An award is given to two faculty members, one in the early career category and another in the established career category, in the areas of research, service and teaching. The awards, which took place Sept. 14, are conferred annually by the Faculty of Health Research & Awards Committee.

“This year’s winners are joining a very illustrious group. Every year the committee is faced with a very difficult task because everyone nominated is quite deserving,” said Gordon Flett, who chaired the adjudication process. “The award itself is a great way of recognizing the outstanding accomplishments, as well as the exceptional commitments that our faculty members have made both within the Faculty of Health and in the broader community.”

Above: Back row, from left, William Gage, associate dean of research & innovation in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Health, Christine Jonas-Simpson, Dianne McCauley and Peter Tsasis. Front row, from left, Mary Wiktorowicz, Marcia Rioux, Mary Fox and Harvey Skinner, dean of the Faculty of Health

Excellence in Research Award (Early Career) – Professor Mary Fox (Nursing)

Fox was honoured for her research in the prevention of bed rest dependency in older adults with complex chronic disease. Fox has been recognized as having made significant contributions to her field. Her work has been critiqued by Canadian Institutions of Health Research (CIHR) peer reviewers as “very innovative”, “highly significant”, and “to be of interest nationally”. A recently funded grant by the CIHR ranked Fox’s application first out of 47, and place it in the outstanding category – the highest attainable category. In addition to serving as a professor in 91��ɫ’s School of Nursing, Fox is an Adjunct scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

Fox said having her work recognized and knowing that her colleagues and students have taken the time to nominate her “means a lot.”

Excellence in Research Award (Established Career) – Professor Marcia Rioux (Health Policy & Management)

Rioux, a distinguished and internationally recognized scholar, has published 10 books and monographs, over 50 articles and book chapters, and as principle investigator has held nearly $18 million in research grants over the past 30 years. Her nominator describes her as a visionary leader who is changing the way disability is studied and responded to in the context of human rights and social empowerment.

Rioux said the award reflects a significant honour for her as does the support she has received from her colleagues throughout the University. “My work benefits from 91��ɫ’s rich intellectual environment and an international, interdisciplinary research agenda related to social justice and human rights.”

The award came just as her latest book, Critical Perspectives on Human Rights and Disability Law, an edited collection that recapitulates many of the themes of Rioux’s research, was published.

Excellence in Service Award (Early Career) – Professor Dianne McCauley (Nursing)

McCauley is described by her nominator as “an excellent student advocate, not only with individual students, but also, of the student body at large; the kind of solid citizen who makes the School of Nursing successful.”

“It is an honour to be recognized by my colleagues … my colleagues, staff and students have enabled me to be successful in my role and receive this award,” said McCauley.

Well known to faculty and students for her availability and supportiveness to students, McCauley has actively participated in a number of key nursing committees, including the Student Affairs Committee and the Practicum Committee. Since 2007, she has served as undergraduate program director of the Collaborative BScN Program in the School of Nursing.

Excellence in Service Award (Established Career) – Professor Mary Wiktorowicz (Health Policy & Management)

Wiktorowicz began her tenure as the chair of 91��ɫ’s School of Health Policy & Management in 2006, the inaugural year of the Faculty of Health. Her colleagues assert that under her leadership, enrolment to the school has almost quadrupled and applicant quality has significantly increased. Additionally, Wiktorowicz has led the development of several new undergraduate programs, and has guided the final stage of development and the launch of the new Graduate Health Program, which includes a pan-University MA and a direct-entry PhD in health.

In addition to her many outstanding accomplishments at the School of Health Policy & Management, Wiktorowicz has actively participated in many committees over the years, spanning across all levels of the University. She has been an integral part of the 91��ɫ Senate and likewise as the 91��ɫ representative for the Ontario Training Centre Diploma in Health Services & Policy Research. Wiktorowicz has also made a sustained contribution to service at the national and provincial levels. Her recent work on the governance of mental health networks has recently been adopted by the Ontario Local Health Integration Networks Collaborative.

When asked what service means to her, Wiktorowicz said, “Service is like planting a seed, and it takes more than a single individual’s contribution to create a beautiful garden. There are amazing people in the school who each day sow the seeds of success. Good things happen when we all contribute. Being recognized among such an exceptional group of colleagues makes this a particular honour.”

Excellence in Teaching Award (Early Career) – Professor Christine Jonas-Simpson (Nursing)

Jonas-Simpson, who says she “loves to teach,” describes her pedagogy as “reflective of an arts-based narrative interpretive human science approach.” Instructor evaluation scores in nursing typically average 3.8 out of 5. Jonas-Simpson’s instructor evaluation scores are consistently 4.88 or 4.99 out of 5. Her students write, “Christine is by far the most caring, understanding, adaptable teacher I’ve ever had. She let us shape our class to suit our learning,” and “Christine epitomizes the human science philosophy that the program subscribes to by valuing her students’ experiences and being truly present with them.”

Jonas-Simpson has created engaging teaching tools through research-documentary films in collaboration with her colleagues from 91��ɫ and the community at large. She and her research colleagues have recently received Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada funding to begin filming the fourth research documentary in a series of inter-professional educational pieces focusing on children’s experiences of the loss of a baby sibling.

Excellence in Teaching Award (Established Career) – Professor Peter Tsasis (Health Policy & Management and Administrative Studies)

Tsasis, who is appointed jointly to the School of Health Policy & Management and the School of Administrative Studies, teaches various disciplines. A nominator remarked, “It is rare to find an individual that can span his teaching across the spectrum of disciplines and deliver exceptional teaching performance.” Tsasis stretches his teaching beyond the lecture hall, mentoring many students in the Research at 91��ɫ program. In 91��ɫ’s Alumni Matters newsletter, one student remarked, “working with Professor Tsasis was one of the best experiences I will ever have in my life.” In one of four letters of support, a student said, “Dr. Tsasis has unequivocally been the best professor I have had.”

Most recently, Tsasis has undertaken an initiative to negotiate with community health service organizations internship placements for students registered in a fourth-year Health Studies Project Management course, giving students the opportunity for enriching field experience. He has also helped to create a new certificate program in Health Service Finance offered jointly by the School of Health Policy & Management and the School of Administrative Studies. This program is designed to provide students with the opportunity for fast-track entry into the certified management accountant designation, while providing a skill set much in need in the health-care industry.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Right: Sheila Cavanagh

In her new book , Cavanagh, a queer theorist, explores how the gendered nature of public washrooms has become a source of anxiety and political controversy in recent years.

“While talk about public facilities is often designated as out-of-bounds and not to mention crude and impolite in everyday conversation, these places condition ideas about gender and sexuality,” says Cavanagh. “Bathrooms have always been places where we segregate folks on the basis of gender, sexuality, class, disability and race.”

This segregation has a long history in North America and Cavanagh says that in the not too distant past; there were racially segregated bathrooms and water fountains in the American south. People with physical disabilities are today often desexualized by unisex facilities. “When you are physically disabled, your gender doesn’t seem to matter and you are desexualized in the built environment,” says Cavanagh.

She points out that separate bathrooms for the chamber maid or hired help were also built into many of the homes of the bourgeoisie classes. “In Toronto, bathrooms of today are often designated for ‘customers only,’” she says. “People who are homeless or street active or sex workers are frequently denied access to public facilities.”

The book is based on 100 interviews Cavanagh conducted with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and/or intersex (LGBTQI) people living in North American cities. It delves into the ways that queer and trans communities are challenging the rigid gendering and heteronormative composition of public washrooms. Incorporating theories from queer studies, trans studies, psychoanalysis, and the work of French philosopher , Cavanagh argues in the pages of Queering Bathrooms that the cultural politics of excretion are intimately related to the regulation of gender and sexuality.

The book took four years to create – two years for Cavanagh to transcribe the interviews and another two to write and edit. “I came up with the title Queering Bathrooms in discussions with my research assistants. We felt that it was important to prompt the reader to think about how the rules governing gender in the bathroom are queer – meaning odd or unusual,” says Cavanagh. “I refer to the hygienic imagination in the subtitle because part of what it means to govern the gender of bathroom users is to clean up or excommunicate those imagined to be ‘out of place’."

What amazed her most as she compiled the book are the stories told by LGBTQI folks during the interviews. Many revealed they had witnessed or had been harassed for allegedly using the "wrong" washroom. It is no wonder, says Cavanagh, that activists must continue to campaign for more gender-neutral facilities.

"Access to bathrooms is a human rights issue and we must not police the gender of bathroom occupants," says Cavanagh. "While it is important to build gender neutral bathrooms, like the ones built at 91��ɫ by the SexGen committee, it is equally important to challenge what counts as a man and as a woman when in more rigidly gendered rooms."

The cover image of was chosen because the gender of the subject peering into the Victorian mirror is unclear, says Cavanagh. "The viewer wonders whether he/she is taking off a moustache or putting on lipstick. The slim hips and flat chest coupled with the wearing of a suit further complicates the image. I wanted a cover image that would prompt viewers to question our certainty about the gender identities of others in public spaces."

Her recommendation is not to do away with the gendered designs of bathrooms entirely but to be uncertain about what the gendered signs mean. "We must remember that there is always a gap between gender identity and the signs used to authorize our social status as gendered subjects. While gender neutral toilets are an absolute necessity, it is equally important to be creative with gender signage."

Cavanagh envisions that such creativity would allow the bathroom to become a pedagogical space where patrons would be gently challenged about their assumptions about what counts as a man or as a woman.

In addition to the book, Cavanagh says she gathered such a wealth of material that she is now working on a script for a new play, Queer Bathroom Monologues. The first iteration of the play was staged at the book launch at the Gladstone Hotel which took place in November. "It was such a hit," says Cavanagh, "that I knew I had to develop it for a larger audience."

For more information or to purchase a copy of the book, visit the web page on the University of Toronto Press website.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The conference, “Education in Tough Times: Tough Times in Education,” from Oct. 21 to 24 at the Novotel Hotel (North 91��ɫ), features critical historical explorations, innovative research, vivid photographic exhibitions and stimulating discussions of some of the most pressing issues for students, parents and policy-makers in education today.

“Current debates in education locally, nationally and internationally are best understood by examining the rich history of education,” says Professor , former dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education, who organized the conference. “This gathering is a unique opportunity to engage experts and various sectors of the education community. From the vantage point of an informed analysis of the past, we can look toward a wider array of options in policy and practice for the present and a more vibrant and enlightened future.”

Papers and presentations cover a broad spectrum of issues such as religion in schools, lifelong learning, student health, disability, learning difficulties, diversity, gender, assimilation, resistance and accommodation. These topics are reflected in such titles as:

• The Sixties Revolution and the Meaning of Higher Education
• Commies at the Chalkboard: National Security, Teachers and the Long Red Scare
• Montreal’s Little Strikers: Antisemitism, Poverty and Resistance at the Aberdeen School, 1913
• Kids Learn to Smoke: The case of Tobacco Manufacturers’ Pseudo-Anti Smoking Messages and the Pathetic Real Deal − School Curricula
• No Light Without Shadow: Education and Experience at Rochdale College
• Schoolyard Archaeology: Digging for Toronto’s African Canadian Heritage;Canada’s History Crisis of the 1990s: The Public Debate and Its Legacy
• Sex and Social Segregation in English Canadian High Schools: The Interwar Years

The conference features a special exhibition of photographs and short essays titled “A Picture in a Thousand Words“, showcasing education historians using visual sources. It also includes a tour of rare artifacts of the history of Ontario education, which have been preserved at the , on the Keele Campus of 91��ɫ.

“91��ɫ is proud to be the home of the Archives of Ontario and to serve, in this way, as the gateway to the history of education in Ontario,” says Axelrod, whose most recent work analyzes the abolition of corporal punishment in Ontario’s schools. “This repository is an indispensable resource for all serious students of the history of education in this province.”

The Faculty of Education at 91��ɫ, one of Ontario’s largest institutions for higher learning in education, has earned an international reputation for its interdisciplinary approach to research and teacher training in both undergraduate and graduate studies. Its focus on community engagement combined with a rich diversity of conceptual and applied research distinguishes the faculty as a leader in knowledge mobilization in the field of education.

For event details visit the or the Faculty of Education.

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Submissions are due by March 1, 2011. To submit, register as an author on the Critical Disability Discourse website and follow the online instructions. Registration is free and editorial guidelines for can be found on the website.

Critical Disability Discourse was conceived by, and is managed by, graduate students. The journal’s review board consists of over 30students and faculty members from 91��ɫ, the University of Toronto, Université Laval, McMaster University and the University of Cambridge.

The objective of the journal is to create an academic space where graduate students might make valuable contributions to the field of disability studies. Critical Disability Discourse is meant to facilitate an academic community and to provide a more promising opportunity for those just beginning their careers.

Journal topics share in common a dedication to non-discrimination and social justice. It is the intention of the CDSSA to bring disability-related issues to mainstream scholastic conversations by promoting and publishing arguments that critically assess disabling social conditions. The journal is part of a greater effort to bring disability to the table and to redress physical and attitudinal discrimination.

For more information, contact Sarah Ebbs, Critical Disability Discourse managing editor, at cdsj@yorku.ca.

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If you pass a law to prevent discrimination against persons with disabilities, how do you know whether it’s being enforced, let alone making a difference?

Marcia Rioux (right), director of the 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research (YIHR) and professor in the Faculty of Health’s School of Health Policy & Management, is working internationally, particularly with countries with limited resources, to develop a unique and innovation solution for the reporting requirements set out in the United Nation’s .

The United Nations requires all governments that have ratified its Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities − as Canada did on , 2010 − to provide information on the measures they have taken to integrate persons with disabilities into their societies. But this reporting is often limited to cataloguing laws, policies, and programs that may have little impact on the day-to-day lives of the people they’re intended to help.

Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI), a multi-year international collaborative project, is establishing a global monitoring system to address disability discrimination. The research project, based in YIHR, is led by Rioux and Bengt Lindqvist − a former Cabinet Minister in Sweden, former UN Special Rapporteur on Disability, and long-time activist on disability rights. The team includes a group of 91��ɫ researchers and international colleagues who are creating a roadmap that will allow countries to evaluate their laws, policies and programs to comply with the United Nations’ standards.

“Collecting and reporting on evidence-based data forces governments to acknowledge that the challenges people with disabilities face are not just anecdotal,” says Rioux. “Our project allows evaluation to happen within the context of the experiences of people with disabilities to objectively measure where discrimination is now while developing and tracking solid trend data to determine if and how things are getting better.”

In September, the Africa Regional Monitoring Centre opened its doors in Kigali, Rwanda and will act as a focal point for disability monitoring and reporting in the region. Agreements with centres in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America are expected in the near future. The (SIDA) awarded the research team over $2 million in 2009 to open the four regional centres.

Each centre will act as a focal point for monitoring disability rights in that region, and will play a key role in empowering local people with disabilities to lead disability rights monitoring projects. “Regional monitoring is most sustainable when local people are involved since it puts long-term roots into the community,” says Rioux. “The vast majority of disabled people around the world face endemic poverty − many don’t have jobs or go to school or have basic literacy skills. Engaging people with disabilities to lead this process is a more holistic approach to addressing the challenges they face, both as individuals and a collective.”

When all four centres are operational, Rioux anticipates that hundreds of people with disabilities will be engaged in disability rights monitoring activities. The centres will host training on what disability means as a human right, how to collect data and conduct evidence-based research, and how to write and file human rights reports. Groundwork is also being laid to connect monitors with disabilities to other local rights-seeking groups, such as religious-based, race-based and gender-based, to get them coordinating their efforts together instead of separately.

"The Faculty of Health’s worldwide research aims to help people live healthier lives while co-creating rejuvenated health systems,” says Harvey Skinner, dean of Health. “Professor Rioux's research is an excellent example of how 91��ɫ University is on the front line of our increasingly complex, simultaneously global and local world."

Previous phases of this project focused on developing and piloting tools and methods to monitor disability rights. In 2006, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ()’s Community-University Research Alliances program provided Rioux and her team with just under $1 million to fund Monitoring the Human Rights of People with Disabilities in Canada, which is currently in its last of five years.

In 2008, Rioux also received a two-year $40,000 grant from to research disability and social, economic and cultural rights. She has also received funding from the , and been invited to consult with governments and disabled persons associations around the globe to discuss disability rights. Recently, she and her team wrote the chapter on disability rights monitoring for the .

“Professor Rioux’s disability rights research reflects both the value 91��ɫ places on social justice and her expertise in leading large-scale collaborative research projects of international significance,” says Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. “This type of knowledge mobilization is a crucial step in making governments more accountable for the social policies they set, and reflects the social input that’s possible when expertise is globally shared.”

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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Parekh is the winner of the inaugural Human Rights Prize for Master of Arts (MA) Major Research Paper in the Critical Disabilities Studies Program for her paper, "How Neoliberalism Impacts the Realization of Inclusive Education Both Internationally and Locally: A Study of Inclusive and Equitable Education Opportunities Within the Toronto District School Board". The award, created through donations from 91��ɫ Professors Marcia Rioux and Geoffrey Reaume of the School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health, was presented to Parekh on Tuesday. "It was an interesting paper to research," says Parekh.

Parekh earned her MA from 91��ɫ's Critical Disabilities Studies Program with an interest in international development and disability, as well as education.

Right: Gillian Parekh (left) being presented the 2010 Human Rights Prize

For her paper, Parekh initially looked at the connection between government prioritization of market ideologies and the subsequent waning commitment to inclusive practices, homing in on inclusive education policies under varying governments in South Africa. Although South Africa boasts of having highly progressive disability policies, over time the push for economic returns has taken precedence over the protection of the rights of students with disabilities, and segregated learning centres have been maintained and expanded.

"An analysis of the evolution of inclusive education policies from South Africa is documented to encapsulate a clear example of the hegemonic relationship between rights and market principles while the right to quality education for many hangs in the balance," says Parekh.

She then turned to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to see if the same was true here. She examined student demographics at 85 secondary schools and whether they correlated with the availability of specific programs and services. "Social factors such as poverty, disability, language and parental education are compared to increased or decreased access to programming and services that lead to future enhanced marketability for the student," she writes.

Although Parekh taught special education for several years at schools within the TDSB, the fourth-largest school district in North America, she was surprised by what she found. "Overall, the higher percentage of parents with a university education, the higher the likelihood their children would have access to elite programs within their public school. The higher the percentage of students from low income housing, as well as the higher the percentage of students using special education services, the fewer programs were offered at their school," says Parekh. She knows the TDSB has attempted to address issues of equity and continuously works to offer equitable services and programming to all students, however, the current state speaks to a much more powerful force at work.

In comparing demographics between schools offering French immersion programs, what Parekh calls one of the board's most elite programs, and those schools providing vocational training, she found the difference in incidence of low income, special education and parental education staggering. When she looked at where schools providing vocational training were located, she discovered that they were largely running in Toronto's lowest income neighbourhoods, she says. Whereas French immersion programs were more likely to be found within schools in more affluent areas with greater numbers of parents having been to university.

Access to some programming was definitely related to geography, says Parekh. "The education system continues to sustain inequitable learning opportunities between social groups. Policies addressing the issues of inequity have not yet achieved fully inclusive or equitable educational opportunities for all." And that is true in both Toronto and South Africa.

Parekh largely holds the government accountable for continuing to move towards a private model of market ideology within its public school systems in which more advantaged students are met with greater opportunity

"What bothers me the most is that this disparity is often normalized. Not enough people think significant change is required," says Parekh. It comes down to erroneous thinking that certain people in society are more deserving of academic opportunities than others, she says.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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This year’s conference will take place on the University’s Keele campus. The 2010 conference theme is “Dialoguing Across Differences”. Keynote speakers and sessions will explore how to dialogue across relevant human rights areas in relation to this theme. Conference participants will engage in interactive sessions focused on communicating difficult topics.

Conference organizers are seeking proposals for sessions on race and racialization, gender expression and expectations, (dis)abilities or sexual orientation.

Presenters are invited to submit proposals on the conference theme for a 60-minute session in the format of a round-table discussion, individual or panel presentation, interactive workshop or dialogue process. Proposals should be provided to the Centre for Human Rights no later than Aug. 31.

For more information, e-mail conference organizers Kristina Osborne or Nythalah Baker or visit the Centre for Human Rights Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Co-edited by 91��ɫ School of Health Policy & Management Professors and , along with University of Toronto health studies Professor Toba Bryant, the second edition of Staying Alive (Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc.) has been thoroughly updated.

It features a new chapter on research methodology; expanded discussions of inequality, women’s health, public health and public policy; more material on First Nations health; and a new discussion of the historical development of the Canadian medicare system.

"The first edition sold really well and there isn’t another source out there that covers the same material in one book," says Rioux, who also directs the 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research. "A second edition was needed."

The collection also includes chapters on pharmaceutical policy, social class, race, gender and care, as well as the social construction of illness and disability. In addition, it looks at approaches to promoting population health that include insights into the impact of economic forces such as globalization and privatization.

Left: Dennis Raphael

“Concerns about health and the health-care system have reached a fever pitch in Canada in recent years,” write the editors. “The public is subjected to a daily onslaught of media stories about the causes and treatment of disease and the threats to the sustainability of the Canadian health-care system.”

The book strives to bring together isolated yet important perspectives in identifying key issues in health, illness and health care, relating them to current policy environments as a means of identifying the complex origins of the problems identified and contributing in a meaningful way to their solution.

It focuses on the Canadian scene with relevant comparisons to the United States and other countries and is organized in four parts. The first part provides an overview and critical review of four major health paradigms – the epidemiological, sociological, political economy and human rights perspectives – and a new chapter on research paradigms and methodologies.

Right: Toba Bryant

The second part explores the emerging field of the social determinants of health with a focus on social class, gender and race as indicators of differential access to the economic and social resources available within a society.

In the third part, a comparative history of the Canadian health-care system is provided, along with an overview of current attempts at reform and a detailed analysis of the effects upon the system and its participants of recent trends toward privatization.

Left: Marcia Rioux

The final part considers critical issues in health and health care that illustrate some of the key themes of the volume, including gender and its interaction with health and health care; the construction of illness and disability; health policy through the lens of pharmaceutical policy and the health-care system; and public health concerns of varying national jurisdictions.

Staying Alive is expected to be of interest to a wide range of readers in the fields of health studies, nursing and social policy. In addition to traditional health sciences and sociological approaches, the book provides human rights and political economy perspectives on health, focusing on Canada and the United States within an international context.

For more information, visit the Web site.

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