Appointment of Associate Dean, Research, Partnership and Innovation

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Becky (Xi) Chen of the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, as the Associate Dean, Research, Partnership and Innovation effective July 1, 2025, for a three-year term. I would like to thank the members of the special committee for their thoughtful advice and deeply engaged participation in the important work of selecting our new Associate Dean.

A member of the OISE community since 2004, Professor Chen has an extensive research profile. She is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Bilingual and Multilingual Children, has published over 100 refereed journal articles and given more than 200 conference presentations. She has been a principal investigator on externally funded projects of over $1 million and has been a co-investigator on more than 20 external grants totalling $6 million engaging with both academic researchers and community partners. She has served on many faculty search, promotion and tenure review committees, the Research Committee of OISE Council, as well as other working groups and committees both at OISE and at the university. Professor Chen’s leadership experience includes service as Associate Chair for Student Experience in APHD (2022-2025), Program Chair of the Developmental Psychology & Education program (2015-2016), member of the University of Toronto Research Ethics Board (2015-2017 and 2020-2022), Vice-President (2022-2024) and President-Elect (2024-2026) of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Annals of Dyslexia (2017-2023).

I look forward to working with Professor Chen on advancing the Research, Partnership and Innovation portfolio objectives. Please join me in congratulating her on this appointment and welcoming her to the OISE academic leadership team.