OISE appoints special advisor to the Dean on equity, accessibility
 

November 25, 2011

By Jennifer Sipos-Smith


The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE) announced the appointment of Rinaldo Walcott, associate professor and Chair of the department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education as OISE’s first Special Advisor to the Dean on Equity and Accessibility today.  OISE is guided by a commitment to equity and social justice, and is a global leader in the teaching and learning of equity and accessibility research, policy and practice. 

“The OISE community identified this appointment as critical to enhancing OISE’s commitment to equity and accessibility. The Special Advisor position sits at the highest level in Canada’s largest and most influential faculty of education reflecting the importance of equity and accessibility here and OISE’s responsibility to lead,” said OISE Dean Julia O’Sullivan.

Rinaldo is an internationally-renowned teacher and researcher in the area of Black diaspora cultural studies and postcolonial studies.  His work emphasizes questions of sexuality, gender, nation, citizenship and multiculturalism.  Rinaldo held the Canada Research Chair in Social Justice and Cultural Studies from 2002-2007.  In 2010, he was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the Warfield Center for African American Studies, and the Department of Diaspora and African Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Rinaldo’s work is widely published and cited with more than 100 scholarly publications and presentations in multimedia circulation. 

Rinaldo Walcott is a University of Toronto alumnus who holds a PhD in sociology and equity studies in education from OISE.  Before joining OISE as a faculty member in 2002, he was a professor in the Division of Humanities at York University where he served as Graduate Program Director of Interdisciplinary Studies and as the Director of Affirmative Action for Tenure Stream Appointments, among other positions. 

In this new role, Rinaldo will bring together an advisory board at OISE to promote equity and accessibility and to advise the Dean on policy and practice.

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