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Passings

During their lifetimes, these colleagues helped to shape our department in meaningful ways. Read more about their lives, work, and contributions to the university and to the Department of English.

Passings: Professor Ila Goody

Passings: Professor Ila Goody

The Department of English mourns the passing of a long-time contract faculty member, Ila Goody. Prof. Goody earned her doctorate degree in English literature from the University of Toronto in the mid-seventies. She began teaching at York as a contract faculty member in 1984 and, over the years, taught an impressive variety of courses in […]

Passings: Judith A. Stuart

Passings: Judith A. Stuart

Professor Judith Anderson Stuart passed away on May 1 at the age of 70. Stuart was a long-serving contract faculty member in the Department of English and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. Stuart earned her Honours BA and MA in English Literature at the University of Toronto and later her PhD at […]

Passings: Professor Elizabeth Sabiston

Passings: Professor Elizabeth Sabiston

Elizabeth “Betty” Sabiston – professor emerita in the Department of English in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, former acting master of Stong College and an accomplished author – passed away at 85 on April 29. Sabiston’s career at York began in 1973. Having started as a contract faculty member, she was eventually promoted […]

The Department of English mourns the passing of Prof. Marie-Christine Leps

The Department of English mourns the passing of Prof. Marie-Christine Leps

At York, in addition to her focus on literary theory, discourse analysis, and modernism/postmodernism, she contributed to the graduate programs in English, Humanities, and Social and Political Thought. From 2011-14, and again in 2015-16, she served as the director of the Graduate Program in English and worked vigorously on behalf of the Faculty of Graduate […]

Passings: Professor Marilou McKenna

Passings: Professor Marilou McKenna

Dr. Marilou McKenna earned her BA from University of Guelph and completed her PhD in Victorian Literature at York University. As a CUPE faculty member from the 1980s, she had experience teaching in a wide range of areas, including American and British Literature, gothic literature, and poetry. She was an active member of the William […]

Passings: Professor Douglas Freake

Passings: Professor Douglas Freake

Prof. Freake’s long career at York began in 1976 when he joined the University as a contract faculty member. He became a full-time faculty member in 1991 and received tenure in 1996. He taught for most of his career in the Division, now Department, of Humanities and the Department of English. He served twice as […]

Passings: Mark Wadman

Passings: Mark Wadman

Mark Wadman earned his BA and MA, and was completing his PhD at York University, when he passed away on 3 May 2020. A committed environmentalist, he studied and wrote on ecocriticism, and also published work on Indian and African-American writers. As a CUPE colleague, he served as a teaching assistant for courses in both […]

Passings: Professor Priscila Uppal was Canada’s coolest poet

Passings: Professor Priscila Uppal was Canada’s coolest poet

Professor Uppal, or simply “Priscila” as she preferred, arrived in the Department of English from Ottawa as an undergraduate in 1993, and graduated summa cum laude in 1997. After earning a master’s degree from the University of Toronto, she returned to York University for her doctorate, which was awarded in 2004. At the same time, she was […]

Passings: Mimi Choi

Passings: Mimi Choi

Mimi Choi earned her BA in English at the University of Toronto, and was a doctoral student and teaching assistant at York University when she passed away on 22 August 2017. She was the co-editor, with Elizabeth Patton, of a collection of essays, Home Sweat Home: Perspectives on Housework and Modern Domestic Relationships, published in 2014, […]

Passings: Christopher Innes remembered as one of York’s stars

Passings: Christopher Innes remembered as one of York’s stars

Innes was a Distinguished Research Professor, he held a senior Canada Research Chair and at the time of his death he was the incumbent of a York Research Chair. A world-renowned scholar, he remained energetically active and engaged in cutting-edge research until the very end of his life. As a department member and a citizen […]