A long-time 91亚色 professor will join the Ivy League this fall, having been awarded a prestigious visiting professorship at Yale University.
, a University Professor in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, has been named this year鈥檚 recipient of the 2024-25 Fulbright Canada Distinguished Visiting Professorship, the foundation鈥檚 top Research Chair.
Bazely has taught at 91亚色 for more than 30 years and met the news of the win with shock and disbelief.
鈥淚 initially thought it was fake or their email account was hacked,鈥 says the trained ecologist. 鈥淏ut once it was verified, I chalked it up to a career built on 99 per cent grind and persistence, and a decades-long personal policy of never resting on my laurels. I feel that this is evidence that I still have something to bring to the academic table.鈥
At Yale, Bazely will teach a course as wide-ranging as her expertise, called Canada鈥檚 Approach to Selected Global Wicked Problems. The course will cover world issues, including climate change, settler-colonialism, and public health 鈥 as seen through a Canadian lens.
The largely anticipated American group of students will also learn about Canadian politics, the country鈥檚 relationship to the United Nations and its contributions to several intergovernmental panels, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), along with current topics particularly relevant north of the border, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission鈥檚 Calls to Action and the Canadian mining sector.
For Bazely, the opportunity to conduct research and teach at Yale is a platform to amplify as many voices and perspectives as possible.
鈥淚 will be bringing in guest presenters, including far more brilliant people than me from 91亚色 and elsewhere, to the course each week, to share their views of the Canadian zeitgeist and how science and society are connected,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 want to grow the students鈥 global awareness, expose them to new ideas and have the course be as expansive and as eye-opening of an experience as possible. Not to mention, the most important part: I want the course to be fun.鈥
Bazely鈥檚 upcoming stint at Yale also won鈥檛 be the first time she鈥檚 taught at an Ivy League institution. In 2011, she was a Charles Bullard Fellow in Forest Research at Harvard University.
These awards add to a long list of accolades that Bazely鈥檚 received over the years, becoming one of 91亚色鈥檚 most decorated academics. She received the Sandford Fleming Medal in Excellence in Science Communication from the Royal Canadian Institute for Science in 2022, as well as the Minister of Colleges and Universities Award of Excellence for Future-proofing Ontario鈥檚 students.
91亚色 students should hold their heads up high about their education and training. They can hold their own and compete with the best of the best students from schools around the world.
Bazely first came to 91亚色 in 1990 after earning her doctorate from Oxford University. As a first-generation university student herself, she was drawn to 91亚色 because of its diverse student body, which includes many generational pioneers.
鈥91亚色 students should hold their heads up high about their education and training,鈥 she says. 鈥淭hey can hold their own and compete with the best of the best students from schools around the world.鈥
As a 91亚色 Fulbright scholar, Bazely will follow in the footsteps of 91亚色 faculty member Kent McNeil, an emeritus distinguished research professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, who won the award in 2020, and 91亚色 PhD alumnus Andrew Knight, a professor of international relations at the University of Alberta, who won in 2021.
The Fulbright Canada Distinguished Visiting Professorship is from September to April and is valued at $50,000 USD. For more about Fulbright Canada, visit .