31 celebration of the Faculty’s Indigenous education initiatives and the visionary behind them – Professor Susan Dion, 91��ɫ’s inaugural associate vice-president, Indigenous initiatives and a Lenape and Potawatomi scholar, with mixed Irish and French ancestry.

��ü��é����󲹳� translates from Lenape as “Making Good Tracks,” and the program has led many Indigenous students on a journey to becoming educators and academics themselves. Itsoptions – the Waaban Indigenous teacher education program and the master’s and PhD cohorts – were developed to highlight the specific strengths of urban Indigenous communities. They are not intended to be taken in a linear sequence; instead, students make their own tracks, choosing to participate based on their timelines and interests. 

“Susan [Dion] saw the opportunities to develop these programs and made it happen,” said Pamela Toulouse, a visiting scholar at the Faculty and the emcee for the day’s events. “We want to celebrate these programs and honour her for seeing the possibilities.”

The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the McEwen Auditorium, Room 141 in the Seymour Schulich Building and is open to Congress 2023 attendees and the local community. It features a traditional opening and closing by Elder Pauline Shirt, three panel discussions and a Circle on the Gifts of Our People, where Dion will be awarded with a Star blanket at 2 p.m.

“The Star is about being visionary and it is a reminder of the possibilities Susan gave us,” said Toulouse. “When we wrap her in it, it is letting her know that the community will always hold and take care of her and that we are okay, too.”

The three panels will demonstrate the benefits of the ��ü��é����󲹳� programs. A Waaban panel happening at 10:30 a.m. will feature alumni from the teacher education program discussing what they learned and the gifts gained and carried into the workplace. A second panel at 11:45 a.m. will include graduate students from the Master of Education (Med) Urban Indigenous Cohort, focusing on the opportunities they have had. Finally, a faculty-staff panel will start at 1:15 p.m. and this group will share their stories about working with the students who have come through ��ü��é����󲹳�.

Shirt, who will open and close the program, is one of the driving forces behind the , a learning environment that is culturally safe and nurtured their child’s Indigenous identity.

“There is a special relationship between Elder Pauline, Susan and ��ü��é����󲹳�,” Toulouse said. “Wandering Spirit School is the place where many of the Wabaan students go to do their teaching placements; it’s a downtown school. Pauline is a main reason that the school came into being and a leader in Indigenous education.”

91��ɫ and the Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences will host Congress 2023 from May 27 to June 2.  to attend,  are available and  have been adjusted to align with timelines for this year’s event.

Article written by Elaine Smith (special contributing writer) originally published in the May 30, 2023 issue of

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The recently launched “Retooling Black Anxiety” project at 91��ɫ looks to examine increased anxiety among Black youth and families who have had encounters with the criminal justice system (CJS).

With $35,000 from the Faculty of Health’s Anxiety Research Fund, powered by Beneva – a Quebec-based insurance and financial services firm – the project is led by two 91��ɫ professors: serving as principal investigator is Professor Godfred Boateng, director, Global & Environmental Health Lab and Faculty Fellow, Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research; co-investigator is Nombuso Dlamini, a professor in the Faculty of Education whose work focuses on youth, especially racialized youth within leadership and political systems. Partnerships with the Ghana Union of Canada (GUC) and Gashanti Unity (GU) is also a critical component of the project in order to help lead community-based research activities and intervention.

The collective goal is to work and mentor youth and their families towards better experiences of addressing anxiety and mental health issues mainly induced by encounters with the criminal justice systems (CJS) and the child welfare systems (CWS).

Research conducted in 2021 by the Department of Justice Canada, and the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat at the Department of Canadian Heritage, identified how over-policing in schools and in Black communities – particularly in economically marginalized neighbourhoods – as well as police reliance on child welfare agencies, has increased the encounters Black youth have with the criminal justice system. According to the Department of Justice Canada, in 2020-21, Black males made up 19 per cent of all male youth admissions to custody, and Black females made up 11 per cent of all female youth admissions to custody.

According to Boateng, these realities have a profound effect on the mental health of Black youth and their families. The professor shares that he has observed how this has led to a significant increase in stories of anxiety, youth entrapment and disillusionment among Black youth and their families. Given how anxiety and mental health can limit individual potentials and capabilities, and injustices that put Black youth in jeopardy can affect their long-term possibilities, Boateng and his partners have prioritized exploring ways to address these ongoing challenges.

The GUC and GU will play a crucial role in implementing the project in their communities. “An important part of project is to dialogue with community partners to ensure that they feel fully and respectfully engaged and involved as driving forces for this project,” says Boateng. Each organization will leverage their membership, network and cultural community advocates to recruit young adults who have had encounters with the criminal justice system or the child welfare system to be part of the program.

During the project’s early exploratory phase, all partners will work to interview and focus group discussions. Subjects will receive a one-pager that articulate project intent, target cohort, duration and expectation. During the subsequent implementation phase they will recruit participants, identify key needs and work with clinical professionals to provide interventions, as well as work with participants on outcomes.

The interventions will be tailored specifically to subjects’ anxiety. After an initial assessment, referrals will be provided to appropriate support systems for those found to have higher levels of anxiety, stress and/or depression symptomatology. Among the choices of intervention for Black youth will be either a restorative justice program aimed at healing and consciousness raising, as well as helping keep youth away from CJS; or enrollment in Unstuck & On Target, an eight-week program aimed at improving self-regulation and good directed behaviors in Youth with offences in CJS/CWS. Family and caregivers will be offered an eight-week program aimed at educating them on how to identify or flag risky behaviors in children, as well as providing crisis support, counseling and therapeutic services referrals to parents or caregivers.

The “Retooling Black Anxiety” team has further ambitions for the future. “We are hoping to scale up this study and apply for larger research and community funding that will advance the mental health of Blacks in the Greater Toronto Area and reduce anxieties experienced by Blacks and Black families,” says Nombuso. The team expects to apply in the future to the SSHRC Collaborative grant to further scale-up the study.

A website is still in development, but those wishing for further information can reach out to the project team directly by email. Boateng can be reached at gboaten@yorku.ca; Dlamini can be reached at ndlamini@yorku.ca, and project coordinator Salwa Regragui can be reached at sreg97@my.yorku.ca.

Article originally published in the April 11, 2023 issue of

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On March 7, the Faculty of Education will host a public lecture from 7 to 8:30 p.m., by speaker Charles Hopkins, the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education Towards Sustainability at 91��ɫ.

Titled “Educating for Tomorrow’s Unknown: Sustainability Front and Center,” the lecture will address how – through the (UN SDGs) – countries are now called upon to provide quality education that prioritizes sustainability and encourages young people to become global citizens.

Hopkins will illuminate how all levels of educators, education professionals, students and parents can become engaged and make a collective impact with global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and rising inequalities – locally or in other parts of the world.

An awarded education leader with several honorary doctorates and professorships, Hopkins has lectured and presented papers in approximately 75 countries. He has coordinated two global Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) research networks – the International Network of Teacher Education Institutions and the #IndigenousESD, which aims to improve the education outcomes of Indigenous youth. Internationally, Hopkins has a long relationship with education and sustainability, chairing the writing and adoption processes of several UNESCO ESD Declarations. He is also the co-director of the Asia-Pacific Institute on ESD in Beijing, China.

This talk is a part of the Faculty of Education’s Public Lecture Series featuring leading scholars from the Faculty sharing their research and scholarship on key publicly relevant issues in education and society.

This free event will be live-streamed on Zoom and all are welcome to attend. .

Click here to learn more about how 91��ɫ is contributing to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Article originally published in the February 24, 2023 issue of .

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with Charles Hopkins (UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability)

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and rising inequalities, whether happening locally or in other parts of the world, not only impact our individual future but are central for collective action in tackling these and other global challenges. How can we understand global issues, and their interconnectedness? How can we learn to live sustainably and ethically without the feeling of only giving up or cutting back?

United Nations member states agreed upon a plan towards a sustainable future, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. Countries are called upon to provide quality education that addresses our common future by positioning sustainability as a purpose of education and encouraging young people to become global citizens.

What does this exactly mean for educators, parents, and students? Are we to add more content to an already overcrowded curriculum? This presentation addresses roles and concrete ways for educators at all levels, education professionals, students, and parents to understand the need, become engaged, and make a difference.

Charles Hopkins��holds the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability at 91��ɫ in Toronto, Canada. This Chair, established in 1999, was the first to focus on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as an overarching concept and a purpose of education. Hopkins coordinates two global ESD research networks, the International Network of Teacher Education Institutions and the #IndigenousESD. The first network is comprised of teacher education institutions spanning 50 countries and focuses on enhancing ESD in preservice and in-service teacher training. The second network covering 40 countries aims to embed ESD in curricula to improve the education outcomes of Indigenous youth.

Internationally, Hopkins has a long relationship with education and sustainability, chairing the writing and adoption processes of several UNESCO ESD Declarations. An awarded education leader with several honorary doctorates and professorships, Hopkins has lectured and presented papers in approximately 75 countries. He is also the Co-Director of the Asia-Pacific Institute on ESD in Beijing, China.

The Faculty of Education’s Public Lecture Series features leading scholars from the Faculty sharing their research and scholarship on key publicly relevant issues in education and society.

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For her international engagement with sustainable development, 91��ɫ’s Executive Coordinator to the UNESCO Chair, Katrin Kohl, has been awarded a fellowship by The Royal Society of Arts in London.

The Royal Society of Arts recognizes outstanding contributions and thought leadership in positively impacting society for a better future. Members come from all walks of life and branches of learning that align with these values and have contributed to positive change in the arts, humanities or sciences.

As 91��ɫ´s UNESCO Chair, Kohl leads research and provides policy advice for education for sustainable development (ESD) – which is recognized as a key enabler for the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Prior to this role, Kohl served in strategic management positions at the University of Duesseldorf (Germany) as well as the German National Commission for UNESCO. She was actively involved in the negotiation process that led to the adoption of the SDGs in 2015.

With this fellowship, 91��ɫ’s community is once more recognized as a driving force for positive change and committed to embed the SDGs throughout the whole institution, said Kohl.

Article originally published in the June 24, 2022 issue of .

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