Faculty Members’ Biographical Statements
Appeals & Academic Honesty Committee
Shobna Nijhawan, Graduate Program in Humanities
Shobna Nijhawan is Associate Professor of Hindi in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and appointed to the graduate programs in the Department of Humanities (since 2007) and the School of Gender, Women and Feminist Studies (since 2015). Her main research interest is the Hindi public sphere of colonial North India. Her two monographs published by Oxford University Press (2012 and 2018) analyze Hindi women's, children's and literary periodicals in light of feminist and nationalist discourses of the early twentieth century. She has also edited two books (Permanent Black 2010, Routledge 2022) and published essays in first-tier academic journals on gender, language and literary history in late-colonial India.
Since her appointment to the graduate faculty, Nijhawan has supervised M.A. and Ph.D. students and served on several graduate student examination committees. She has served twice on the admissions and scholarship committees in the graduate programs that she is appointed to and she sat on the Executive Board of the graduate program in the Department of Humanities.
Nijhawan has taught courses on all levels (1000-6000) in South Asian Studies, Humanities and World Literature. Amongst her graduate courses are "The Nation and Its Women. Case Studies from South Asia" and "The Making of Asian Studies: Critical Perspectives", the latter also being the core course for the Diploma in Asian Studies offered by the York Centre for Asian Research.
Arik Senderovich, Graduate Programs in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and Information Systems & Technology
Professor Senderovich is an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at the School of Information Technologies (ITEC) at York University. Prior to joining ITEC he held Assistant Professor positions at the Rotman School of Management (where he still holds a status-only position) and the iSchool (both at the University of Toronto).
Arik has a PhD in Data Science (2017), an MSc in Statistics (2012) and a BSc in Industrial Engineering and Management (2006) from the Technion. In 2017, he received the Lyon Sachs scholarship (awarded to one PhD grad per year) and worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Toronto Intelligent Decision Engineering Laboratory (TIDEL) at the University of Toronto.
Arik has recently joined the Committee of Student Academic Petitions & Appeals at LA&PS (starting officially on July 1), and previously served on similar committees (Graduate Committee on Standing) at the University of Toronto. He has also recently served as a chair of a hiring committee for a tenure-track position at ITEC (LA&PS).
Mike Zabrocki, Graduate Program in Mathematics & Statistics
Mike Zabrocki is a full professor in the department of Mathematics and Statistics. He served as the graduate program director for Mathematics and Statistics from 2014 to 2017. He has previously served on FGS APPC from 2010 to 2012 and then again in from 2015 to 2017 as Vice chair of FGS council. He has also served on the Senate Appeals Committee (2019-2022).
Awards Committee
James Corcoran, Graduate Programs in Interdisciplinary Studies and Linguistics & Applied Linguistics
I am an Assistant Professor of ESL & Applied Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at York University, and I am excited to contribute to collegial governance by serving on the Awards Committee. My admittedly less than extensive experience with award adjudication includes acting on faculty research award and student academic award committees at Renison College – University of Waterloo, and as a journal editor, editorial board member, and manuscript reviewer for various academic journals. Most recently, I have co-cordinated the “Best thesis/dissertation of the year” and “Best research article of the year” awards for the journal Discourse & Writing/Rédactologie. Additional pertinent experience includes acting as an adjudicator of Master’s and PhD level SSHRC applications here at York. Finally, during my pre-tenure time at York, I have been a part of committees at the program, department, faculty, and university levels, most notably the relatively newly-formed LA&PS Graduate Committee. My pedagogical work involves design and delivery of courses in three programs: Graduate program in applied linguistics; English as a second language; and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESL) certificate as well as delivery of courses on research writing for publication to emerging scholars. My research interests include language teacher education, graduate student writing, (critical) English for specific/academic purposes, and relations of power in global academic knowledge production. I have published books, research articles, and book chapters related to my empirical work on the topics listed above…and I have two cats.
Omosalewa O. Olawoye-Mann, Graduate Program in Development Studies
Salewa is an Assistant Professor in the Business and Society Program of the Department of Social Science at York University. She has a PhD in Economics and Social Science Consortium (University of Missouri – Kansas City, 2016). Her research focuses on heterodox approaches to sustainable economic development through natural resources, and monetary theory. Her interdisciplinary research work mainly focuses on these issues in the Sub-Saharan African region. She co-edited the book, Monetary Policy and Central Banking: New Directions in Post-Keynesian Theory (2012) and has an edited book, COVID-19 and the Response of Central Banks: Coping with Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa (April 2023).
Isha Sharma, Graduate Program in Management Practice
Isha Sharma is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the School of Administrative Studies since July 2021. From the beginning of her academic career, she has displayed a commitment to teaching, research, and service. In her very first year at York University, she spearheaded the Major Research Paper seminar for the school’s newly launched graduate program, the Master of Science in Management Practice (MscMP). She serves on the school’s research committee and the MScMP executive committee. Having worked in higher education in India and Canada, she brings in a culturally diverse experience and has been exposed to the varying needs of an academic institution. Through her research on consumer behavior, new technologies, and inclusive marketing, she has made a significant contribution to academic scholarship and practice. She advocates reflective and participatory teaching pedagogies and considers experimentation and value co-creation as essential for creating a successful teaching and learning environment. Her vision as an educator is to foster empathy and creativity among her students – the two virtues, that she believes, technology cannot replicate.
Petitions Committee
Allyson Lunny, Graduate Programs in Humanities and Socio-Legal Studies
I am a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Social Science (Law & Society program) and hold graduate faculty memberships with Socio-Legal Studies (SLST), Humanities, and Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies. I have had extensive experience with department and LA&PS committees, including, but not limited to, these LA&PS committees that are student-focused: 2013-16 Committee on Teaching and Learning, 2009-12 Committee on Student Appeals & Academic Integrity, and 2007-10 Committee on Student Academic Petitions. As the former coordinator of Law and Society, I sat on the SLST executive and was involved the Graduate Admissions Committee, 2014-17. I have taught in the SLST program developing my own course on my primary area of research, hate crime and hate speech. I have sat on numerous MA and PhD committees and am currently supervising 2 PhD candidates in SLST. I am enriched and motivated by my commitment to York’s students and find that I do my best service in relation to student success and well-being.
Pasha Malla, Graduate Program in English
Pasha Malla (he/him/his) is an Associate Professor in Creative Writing (Department of English), hired at York in 2021 after a two-year contractually limited appointment. He is the author of seven books of fiction and poetry, most recently Kill the Mall (Knopf, 2021), a novel. His writing has won or been listed for the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the International Dublin Literary Award, the Trillium Book Award, an Arthur Ellis Award, the Journey Prize, the Hamilton Book Award, the Kerry Schooley Book Award, and several National Magazine Awards. He also frequently contributes essays, criticism, and creative nonfiction to the Globe and Mail, the New Yorker, the Walrus, and the Literary Review of Canada. At York, in addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate creative writing workshops, Pasha coordinates the Rishma Dunlop Reading Series, the LA&PS Writer-in-Residence program, and the Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing. His current research projects include a sequel to Kill the Mall, currently on submission, another novel centred around the mysterious disappearance of the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana, and a book of prose poems that examine the effects and outcomes of late onset schizophrenia.
Saeed Moradian, Graduate Program in Nursing
Dr. Moradian is an accomplished oncology nurse and clinical researcher with extensive experience in the field. He completed his Nursing Ph.D. program at the University of Manchester in the UK and served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Toronto. Currently, he is an assistant professor at York University and has established a robust research program focused on reducing the burden of complex cancer symptoms.
He has demonstrated excellence in teaching and received high praise from students and colleagues alike. He teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and is currently supervising and serving on several Ph.D. student committees. He has been an active member of various committees within the School of Nursing, the university, and the broader community.
Dr. Moradian’s leadership in the academic community is reflected in the various positions he has held, including faculty co-chair of the Race Inclusion and Supportive Environments (RISE) committee, member of the graduate admissions committee at the School of Nursing, and member of the International Digital Health Study Group of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer. He also serves as an editorial board member and peer reviewer for several academic journals.
Dr. Moradian is interested in joining a Standing Committee of the Council of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, where he can further contribute to the development of graduate studies at the university. His consistent efforts to contribute to the academic community and effect meaningful change are a testament to his dedication to the field.