In September 2025, LA&PS streamlined the student petitions process to improve clarity, consistency and access to support. Enhancements included a new petitions grid, mandatory advising requirements for at-risk students and the digitization of petition records within the Faculty’s case management system.

Enhanced onboarding and offboarding processes in collaboration with the eServices team by streamlining workflows related to mandatory training, access provisioning and access removal. These improvements strengthened data security, supported compliance and helped maintain information integrity across the Faculty.

We remained committed to fostering a safe and healthy work environment by supporting compliance with the University's health and safety requirements across the Faculty. This included ensuring academic units maintained Certified First Aiders and Emergency Response Wardens, completed annual workplace inspections and maintained compliance with mandatory training requirements, including Health and Safety Orientation, WHMIS and Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention training.

The LA&PS Academic Advising team, in partnership with LA&PS Communications, implemented a targeted outreach campaign to improve new student accept-to-enrol conversion rates. Through a strategic combination of email communications, calling campaigns and daily enrolment support sessions, the Faculty achieved a 2.6 per cent increase in new student enrolment for Fall 2025 compared to the previous year.

To enhance support for transfer students, LA&PS Academic Advisors completed five modules of the Transfer Student Training Series: Building a Transfer-Receptive Culture during the Winter 2026 term, strengthening the Faculty’s capacity to support student transitions from other post-secondary institutions.

Despite ongoing financial constraints, LA&PS continued to invest in its physical environment by creating and enhancing sustainable, purpose-built spaces that foster community and support the health, safety and well-being of students, faculty and staff. This included improvements to key student spaces, such as the Student Council of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (SCOLAPS) office and the SNACK/PASS Learning Space, ensuring these areas continue to meet the evolving needs of the student community.

LA&PS also partnered with central University units to advance critical maintenance and renovation projects, helping to maintain safe, accessible and functional learning and working environments across the Faculty.

Recognizing the exceptional contributions of our staff remains a priority. This year, we supported nominations for the President's Awards, including the Ronald Kent Medal and the Harriet Lewis Team Award for Service Excellence. These nominations highlight the outstanding work our staff continue to do in support of our students and broader University community, while demonstrating our Faculty's mission, vision and values.

This year, four LA&PS faculty members were recognized with the President's University-Wide Teaching Award, which recognizes the contributions made by faculty and instructors to student success and excellence in teaching. The 2025 recipients included Brian Huss, professor in the Department of Philosophy, who was recognized for his ability to spark dialogue in the classroom and for making abstract concepts digestible for learners; Keith O’Regan of the Writing Department, who was honoured for creating programming that helps students improve their writing while contributing to scholarship around teaching and learning; and teaching assistants Sarah Vanderveer and Fatemeh Gharibi, who were recognized for their commitment to inclusive teaching and student mentorship.

LA&PS hosted a day-long workshop for Toronto District School Board (TDSB) high school teachers focused on the newly established Black History high school curriculum.

In June 2025, LA&PS held its annual Dean's Staff Recognition & Celebration event to recognize 34 staff members celebrating their five, 10, 15, 20 and 25-year milestones at York University and to thank them for their ongoing service contributions to the Faculty.

In November 2025, members of the LA&PS community were recognized at the President’s Staff Recognition Awards, which celebrate outstanding contributions to York University in areas such as community building, leadership and service excellence. Among the recipients was Magy Baket, Student Success and Academic Advisor in LA&PS, who received the Ronald Kent Medal in recognition of exceptional service and contributions to the York community.