In celebration of Black History Month, read our featured blog from CERi Program Coordinator, Kiara Okonkwo! "I have had the privilege within my academic study to centre and explore the niches and intricacies of the lived experiences of people who look like me. I recognize that it wasn’t always like this, and that the work I am currently undertaking by engaging with community-engaged research grows its roots from the marginalized voices and bodies who were only ever seen as subjects. Asking, “who is this for?” has spurred some of the most prolific works of by Black academics on the peripheries, resulting in the destabilization of entire fields and faculties; cracking open the cold veneer of academia, and diving into rich material worlds..."

This article is written by Grace Kwan - Research Fellow at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society. Grace Kwan received their MA in Sociology at SFU in 2023.

At a moment when Canadian public universities are facing profound uncertainty—from financial pressures and shifting public trust to the climate crisis and democratic strain—it can be easy to fall into a narrative of scarcity. But what if higher education is not simply a system in crisis? What if it is one of the last remaining public institutions whose mandate is hope?

This is a collaborative post from: Samona Marsh (co-author of a chapter in Critical Futures), Secretary of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), Vice President of the Coalition of Peers Dismantling the Drug War, and P.O.W.E.R. member; Tyson Singh Kelsall ਟਾਈਸਨ ਸਿ ੰਘ, PhD candidate in SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences and recipient of this year’s community-engaged graduate scholar award, and member of Care Not Cops and P.O.W.E.R.; Paul Henry, P.O.W.E.R. member; Dr. Kanna Hayashi, Associate Professor in SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Principal Investigator behind P.O.W.E.R.; and Dave Hamm, President of VANDU and P.O.W.E.R. member. But what if higher education is not simply a system in crisis? What if it is one of the last remaining public institutions whose mandate is hope?

As part of Reimagining the Public University in a Time of Polycrisis: A National Dialogue, CERi invited a team from the Imaginative Methods Lab (IML) to design an interactive installation that would deepen participants’ engagement with the themes of the gathering and open space for creative, reflective inquiry. The IML specializes in these sorts of interventions. It operates as a methods incubator dedicated to the design, analysis, and deployment of approaches for futures-making that enable collaborative imagining, prototyping, and experiential exploration of alternative understandings of the present. We work with individuals, communities, and organizations around the globe, to develop tools and practices that prompt people to question the worlds they inhabit, make visible the ideologies shaping their experiences, and cultivate the critical literacies needed for co-creating more just and sustainable futures.

This article is written by Mei Lan Fang, Assistant Professor, Urban Studies and Gerontology, SFU. Following the recent symposium on reimagining the public university, this blog connects panel discussions to broader reflections on equity, systems, and the role of universities in advancing public well-being.

On March 31, Simon Fraser University opened the Ideas in Action series with a full room, a timely question, and a shared recognition that something fundamental is shifting. Ideas in Action, SFU's new flagship speaker series supported by the SFU President’s Office. Ideas in Action brings together SFU scholars, visiting thought leaders, students and community members to engage with the most urgent questions of our time.