Teaching
Urban Education: The Chair is teaching a graduate level course designed to examine the geopolitical and social nuances of the new urban environments. A second graduate course, Literacy in social context, is also designed to investigate the resources for and the design of encounters with powerful literacy experiences necessary to succeed and live meaningfully in new urban environments.
Research
The Chair is engaged in Assets Coming Together for Youth, a SSHRC funded (2009-2014) research project that focuses on the Black Creek community. She is the co-chair of Youth Voices, the project’s investigative theme designed to examine youth’s perceptions of community well-being, ‘turf’ issues, and violence. She is also involved in three international projects: one project is focused on addressing the learning and general living experiences of orphans and vulnerable children in Singida, Tanzania; another project is focused on empowering and building women’s capacity and professionalizing social work; and the third project develops HIV/AIDS health communities.
Community
In newly formulated relationships, The Chair has proposed to engage girls in leadership development in collaboration with Working Women, Thorncliffe Neighborhood Office, and Skills for Change.
Community-University Alliance
The Chair has assumed the role of co-chair of the Public Education Committee at the Toronto Dominion-York University Center for Community Engagement. This committee is responsible for providing a menu of learning activities for the community. These have included various academic talks/performances (e.g. Black history month celebrations, Public legal education, etc).
Chair Impact
Chair activities will result in an understanding of the diverse learning opportunities and resources found in the new urban environment.
Teacher candidates will be armed with new teaching strategies to meaningfully engage the x generation.
Collaborations between the Chair and community organizations will lead to new learning scenarios that will acknowledge the diversity of the student population and associated learning styles.
