York Circle Distinguished Speakers' Biographies
Some of York's most distinguished faculty members have given their time and their expert knowledge in a wide range of disciplines to the York Circle. We are very grateful to them.
Professor Margaret Beare
Margaret Beare, a professor at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, combines academic teaching with research and policy development. Her research interests include transnationalization of crime and law enforcement; public and private policing; organized crime; women and the criminal justice system; money laundering; public policing strategies and corrections. Former Director of the Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, Professor Beare has been involved in police research for more than 20 years. Her book, Criminal Conspiracies: Organized Crime in Canada (Toronto: Nelson Canada, 1996), was the first academic book to look at organized crime in Canada and to trace the development of the concept and the legislation, and remains the point of reference for scholarship in the field.
Professor Rob Bowman
Professor Rob Bowman has been writing professionally about rhythm and blues, rock, country, jazz and gospel for over a quarter century. Nominated for five Grammy Awards, in 1996 Bowman won the Grammy in the "Best Album Notes" category for a monograph he penned to accompany a 10-CD box set that he also co-produced, The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles Volume 3: 1972-1975 (Fantasy Records). Bowman played a seminal role in the founding and creation of The Stax Museum of American Soul Music (opened in Memphis in 2003), and has helped pioneer the study and teaching of popular music in the world of academia. A tenured professor at York University in Toronto, Bowman regularly lectures on popular music around the world.
Professor Colin Coates
Professor Colin Coates holds the Canada Research Chair in Canadian Cultural Landscapes at Glendon College, where he teaches in the Canadian Studies programme. In July 2011, he became director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. He is also president of the newly formed Canadian Studies Network - Réseau d’études canadiennes, an association dedicated to the scholarly study of Canada. A specialist in the history of early French Canada and environmental history, he has been conducting research on Canadian utopias since coming to York University in 2003.
Professor Paul Delaney
Paul Delaney completed his undergraduate training at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia and his graduate studies in astronomy at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. A passionate observer and educator, he has been at York University since 1986, coordinating all aspects of the campus observatory including its public outreach program.
Diana Di Mauro
Diana Di Mauro is pursuing her Ph.D. in Musicology, specializing in opera history and Pedagogy at York University. She is passionate about beautiful singing and has a gift for making the often misunderstood world of opera fun and approachable for the uninitiated. She has done extensive study of Italian method of singing and Bel Canto both in her Ph.D. research and as a trained classical singer.
Professor Seth Feldman
A founder and past president of the Film Studies Association of Canada, Seth Feldman has published widely on national and international cinemas. Dr. Feldman is the author and broadcaster of 26 radio documentaries for the CBC's Ideas program, and his arts and media commentary appears regularly on the CBC and other Canadian broadcast outlets, and in the popular press. His most recent program was a four hour series, The Evolution of Charles Darwin, broadcast in November and December, 2009.
Professor Feldman has served as associate dean and dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University, as chair of the Canadian Association of Fine Arts Deans, and on the board of the International Council of Fine Arts Deans. He is currently completing a second term as director of York's Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies.
Professor Rob Fothergill
Professor Fothergill is a playwright, critic and theatre historian. Teaching dramatic literature and criticism, Professor Fothergill was a long-time member of the English Department at York University's Atkinson College before joining the Department of Theatre in the Faculty of Fine Arts 1994. He served as Chair of the Theatre Department from 1994 to 1999.
Rob Fothergill's drama, Detaining Mr. Trotsky (Canadian Stage Company,Toronto, 1987), won a Chalmers Award and several Dora nominations. His most recent play is The Dershowitz Protocol, an examination of the ethics of torture in the context of the current 'war against terror'. It was presented at the SummerWorks festival in 2003, received its US premiere in Rochester, New York, in June 2006, and was produced in a German translation in Bonn, Germany, in April 2008.
Professor Steve Gaetz
Stephen Gaetz is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and is the Director of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network and the Homeless Hub the first comprehensive and cross-disciplinary web-based clearinghouse of homelessness research in the world. Prior to coming to York University, Gaetz worked in the Community Health Sector, both at Shout Clinic (a health clinic for street youth in Toronto) and Queen West Community Health Centre in Toronto. His research has focused on the economic strategies, health, education and legal and justice issues of people who are homeless, as well as solutions to homelessness from both a Canadian and international perspective. Professor Gaetz continues to play a leading role internationally in knowledge dissemination in the area of homelessness. Under Professor Gaetz’s leadership, York played host to the Canadian Conference on Homelessness in 2005 – the first research conference of its kind in Canada.
Professor William Gage
William Gage is the Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Health at York University. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science, where he teaches a graduate level course in biomechanics and neuromuscular control of posture and gait. He holds scientific appointments as an Associate Scientist in the Centre for Stroke Recovery at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, and as Scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. Dr. Gage is particularly interested in how balance and walking are affected by age, by joint disease (arthritis), and by stroke.
Professor Francis Garon
Francis Garon is an Assistant Professor at Glendon College's Political Science Department and School of Public and International Affairs where he teaches at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Born in Québec city, he obtained his Ph.D. from Université de Montréal and joined York University in 2007. His areas of research are Québec/Canadian Politics, and Public Policy and Administration. His actual research project compares public debates on immigration and integration issues in Canada, France, the UK, and Belgium.
Professor Laurence Harris
Dr. Laurence Harris is the director of the Centre for Vision Research at York University, one of the 3 largest and most highly respected vision research groups in the world. He is also the director of the Multisensory Integration Laboratory which seeks to investigate how information from different senses is combined by the brain. Examples include the visual and balance systems role in orientation and self motion perception; and vision and localizing events in space and time. Dr. Harris is a professor of psychology, biology and kinesiology and has been the chair of the Psychology department at York University. He is the author of over 100 scientific articles and has edited nine books on topics pertaining to Vision. He is the Editor-in-chief of the journal "Seeing and perceiving: a multisensory science."
Professor Allan C. Hutchinson
Holding an LL.D. from the University of Manchester and being a member of Gray’s Inn as well as LSUC, he has been a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University since 1982. During that time, he has also held a variety of visiting appointments around the world, including University of Wales, London, Sydney, Monash, Toronto, and Harvard Law School. He was recently appointed to the position of Distinguished Research Professor at York University, was elected to the Royal Society of Canada, and was awarded the University-wide Teaching Award.
Professor Hutchinson has published and/or edited 17 books, including recent books from Oxford University Press and from Cambridge University Press, and has contributed many chapters in books, numerous articles in the world’s leading law reviews, and many essays, notes and comments in a range of popular newspaper outlets.
Professor Roger Keil
Roger Keil (Dr. Phil, Frankfurt) is the Director of the City Institute at York University and Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, Toronto. Among his publications are In-Between Infrastructure: Urban Connectivity in an Age of Vulnerability (ed. with Douglas Young and Patricia Burke Wood), Praxis(e) Press, 2010; and The Global Cities Reader (ed. with N. Brenner, Routledge 2006). Keil’s current research is on global suburbanism and regional governance. Keil is the co-editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) and a co-founder of the International Network for Urban Research and Action (INURA).
Professor Sergey Krylov
Sergey Krylov earned a PhD in chemistry from Moscow State University in 1990 and joined York's Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science and Engineering in 2000. As Canada Research Chair in bioanalytical chemistry at York, he leads research to develop novel methods for studying the molecular mechanisms of diseases and for engineering drugs and diagnostics. His research interests include biophysics, instrumental bioanalytical chemistry, cell biology, and molecular mechanisms of diseases. Krylov's lab is developing a method of analyzing molecular mechanisms called chemical cytometry to study the molecular mechanisms of stem cells, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
Vanessa Lanch
Vanessa Lanch is a vocal performance Masters graduate with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK, Laureate Graduate of the Flanders Opera Studio in Belgium and holds undergraduate degrees for Theatre and Vocal Performance from York University. Recently, Vanessa was a 2010 NATSAA Winner in Toronto, for her performances of recital and opera repertoire. She has sung opera roles for the Centre for Opera in Sulmona, Italy (COSI), Wish Opera (Toronto), Opera By Request (Toronto), Pax Christie Chorale, Stratford Symphony Orchestra, The Britten Pears Programme (Aldeburgh, UK), Flanders Opera (Belgium) and the Grimeborne Fringe Festival (London, UK).
Professor Paul Lovejoy
Paul E. Lovejoy FRSC, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of History, York University, holds the Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History and is Director, Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African Diaspora. His recent publications include (2001): The Biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua: His Passage from Slavery to Freedom in Africa and America (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publisher) (co-edited and introduction, with Robin Law). He is a member of the Executive Committee of the UNESCO “Slave Route” Project, co-edits African Economic History and Studies in the History of the African Diaspora – Documents (SHADD), and is Research Professor and Associate Fellow of the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), University of Hull (UK). See yorku.ca/tubman.
Professor Elizabeth Lunstrum
Elizabeth (Libby) Lunstrum is an Assistant Professor of Geography at York University and Faculty Associate with the York Centre for International and Security Studies (YCISS). Her research and teaching focus on environmental conflict, processes of bordering and creating territory, and human mobility. Her current research examines the politics of labour migration and environmental displacement within southern Africa’s Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. She has conducted research in Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the United States. She is currently spearheading a collaborative research project on displacement induced by conservation, climate change, and resource extraction and is a founding member and co-organizer of the Critical Border Studies Speaker Series at York.
Professor Suzanne MacDonald
Suzanne MacDonald is currently a professor in the Department of Psychology at York University, appointed to the graduate programs in both Psychology and Biology. She received her PhD in animal learning and behavior from the University of Alberta, and then did postdoctoral work at the University of British Columbia, before moving to York in 1990. She has three main areas of research expertise: memory and cognition in nonhuman primates; psychological well-being of captive animals; and reproductive behavior of critically endangered species. Much of her research is conducted at the Toronto Zoo, where she has volunteered as the “behaviorist” for over 15 years.
Professor Debra J. Pepler
Professor Pepler’s major focus is on aggression and victimization among children and adolescents, particularly in the school context. Professor Pepler was awarded a Network of Centres of Excellence: New Initiatives grant to establish PREVNet – Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network, together with Dr. Wendy Craig – an interdisciplinary initiative that brings together 65 researchers from 27 Canadian universities and 50 national organizations. Dr. Pepler has been honoured for her research with the Contribution to Knowledge Award from the Psychology Foundation of Canada, the University of Waterloo Arts in Academia Award, and the Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public or Community Service.
She has been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at York since 1988, and served as the Director of York’s LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution. She is a Senior Associate Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children and is a Registered Psychologist.
Professor Valerie Preston
Valerie Preston is Professor of Geography at York University and the York Director for CERIS - The Ontario Metropolis Centre, one of five Canadian research centres that promote policy-relevant research about immigration and diversity. Her research focuses on the housing and labour market experiences of immigrants. Working closely with municipal governments and nongovernmental organizations, she is involved in several studies of immigrants’ housing and employment including the Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative, a project that provides non-profit organizations with relevant statistical information about the labour market integration of immigrants in the Toronto metropolitan area.
Professor Michael Riddell Michael Riddell is an associate professor and the graduate program director in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in the Faculty of Health. Trained at the University of Guelph (Human Kinetics), McMaster University (PhD Medical Sciences) and the University of Toronto (Physiology), Michael is an internationally recognized leader in the area of exercise and stress physiology, as they relate to metabolism and diabetes. He is also the director of the York University Sports Camp for Teens with Diabetes, and has lived himself with type 1 diabetes since the age of 14. Nick Rogers is one of the world's leading scholars of the political culture of 18th-century British and Atlantic worlds. He has explored a remarkably diverse range of topics, from reactions to press gangs in British ports to religious conflicts amongst London's crowds, from food riots to public reactions to blunders made by admirals, and even the genealogy of Halloween festivities. In 1999, Rogers was awarded the Wallace Ferguson Prize for his book Crowds, Culture and Politics in Georgian Britain, a study of 18th-century Britain that fundamentally transformed our understanding of early modern Britain. In June 2011, Professor Rogers was named distinguished research professors for sustained and outstanding scholarly, professional or artistic achievement largely accomplished at York. Thomas Salisbury is a professor and former department chair in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at York University. He teaches financial engineering at York, is director of analytics Quantitative Wealth Management Analytics group (QWeMA), and leads the Finsurance project at MITACS. He chaired the task force that initiated the 2007 revision of the Ontario grade 12 curriculum, and subsequently served on the Ontario Minister of Education's curriculum council. He has served terms as Deputy Director of the Fields Institute, and as President of the Canadian Mathematical Society. Phillip Silver recently completed ten years as the Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. He has taught stage design in York’s Department of Theatre since 1986. His scenery, lighting and costume designs have been seen in close to 300 productions in Canadian theatres, including Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, National Arts Centre, Canadian Opera Company, Grand Theatre, Canadian Stage Company, Tarragon Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre New Brunswick, Vancouver Playhouse and Citadel Theatre, where he served as Resident Designer from 1967 to 1978. Dr Skinner is an internationally recognized scholar on what motivates individuals and organizations to change. He is a pioneer in the use of information technology for eHealth. Dr Skinner has a special interest in global public health and is currently the Chair of the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO) leading peace-building initiatives in the Middle East. Also, he is on the Board of the Canadian Association for People-Centred Health. He has served as an expert advisor to Health Canada, the World Health Organization, U.S. Institute of Medicine, U.S. National Institutes of Health. From a personal perspective, Dr. Skinner ‘walks the talk’ as an avid runner (completed 7 marathons) and he enjoys spinning, sailing and skiing. Bridget Stutchbury was born in Montreal and raised in Toronto. She completed her M.Sc. at Queen’s University and her Ph.D. at Yale, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. She is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology at York University, Toronto. Since the 1980s, she has studied the ecology and conservation of migratory songbirds. She is author of the book Silence of the Songbirds (2007, finalist for Governor General’s Award) and The Bird Detective (2010)
John Tsotsos is Distinguished Research Professor of Vision Science at York and holds the Canada Research Chair in Computation vision. Last year he received the Inaugural President’s Research Excellence Award. Born in Windsor, Ontario, he holds a doctoral degree from Computer Science at the University of Toronto where he is cross-appointed in Computer Science and Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences. He is known for his creative ideas and ability to engage all of us in understanding his exciting work. Malcolm Thurlby is a professor of art and architectural history at York. Born in London, England and received PhD from University of East Anglia with a dissertation on Scupture in England 1140-1250. Well known authority on medieval architecture and sculpture and Canadian heritage buildings. His passion for architecture extends to fine food and wine, soccer, the Muppets, and driving his wife’s BMW Z3. Priscila Uppal is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, and professor at York University. Her recent books include Winter Sport: Poems (2010), Successful Tragedies: Selected Poetry 1998-2010, To Whom It May Concern: A Novel (2009), and Ontological Necessities (2006, shortlisted for the $50,000 Griffin Prize for Excellence in Poetry). Time Out London (U.K.) recently dubbed her “Canada’s coolest poet.” For more information, visit priscilauppal.ca
Professor Westray joined York's Music Department in 2009 as the Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance. He teaches in the jazz program and co-directs the York University Jazz Orchestra with Professor Al Henderson. He has appeared in concert with such luminaries as Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, Benny Carter, Dewey Redman, Roy Haynes, Randy Brecker and a host of other pre-eminent artists. Jim Whiteway was born and raised in the Toronto area, took his undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University in Kingston, then obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from York University. After working for several years at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth, he returned to Toronto when he was awarded a Canada Research Chair at York University. He is presently the Director of the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science at York. His area of specialty is atmospheric physics and this involves laser remote sensing from various platforms such as aircraft and spacecraft. Usually his work is carried out in remote areas ranging from the Canadian Arctic to tropical Australia. Following on this theme, he has recently has led the Canadian component of the NASA Phoenix mission to Mars. Specializing in Medieval and Renaissance literature, especially Shakespeare, she has published articles on a variety of topics. She has a special interest in the work of pioneering female scholars such as Hope Emily Allen and Dame Frances Yates, and in the adaptation of Shakespeare by contemporary novelists and filmmakers such as Rohinton Mistry and Roman Polanski. Professor Wilson currently serves as Associate Dean, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Planning in the Faculty of Fine Arts. He began his professional theatre career as an actor in 1983, and has extensive performance credits in theatres across Canada. His recent directing credits include Mister Invisible at St. John’s Resource Centre for the Arts in Newfoundland and Underworlds for Red Sky Performance at Toronto’s Glenn Gould Studio. Professor Wolf is doing research on global restructuring of the automotive industries and on financial aspect of the global economy. He has lectured widely in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia, including extensively in China and has organized many international conferences, both in Canada and abroad. He has published numerous papers and articles and has served on various editorial boards. He was Canadian Chairperson of the Academy of International Business, Chairman of the International Business Division of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, and has acted as a consultant and advisor to a number of corporations and to the Canadian government. At York University, Professor Wolf has been Director and one of the originator’s of Schulich’s pioneering International MBA Program. He is currently on the executive committee of two research centers and Chair of the University’s Honorary Degrees Committee. Kathy Young, a professor in York University’s Department of Geography, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, is an Arctic hydrologist whose long-term research is focused on improving our understanding of the inter-relationships between climate, hydrology and ecology of permafrost environments. Professor Young is presently investigating the hydrology of large complex wetland systems situated in broad climatic settings (Polar Desert vs. Polar Oasis climates) and geomorphic landscapes (e.g. moraine, coastal, bedrock). She has published approximately 51 refereed articles and another 117 non-refereed reports or conference papers. Young's publications in recent years reflect her interest in various aspects of northern hydrology, microclimate and her experience of working in northern environments.
Professor Nicholas Rogers
Professor Thomas Salisbury
Professor Phillip Silver
Professor Harvey A Skinner
Professor Bridget Stutchbury
Professor John Tsotsos
Professor Malcolm Thurlby
Professor Priscila Uppal
Ron Westray
Professor Jim Whiteway
Professor Deanne Williams
Professor Mark Wilson
Professor Bernard Wolf
Professor Kathy Young
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