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Committee Membership

The Committee comprises faculty members from a variety of disciplines across the tri-campus community who are leaders in championing EDI and addressing questions of diversity and inclusion in their research. The Committee includes distinguished researchers, senior administrators and founding members of TIDE (the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence), a faculty-led service group that aims to support EDI by providing education and resources about unconscious bias. Committee members work collaboratively with senior staff leads from key administrative portfolios.

 

Chair

Barbara Fallon
  • Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare

Membership

Maydianne Andrade
  • Professor, Department of Biological Sciences (UTSC)
  • President, Black Canadian Scientists Network

Professor Andrade is the founder and co-chair of TIDE (the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence), and she has been a leader in tri-campus initiatives to understand and mitigate the impacts of unconscious bias in the academic life cycle. As the former Vice-Dean, Faculty Affairs, Equity & Success at UTSC, Professor Andrade oversaw the faculty career arc and advised on academic equity issues.

Heather Boon
  • Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life
  • Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy (St. George)

As Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life, Professor Boon is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive environment for all faculty members across the University. She oversees key initiatives to facilitate recruitment of an excellent and diverse faculty complement, including dedicated supports for the recruitment of Black and Indigenous faculty, as well as sharing good practices to support equity in tenure and promotion processes. Her office also facilitates unconscious bias education workshops for faculty members, department chairs and other senior administrators.

Shelley L. Craig
  • Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (St. George)
  • Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

Professor Craig has actively driven equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives through her research and her administrative work. As Principal Investigator of the International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR), she engages in extensive research designed to cultivate the resilience of sexual and gender minority youth. As Associate Dean, Academic, in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, she helped to revamp the Faculty’s admissions and curriculum to focus on considerations of equity, diversity and inclusion.

Bryan Gaensler
  • Professor and Director, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (St. George)
  • Canada Research Chair in Radio Astronomy

Professor Gaensler is the co-chair of TIDE (the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence) and has provided equity and inclusion training to many departments and faculties across the University of Toronto. As Director of the Dunlap Institute, Professor Gaensler has introduced new initiatives to foster a culture of excellence, inclusion and respect. He is deeply committed to creating opportunities in STEM for everyone by advocating flexible, transparent and creative approaches to recruitment, promotion and retention.

Vina Goghari
  • Professor, Department Psychology (UTSC)

Bio coming soon.

Nick Rule
  • Professor, Department Psychology (St. George)

Professor Rule is an award-winning psychological scientist whose research focuses on prejudice and discrimination related to groups that are difficult to visibly identify. He brings to the committee experience as Acting Chair of the Psychology Department, Interim Vice-Dean, Undergraduate in the Faculty of Arts & Science, various editorial roles at major psychology journals and a host of leadership positions within the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Allison Sekuler
  • Vice-President, Research, Baycrest Health Sciences
  • Managing Director & Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute
  • Professor, Department of Pyschology

Bio coming soon.

Soo Min Toh
  • Associate Professor, Department of Management (UTM)
  • Director, Institute for Management and Innovation

Professor Toh’s research focuses on understanding knowledge transfer between groups, expatriate management and the workplace experiences of immigrant professionals. She also published on the global impacts of cultural constraints on the emergence of women leaders and has examined the effects of occupational stereotypes on vocational choice and recruitment. Professor Toh also brings to the committee significant administrative experience.

Charmaine C. Williams
  • Vice-Dean, Students, School of Graduate Studies
  • Associate Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (St. George)

Professor Williams’s research bridges practice and access and equity issues that affect various populations, including racial minority women, LGBTQ individuals in local and international contexts and individuals and families affected by serious and persistent mental illnesses. She has held positions as the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Officer (2003–2004) and the Provostial Advisor on Access Programs (2014–2015) at the University of Toronto.

Divisional Leads

Judith Chadwick
  • Assistant Vice-President, Research Services, Division of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation

Judith Chadwick leads a team of dedicated professionals who provide critical support to the pre- and post-award phases of the University’s research mission. Increasingly, EDI considerations factor into the application for and administration of the hundreds of millions of dollars for which the University’s faculty compete annually. The Research Services Office is dedicated to recognizing, promoting and supporting EDI in research, in keeping with University’s international research leadership position.

Andrea Gill
  • Research Equity and Development Strategist, Division of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation

Andrea Gill has been actively involved in initiatives to support equity, diversity and inclusion in research and innovation at the University of Toronto, including the development and implementation of the Canada Research Chairs Program EDI Action Plan, the development of internal policies and processes to advance EDI and the creation and sharing of resources related to best practices. She also works to support researchers in integrating EDI into their research teams and research funding applications.

Jodie Glean
  • Executive Director, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, U of T
Nicole Kaniki
  • Director, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research and Innovation, Division of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation

Nicole Kaniki is the inaugural Director of EDI in Research and Innovation. Nicole is the former Special Advisor on Anti-racism to the President at Western University and former EDI Specialist at BrainsCAN, a CFREF sponsored Neuroscience program, and also supported EDI in research at Western for four years. She has developed EDI training curriculum and tools and supported grant and proposal development. Nicole is passionate about social justice and uses an anti-racism and decolonization approach to EDI.

Andrea Russell
  • Director of Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice-President & Provost
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