Osgoode Hall Law School Archives - Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS)

91��ɫ renames celebrated joint JD/MBA Program to Hennick JD/MBA Program as it marks 50 years of excellence

vinish — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 19:52:39 +0000

Transformational donation from The Hennick Family Foundation in support of 91��ɫ’s top-ranked law and business degree jointly delivered by Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business. In recognition of a transformational $6 million gift from The Hennick Family Foundation, 91��ɫ is renaming one of its top-ranked programs and designations, the Hennick JD/MBA Program. The gift will provide scholarships and support world-class learning experiences, further elevating the program’s reputation and student outcomes.

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Professor Benjamin Berger awarded 2023–24 Faculty Teaching Award

vinish — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 15:18:00 +0000

Unwavering support for students and a commitment to his local graduate community are only some of the attributes of Professor Benjamin Berger (Graduate Programs in Law, and Socio-Legal Studies), who is this year’s recipient of the 2023-2024 Faculty Teaching Award. The 91��ɫ community came together to celebrate this accomplishment at the Faculty Council meeting on April 4th.

The Faculty Teaching Award is bestowed annually to a member of the Faculty of Graduate Studies who has displayed sustained excellence, commitment and enthusiasm to the multifaceted work of teaching at the graduate level at 91��ɫ. The award recognizes teaching and supervisory excellence and considers scholarly, professional and teaching development, along with initiative involving graduate program and curriculum development. The nominator may be any member of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, including regular or adjunct faculty, graduate students, or staff.

“Dr. Berger’s record of supervision is notable not simply due to the large number of students successfully supported through to degree completion under his guidance, but for the quality and care to which those relationships were cultivated. Former graduate students spoke admirably on the generosity of time Dr. Berger provided to them, and the capacity by which feedback and direction was delivered in an understanding but supportive manner,” said Alice MacLachlan, Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies, presenting the award to Berger.

_{A photo of Benjamin Berger}

Also in attendance was Lisa Philipps, Provost & Vice-President Academic, who equally praised Berger: “It is so great to see you here today, Benjamin, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude for all that you have done to support the personal and intellectual growth of your graduate students here at 91��ɫ.”

An exemplary researcher in the areas of law and religion, criminal and constitutional law and theory as well as the law of evidence, Berger’s wide expertise is shared through highly engaging lectures, thoughtfully researched class readings and one on one support developing students’ thesis and dissertation projects. His graduate students underscored his ability to carefully design his courses balancing attentive learning, active discussion and expert guest speakers.

The nomination letters spoke widely of Berger’s commitment to his students. One such example was shared by an international student who began their studies in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic: “Prof. Berger took active steps to ease my adjustment into my new life, including putting me in touch with other graduate students that could offer support and advice, checking in regularly to gauge my emotional experience of the transition, and offering resources to support the practical cost of settling into the graduate program.”

Equally commendable is Berger’s commitment to his local graduate community. Berger dedicates his time to support both the research and professional development focuses of Osgoode Hall Law School through academic leadership for LLM specializations, colloquium organization and contributions to workshops for students applying to major scholarships and awards.

Regarding other teaching accolades, Berger received the Terry J. Wuester Teaching Award twice as well as the First Year Class Teaching Award, while at the University of Victoria Law School. Additionally, he received the Osgoode Hall Law School Teaching Award in 2013.

Accepting the award, Berger stated, “Graduate supervision and teaching are among the great joys of my career. This award reflects that joy and the inspiration that I have drawn from two sets of relationships: with my own supervisors, who patiently, caringly shaped my approach to scholarly inquiry; and with my brilliant, sincere, and committed students, in whose growth and insights I continually delight. Thank you to FGS for honouring me with this award.”

For more information on the FGS’ Teaching Award, please visit the weblink: yorku.ca/gradstudies/faculty-staff/academic-affairs/teaching-award.

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Announcing the 2022 Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars

vinish — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 12:57:00 +0000

91��ɫ has announced Sylvester Aboagye, Landing Badji, Leora Gansworth and Graeme Reed as this year’s recipients of the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars. This important initiative supports up to four scholars annually in any field of study and provides the successful applicants with a salary of $70,000 annually for a two-year term.

“The University is committed to creating positive change and this means taking action on the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. Our prioritizes an inclusive higher education environment and these postdoctoral Fellows reflect that commitment. We very much look forward welcoming them to our community this year,” says Acting Provost and Vice-President Academic, Lyndon Martin.

The program’s aim is to address the under-representation of Black and Indigenous scholars in many disciplines and fields of research and associated careers. The initiative aims to address the lack of supportive mentorship and network-building opportunities available. Recipients of the fellowship are provided with collegial resources, supervision, mentorship and funded time to help them achieve their chosen career goals. The initiative promotes the inclusion, integration and nurturing of diverse backgrounds, knowledges and ways of researching, thinking, communicating and relating in order to provide equitable access to opportunities for emerging scholars.

Thomas Loebel, Dean and Associate Vice-Provost Graduate, believes that, “An inspiring part of this program is the window it provides on the great range and significance of scholarship and research undertaken by the applicants. This years’ Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship holders, each with a unique specialization and focus, are committed to conserving, caring for, and newly developing the world as comprised of sometimes simple, sometimes inordinately complex networks of organic and inorganic elements. Whether exploring energy efficiency, species and habitats, climate solutions, these scholars recognize the fundamental importance of an ecological approach to life in future times.”

Sylvester Aboagye is completing his PhD in electrical engineering at Memorial University of Newfoundland. His stimulating research investigates how humans can improve the achievable data rate, coverage and energy efficiency performances of communication technologies. Specifically, his project focuses on wireless communication networks.

“For this fellowship, I will use optimization theory and machine learning tools to design communication technologies that operate in the terahertz and the visible light spectrum for the next generation of wireless networks,” says Aboagye. “Special thanks to Professor Hina Tabassum, a global leader in this research area, who will be my supervisor for this project at the Next Generation Wireless Networks research lab.”

During the fellowship, Aboagye will be housed with Lassonde School of Engineering.

_{Sylvester Aboagye}

Landing Badji earned a PhD in ecology and ecosystem management from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal. Badji’s cutting-edge research focuses on Chimpanzee self-medication, hormones and human-chimpanzee interactions.

“The Provost’s Postdoctoral fellowship will allow me to study factors affecting the health and behaviour of a critically endangered animal, the savanna chimpanzee, in its increasingly altered natural habitat,” says Badji. “I am looking forward to collaborating with Dr. Valerie Schoof in the Primate Behavioral Endocrinology Lab, and to work with someone who recognizes the importance of supporting scholars from primate-habitat countries in becoming research leaders.

During the fellowship, Badjo will be housed with Glendon.

_{Landing Badji}

Leora Gansworth holds a PhD in critical human geography from 91��ɫ. Her innovative project investigates the environmental health priorities in the Algonquin territory.

“I am so thankful to join the Center for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages as an incoming postdoctoral Fellow. Chi Meegwech/gratitude to Dr. Deborah McGregor, the Osgoode Hall Law School, and the many others who have made this opportunity possible,” says Gansworth. “My research will continue to investigate environmental health priorities as determined by Indigenous Peoples. I am especially interested in working with those who continue to seek mino-bimaadiziwin, a good way of life, in reciprocity with all our relations, and an emphasis on restoring kinship with migrating eels.”

During the fellowship, Gansworth will be housed with Osgoode Hall Law School.

_{Leora Gansworth}

Graeme Reed is a PhD candidate in rural studies at the University of Guelph. He will be advancing his work on Indigenous visions for self-determined climate solutions by working with the Center for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages (CIKL) catalyst project “Indigenous Climate Leadership and Self-Determination Futures.”

“This work is my commitment to deconstruct the dominant assumptions underlying colonial systems of climate solutions to advance solutions grounded in our knowledge systems, legal orders and governance practices,” says Reed. “I’d like to send a chi-miigwech to Profs. Deb McGregor and Angele Alook to agree to walk with me in this journey. I’d also like to send a chi-miigwech to all those Indigenous experts who have walked with me on this path, as well as all those Elders, women, youth, leaders and academics who shared their insight with me.”

During the fellowship, Reed will be housed with CIKL.

_{Graeme Reed}

McGregor, director of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages, says “CIKL is looking forward to working with both Reed and Gansworth as part of this fellowship program. Their work is timely, original, and important and will make great research contributions. We look forward to supporting them with their academic and community-oriented objectives.”

Learn more about the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars at 91��ɫ by visiting the Faculty of Graduate Studies’ website.

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Osgoode doctoral student named Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar

vinish — Sun, 29 May 2022 14:12:00 +0000

As the daughter of Kurdish migrants who were uprooted from their home after the 1979 Iranian revolution, Roojin Habibi was naturally drawn to the study and practice of human rights law. It was only later that the accomplished doctoral researcher at Osgoode Hall Law School of 91��ɫ decided to dedicate herself to the pursuit of global health justice.

Her work will be significantly advanced with the May 27 announcement that she has been selected as a 2022-2025 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar. She is one of 13 successful applicants chosen from among 500 applicants.

“I am honoured, grateful and humbled,” she said. “This award represents much more than a scholarship to me. I’m thrilled to be joining a community of scholars, mentors, Fellows and alumni who contribute individually to a plurality of perspectives while working together to collectively challenge siloed thinking and disciplinary boundaries.”

Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Mary Condon celebrated the news and congratulated Habibi on behalf of the entire Osgoode community.

_{Roojin Habibi}

“We are pleased that the Trudeau Foundation has recognized the global significance of Roojin’s work and its transformational potential,” she said. “We wish her every success in the completion of her project.”

Habibi’s PhD dissertation on human rights principles for global health emergencies is helping to inform ongoing intergovernmental negotiations on a pandemic treaty, said her PhD adviser, Professor Steven Hoffman, the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and director of the Global Strategy Lab at 91��ɫ.

“Roojin is incredibly talented and already making important contributions to the field of global health law,” he said. “As a former Trudeau Scholar myself, I’m excited for how this scholarship will help elevate her already exceptional impacts to new heights.”

Established in 2001 as a memorial to former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Montreal-based foundation’s three-year program is geared to developing engaged, future leaders by exposing scholars to the curriculum taught by foundation Fellows and mentors in settings outside traditional universities. It works to advance thinking in four areas: human rights and dignity; responsible citizenship; Canada and the world; and people and their natural environment.

“By working alongside others who have a diversity of perspectives and come from different backgrounds,” states the foundation’s website, “scholars learn leadership by stepping outside their comfort zone.”

Scholars participating in the foundation’s Engaged Leadership Curriculum receive up to $40,000 a year for tuition and reasonable living expenses to support their doctoral studies. The program also includes up to $20,000 a year for language instruction, travel and accommodations related to their doctoral research and the foundation’s leadership program.

Habibi’s research explores the value of deliberative dialogue in charting international law’s development towards more equitable, sustainable and effective responses to global health emergencies, such as pandemics and climate change.

She said her work closely aligns with the foundation’s emphasis on creative modes of collaboration and knowledge generation both within and beyond academia.

“I look forward to the foundation’s Engaged Leadership Curriculum,” she said, “and my leadership journey with fellow foundation scholars, Fellows and mentors.

“I hope the experience will help elevate the public benefit and intellectual contribution of my research in a way that is both sustainable and impactful and invites others to join in the knowledge-generating process,” she added.

Habibi is the lead research coordinator for the Global Health Law Consortium and is a Fellow of the Global Strategy Lab. She is also a Fellow of the Canadian International Council.

After completing her bilingual undergraduate degree in environmental and health studies at 91��ɫ’s Glendon Campus in 2012, she went on to earn a master’s of science degree in global health from McMaster University in 2015. She also holds a JD in French common law from the University of Ottawa, a certificate in transnational law from the University of Geneva, and is a member of the Ontario Bar.

In her spare time, Habibi fosters rescue dogs and helps promote obstetric justice in Canada as a founding board member of the Birth Rights Bar Association. She speaks fluent English, French and Farsi.

Provided by .

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