Educational Committees and Leadership

I have served in a number of different leadership capacities to shape the culture of teaching and learning at OCAD.  In addition to having served as Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, I have served on curriculum committees and discipline-specific education committees.  My educational leadership and committee work is driven by three core beliefs: 1) effective educational leaders create opportunities for sharing knowledge, 2) educational leaders build a collaborative and dynamic community, and 3) educational leaders work to ensure meaningful and transformative student experiences. 

Effective educational leaders create opportunities for sharing knowledge.

In my capacity as the Graduate Program Director for two different departments, I established forums for faculty and students alike to come together formally and informally–through lectures, readings, and social gatherings–to share current research and make learning a two-way street. 

Mentorship is a critical way that faculty can exchange and share knowledge, and I feel fortunate to have mentored many junior faculty and graduate students.  Students have gone on to be successful practitioners in the world of design, and many have communicated that my teaching and leadership laid the foundation for their work.

Educational leaders build a collaborative and dynamic community.

As Interim Dean of Graduate Studies, I was committed to fostering a culture of collaboration in research and design, inside and outside the classroom.  My time in this capacity coincided with the development and adoption of the Strategic Plan, which called for the Indigenization of the curriculum.  To this end, at the request of the Provost, I met with graduate faculty in several town halls as well as one-on-one, with the goal of making clear the importance of the plan and in garnering feedback about how faculty could change and transform their courses.  Other activities included open houses for graduate students, as well as roundtables with program chairs about greater curricular alignments between programs.  For example, given that several programs required that students take critical theory and given there were several similar courses on the books, the conversations explored the wisdom of and means by which there could be a large lecture course accompanied by a two-hour intensive seminar.

Educational leaders to ensure meaningful and transformative student experiences.

Graduate students I have worked with over the years have commented on the generous and enriching partnership that developed through our work.  I clearly lay out my expectations and my focus on student-driven learning.  Establishing a respectful and rigorous classroom experience enables students to claim authority for their own intellectual growth, especially as emerging professionals.

University Educational Committees

2024               

Criticism and Curatorial Practice (CCP) Undergraduate Program and Curriculum Committee

2020               

Sessional Faculty Hiring Committee

2023               

Sessional Faculty Hiring Committee             

2021-present 

Criticism and Curatorial Practice (CCP) Undergraduate Program and Curriculum Committee

2020               

Sessional Faculty Hiring Committee

2019-present 

Criticism and Curatorial Practice (CCP) Undergraduate Program and Curriculum Committee

2016-17          

Interim Dean, Graduate Studies

2015-17          

Academic Plan Steering Committee

2015-17          

Graduate Studies Curriculum Committee Graduate Supervision Working Group (Chair)

2014-16          

Associate Dean, Graduate Studies

2013-15          

Faculty Colleague, Council of Ontario Universities

2013-17          

Graduate Scholarship Committee (Chair)

2011-13          

Graduate Program Director, Criticism and Curatorial Practice Program

2011-13          

Graduate Program Director, Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories

2010-19          

Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design Graduate Program Committee

2010-18          

Contemporary Art, Media and Design Graduate Program Committee

Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies Program Committee

Criticism and Curatorial Practice (CCP) Undergraduate Program and Curriculum Committee

Visual Culture Studies (VCS) Undergraduate Program Committee

2010-17          

Senate Graduate Studies Committee