Reimagining the Public University

Dr. Joy Johnson, SFU's president and vice-chancellor, is committed to carrying out SFU's vision to be a leading research university advancing an inclusive and sustainable future, as outlined in What's Next: The SFU Strategy. Joy is widely respected in academic and research communities. Prior to her appointment as president, Joy served as SFU’s vice-president, research and international from 2014 to 2020. Under her strong leadership, SFU’s research income grew from $103 million in 2014 to $161 million in 2020—the fastest growth in research income of any Canadian university.

Dr. Dilson Etcheverry Rassier is SFU’s Provost and Vice-President Academic. He is the university's chief operating and chief academic officer. He provides leadership that supports all aspects of the university’s academic, financial, and operational matters. Working closely with the president, deans, vice-presidents, and vice-provosts he ensures that operational planning and budgeting is fully integrated across the university, aligns with the university’s academic and strategic mission, its institutional priorities, and is supported by the appropriate allocation of resources/funds.

Dr. Stuart R. Poyntz is Professor in the School of Communication and Scientific Director of the Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) at Simon Fraser University. His research addresses public cultures, digital citizenship, social care and urban youth learning cultures. He has published six books, including the new monograph, Youthsites: Histories of Creativity, Care and Learning in the City (Oxford UP) and the new collection, Critical Futures: Community Engaged Research in Times of Social Transformation (University of Toronto Press).

Dr. Jessica Riddell is the founder of Hope Circuits Institute, a think tank dedicated to systems re-wiring and renewal in the post-secondary sector. She is a Full Professor of Early Modern Literature in the English Department at Bishop’s University (Quebec, Canada). She holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence; in this capacity, she focuses on systems-change in higher education that fosters human flourishing; in her research, teaching, leadership, and administration, she participates in a wide range of conversations at the national and international levels about how universities fulfil the social contract to a broader society. 

Dr. Amy Parent’s Nisga’a name is Noxs Ts’aawit (Mother of the Raven Warrior Chief named Ts’awit). On her mother’s side of the family, she is from the House of Ni’isjoohl and is a member of the Ganada (frog) clan in the Village of Laxgalts’ap in the Nisga’a Nation. On her father’s side of the family, she is of Settler ancestry (French and German). Dr. Parent is a scholar, speaker, mentor and educator. She is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Education & Governance (Tier 2) in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University (Ph.D., UBC). She is the UNESCO Co-Chair in Transforming Indigenous Knowledge Research Governance & Rematriation. She is also Co-Chair of the Indigenous Research Leadership Circle with the Tri-Council Agency (Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) and the Inaugural Associate Director for the SFU Cassidy Centre for Educational Justice.

Dr. Natasha (Nat) Hurley is Professor of English and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, a position she has held for the past four years. Prior to moving to Memorial, she worked at the University of Alberta for fifteen years, first as a Killam postdoctoral fellow and then as a faculty member in the Department of English and Film Studies. At the UofA, she also served as Director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies, as both Director and Associate Director of Intersections of Gender, one of the university’s Signature Areas of Teaching and Research.  She is the author of Circulating Queerness (Minnesota, 2018), editor of a special double issue of ESC: English Studies in Canada on “Childhood and Its Discontents,” (2013) and co-editor of Curiouser: On the Queerness of Children (Minnesota 2004). She has published on topics in 19^th-century American literature, children’s literature, queer theory, trans studies, psychoanalysis and intersectionality in venues including American Literature, Cultural Critique, Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, ESC: English Studies in Canada, SAF: Studies in American Fiction, and Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures. She is the co-winner of the F.E.L. Priestley Prize for the best essay in American Literature winner of the Henig Cohen Prize for best essay or book chapter on Herman Melville (2019). She is currently working on a SSHRC Insight Grant funded project titled “Kidless Lit: Children, Childlessness, and Minor Kinship Forms.”

Dr. Adel Iskandar is an Associate Professor of Global Communication and Director of the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies (CCMS) at Simon Fraser University on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories. He is the author, co-author, and editor of several works including "Egypt In Flux: Essays on an Unfinished Revolution" (AUCP/OUP); "Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism" (Basic Books); "Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation" (University of California Press); "Mediating the Arab Uprisings" (Tadween Publishing); and "Media Evolution on the Eve of the Arab Spring" (Palgrave Macmillan). Iskandar's work deals with media, identity and politics; and he has lectured extensively on these topics at universities worldwide. He is a co-editor of popular online publication Jadaliyya and co-produces academic podcasts such as Status الوضع. Iskandar is the recipient of numerous awards including the SFU Teaching Excellence Award (2020) and the Faculty of Communication, Arts and Technology (FCAT)’s excellence awards in "Research Mentorship" (2018), Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award (2021), and Service (2024). His two forthcoming publications deal with the political role of memes and contemporary forms of imperial transculturalism.

Dr. Rackeb Tesfaye is the Knowledge Mobilization Lead and Senior Scientist at the Bridge Research Consortium (BRC), part of Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub (CIEBH). At the BRC she leads several integrated knowledge mobilization initiatives that bridge together diverse expertise and perspectives to better understand and support public trust and equitable access to new vaccines and immune-based innovations that strengthen Canada's readiness for future emergencies. Dr. Tesfaye holds a PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University and as a Visiting Scholar with the Neuroscience, Society and Ethics Group at the University of Oxford, she supported global neuropsychiatric studies using mixed methods approaches. Dr. Tesfaye has held various knowledge mobilization roles, from translating pathogen and pandemic-related research in BC to coordinating research-community partnerships to expand evidence-based autism care in Quebec. For over a decade, she has championed an accessible and inclusive knowledge to action landscape as a lecturer, CBC radio science columnist, and co-founder of initiatives like ComSciCon Canada and BlackInNeuro. She has also advised several organizations including Canada’s Chief Scientist’s Youth Council, Falling Walls, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and The Kavli Foundation.

Dr. Tara Mahoney has over 15 years of experience in community organizing and a PhD in Communication from Simon Fraser University and has been at the forefront of innovative projects that bridge the gap between academic research and community-driven solutions. She oversees the creation and production of SFU CERi's publications and programs, including the 312 Main Research Shop and Graduate Fellowship Program. Tara has published widely on topics related to community-engaged research and public engagement with climate issues.