Colleagues,
I am pleased to inform the York community that Dr. Maydianne Andrade has been appointed as dean, Faculty of Science for a five-year term starting Jan. 1, 2026 following a national and international search process.
Dr. Andrade joins York from University of Toronto, where she is University Professor in Biological Sciences. At the University of Toronto Scarborough, she has also held the roles of special advisor to the dean on inclusive recruitment and equity education, vice-dean faculty affairs and equity, acting vice-principal academic and dean, and served two terms as Canada Research Chair in Integrative Behavioural Ecology. Dr. Andrade holds a PhD in neurobiology and behaviour from Cornell University.
In 2024, Dr. Andrade was recipient of the Trailblazer Award in the Policy for Science category from the Canadian Science Policy Centre, adding to her dozens of awards and honours for outstanding academic service, academic excellence, research, teaching and community and societal engagement. An internationally recognized expert on widow spiders (Latrodectus species), her research examines how reciprocal effects of ecological and social factors influence reproductive tactics, life history patterns, sexual selection, invasiveness and diversification in the diverse mating systems and ecologies of spiders. She has received exemplar awards from the Animal Behavior Society and from the Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior for her long-term research contributions to the field and has received upwards of $4.5 million in research funding.
Dr. Andrade is Chair of the National Killam Selection Committee and incoming member of the Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy for the Tri-council Institutional Program Secretariat. She has been a member of the Council of Canadian Academies’ Scientific Advisory Committee since 2021 and now serves as Chair of that committee. Author and co-author of 70 peer-reviewed articles, Professor Andrade has served on the editorial boards of Canadian Journal of Zoology and The American Naturalist and has herself been a reviewer for national and international journals, granting agencies and textbooks. She is a practiced science communicator who has appeared on television, radio, in podcasts and numerous public fora to advocate and build enthusiasm for science in academic and non-specialist audiences.
Central to Dr. Andrade’s work as a community leader is her focus on systemic increase of inclusive practice in academia. Engaged deeply in the literature on bias, her concern is twofold: 1) offering data-rich and evidence-informed workshops and advising to illuminate how bias manifests; and 2) sharing practical strategies to disrupt bias and create more inclusive work cultures. She is co-founder and the inaugural president of the Canadian Black Scientists Network and founder of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence.
I extend my thanks to the search committee for their commitment and guidance, and my gratitude to Dr. Rui Wang for his remarkable stewardship of the Faculty of Science over the past five years and in his previous roles at York.
Sincerely,
Rhonda Lenton
President & Vice-Chancellor