91ֱ��

Dear OISE community,

It has been a very busy academic term with many initiatives and activities within and beyond the Institute. As we begin to enjoy the improving spring weather and look forward to the much-needed summer break, I would like to share the following updates:

• OISE Academic Plan 2025-2030
• Academic Leadership Update

Be sure to visit our memos and announcements page for previous community messages and updates.

OISE Academic Plan: 2025-2023

I am delighted to share that, after a year and a half of extensive consultations, we have developed the OISE Academic Plan 2025-2030 entitled Leading for the Future: A Vision for Transformative Education and Human Development. The Plan was approved in principle by OISE Council at its April 30^th, 2025, meeting and will move through university governance in May.

In addition to a renewed vision for OISE as a leading faculty of education, the plan highlights our core values and commitments to equity, inclusion, diversity, Indigeneity, accessibility, well-being, and regenerative sustainability, as well as the need to advance our work in service to historically underserved communities, particularly Black and Indigenous children, youth, and adults. Within the plan, a number of community-crafted priorities and possibilities for action are grouped under three core themes: (1) Cultivating Inclusive, Collaborative and Creative Community; (2) Broadening Impactful Research and Knowledge Mobilization; and (3) Advancing World-leading Education for Sustainable Social Change. The culmination of extensive convenings, conversations and working sessions involving many members of the OISE community, the Plan reflects the themes, intentions, and constructive ideas that emerged during academic planning.

With the completion and approval of the Academic Plan, we now enter the next phase of the process focused on implementation. I look forward to working with all of you on realizing the plan’s vision and implementing its goals and priorities as they evolve. Meanwhile, I am grateful to all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends who participated in the planning process – for their visionary contributions and ongoing commitment to OISE’s excellence and leadership.

Academic Leadership Update

Over the course of the past several months, in conjunction with the academic planning process, I have had productive conversations with our academic and administrative leadership regarding how we might align our senior administration to support our academic departments with the implementation of goals and priorities emerging from the plan. Based on these discussions, I want to share the following updates and changes regarding the decanal portfolios of the Vice-Dean, and the Associate, Dean, Research, International and Innovation.

Vice-Dean, Academic Operations

The addition of Vice-Dean to OISE’s current decanal structure was approved by the Provost in the fall of 2023, in response to OISE’s growth as one of the largest graduate divisions within the university. Professor Creso Sá was appointed as OISE’s first Vice-Dean effective January 1, 2024, and has been instrumental in planning, managing, and implementing OISE’s key priorities including the establishment of a new Office of Student Financial Support. The core responsibilities of the Vice-Dean have evolved over the course of the past year: In addition to cross-portfolio initiatives, going forward, the Vice-Dean, Academic Operations will provide leadership and oversight for the development of OISE’s operational capacity including the improvement of operating procedures, support systems, and the infrastructure to better support academic operations. Along with student financial support, key areas of responsibility supporting the Dean also include faculty relations matters, strategic priorities emerging from the Academic Plan, and labour relations.

Associate Dean, Research, Partnership and Innovation

Our new Academic Plan calls for “developing and growing equitable and reciprocal local and global partnerships that amplify our impact and foster collaboration”. This necessitates an update to the title and area of focus for the Research, International and Innovation decanal portfolio, which includes promotion and support of excellence and innovation in faculty research and knowledge mobilization, international partnerships, and initiatives, and continuing and professional learning. The Associate Dean, Research, Partnership and Innovation (ADRPI) will steer the development and implementation of OISE’s research partnership strategy, centering the power and potential of reciprocal local, national, and international partnerships for positive societal impact in alignment with OISE’s mandate and the University’s research and innovation mission. I want to thank Professor Michele Peterson-Badali, who served as Associate Dean, Research, International and Innovation for the past ten years, and her exemplary team for developing this new framework for the portfolio. I extend gratitude from all of us at OISE to Professor Peterson-Badali for her outstanding leadership, service, and sustained contributions to the Institute over the course of her term. I look forward to updating the community soon about the search for a new Associate Dean, Research, Partnership and Innovation, and to working with the next Associate Dean to advance portfolio objectives in the coming years.