The purpose of Faculty Affairs is to enrich York's intellectual community by bringing new people and ideas to York and helping them thrive once here.
Faculty Recruitment
for prospective faculty & hiring committees
Faculty Development
for new, current, & emeriti faculty members
About Faculty Affairs
The Faculty Affairs office was created in August 2022 to support colleagues at every career stage, from first applying for a faculty position through to retirement. We facilitate faculty recruitment not only by posting positions and guiding process, but also offering hiring committees resources and support. Starting May 2023 and culminating in New Faculty Orientation in August, we will host online welcome sessions for new faculty to ease their transitions to York and connect them with each other. For those already at York, we organize faculty meet-ups about different issues so that colleagues can find mentors, models and sounding boards as they move forward in their careers. As well, York Change Leadership (YCL) offers leadership skill-building workshops, internal consulting, coaching, and runs the Academic Leadership Program for new and existing leaders.
In addition to our office’s own initiatives, we also circulate information about other opportunities and programs at York so these reach all faculty. The Research Commons for instance, offers a full complement of programs to facilitate colleagues' scholarship, while the Teaching Commons does the same to invigorate pedagogy. Finally, the York University Retirees’ Association (YURA) builds community among retired faculty and staff and sustains their connection to the university.
Whether a prospective colleague, a new one, or a long-standing one, we hope you see ways that you and your ideas can thrive at York.
Faculty Affairs Team
Laina Bay-Cheng, MSW, PhD
Associate Vice-President, Faculty Affairs
Bay-Cheng joined York in August 2022 as the inaugural Associate Vice-President, Faculty Affairs. Prior to that, she was on faculty at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work for 17 years. There, she served as Associate Dean for Faculty Development (2019-2022) and PhD Program Director (2012-2019). At UB, she created multiple initiatives to promote pluralist, equity-centred intellectual communities, including the pan-university NEAR mentoring network and the School of Social Work’s Racial Justice Network. She was honored with the university’s Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award in 2020.
Bay-Cheng concentrates her research on the imprint of social forces and material conditions on young women’s sexual lives. She combines quantitative, qualitative and conceptual analyses to expose the roots of youth sexual vulnerability in interlocked gender-, race-, class- and age-based oppression. Alongside her administrative role, Bay-Cheng holds a faculty appointment as Professor of Psychology in the Faculty of Health.
Bay-Cheng is grateful for her undergraduate education at Wellesley College and her doctoral training with Dr. Abby Stewart at the University of Michigan.
Debbi Collett
Academic Resource Coordinator
Debbi Collett began her career at York University in the early 1980s. From 1983 to 1991, she worked in the Secretariat Office and for the Associate Vice-President, Research. Debbi left York for a few years to start a family and to attend Seneca College where she graduated as valedictorian. She returned to York in 1998 and for 24.5 years worked in the Division of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic. In August 2022, she began working with the inaugural Associate Vice-President, Faculty Affairs.
Pam Fernandes
Sr. Administrative Assistant
Pam Fernandes joined the Faculty Affairs team in December 2022. Before that, she worked in various administrative roles across York, most recently at the Department of Chemistry (2020-2022) and the Department of Biology (2016-2020).
Pam received her Bachelor of Science in Honours Biology and Bachelor of Education at York in 2012. Having always been interested in teaching and learning of young minds, she worked as a casual relief teacher in Melbourne, Australia in 2014. She returned with a renewed motivation to improve the teaching and learning environments for students and faculty.
Madeleine Maleki
Faculty Affairs Coordinator
Madeleine Maleki began her career at York in 2012. She has held various administrative roles in the Office of the Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, most recently as Sr. Faculty Affairs Coordinator, Office of the Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs. Madeleine received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Dalhousie University, as well as a Bachelor of Public Administration from York University. She joined the Faculty Affairs Team March 2023.
Land Acknowledgement
York University recognizes that many Indigenous Nations have longstanding relationships with the territories upon which York University campuses are located that precede the establishment of York University. York University acknowledges its presence on the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations. The area known as Tkaronto has been care taken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Huron-Wendat. It is now home to many First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities. We acknowledge the current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for the Great Lakes region.