Special Session 2

Chloë Brushwood Rose

Vice-Provost, Teaching & Learning, York University

Chloë Brushwood Rose (external link)  is a Professor in the Faculty of Education and is currently serving as Vice-Provost Teaching & Learning. Her research interests bridge several fields, including community-engaged visual research methods, media and arts-based education, and gender, feminist and queer studies. Chloë is also a Registered Psychotherapist working with children, adolescents and their families.

She is the co-author of Community-based Media Pedagogies: Relational Approaches to Listening in the Commons (Routledge, 2016), and the co-editor of a recent special issue of the Journal of Teaching and Learning (external link)  on the impacts of COVID-19 for children, youth and education. Her scholarly work has appeared in several journal publications, including the Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society; Qualitative Studies in Education; Visual Studies; Changing English; International Journal of Leadership in Education; and, Gender and Education. Chloë is co-editor of several anthologies, including two anthologies on queer culture: the Lambda short-listed Brazen Femme: Queering Femininity (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002) and the winner of a Golden Crown Literary Society Award, And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents, and Our Unexpected Families (Insomniac Press, 2010).

Susan McCahan

Vice-Provost, Academic Programs and Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, University of Toronto

Susan McCahan (external link)  (B.S. Cornell U., M.S., Ph.D. RPI in Mechanical Engineering) is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and she is cross appointed to the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice. She currently serves as the Vice Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, and the Vice Provost, Academic Programs at the University of Toronto. She has previously served as Vice Dean, Undergraduate and First Year Chair in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.

Prof. McCahan works with academic divisions across all three campuses to assess and improve the academic student experience. Her portfolio revolves around the creation and assessment of programs of study, and initiatives that support re-imagining academic processes and experiences. Her portfolio includes cyclic quality assurance reviews, curricular reviews and renewal, and support for the development of new academic programs and units.

Her office collaborates with the divisions and other units on experiential learning infrastructure, enterprise level academic and educational technology systems, and data tools to inform academic decision-making. In addition, she oversees the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation (CTSI), and supports administration of many of the major teaching awards and grant programs at the University.

Kim Dej

Vice-Provost, Teaching & Learning, McMaster University

Dr. Kim Dej (external link)  is the Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning for McMaster University. Dr. Dej has been at McMaster since 2004 and holds a PhD in biology from John Hopkins University. She is a renowned educator having won the President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning, a McMaster Student Teaching Award and the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Education and Mentorship. Dr. Dej has previously taught in the Life Science programs and has taught courses in Genetics, Cell Biology and Community Engagement. She is passionate about teaching and learning pedagogical research, curriculum development and peer-mentorship.

Currently Dr. Dej leads the INSPIRE Office of Flexible Learning initative.

Sean Kheraj

Vice-Provost, Academic, Toronto Metropolitan University

Sean is an accomplished academic leader who joined TMU in January 2023 from York University where he served as the vice-dean and associate dean, Programs of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. He is also an associate professor of Canadian and environmental history in the Department of History at TMU.
As vice-dean at York, Sean oversaw curriculum development and quality assurance, as well as experiential learning, enrolment management, and undergraduate recruitment in the largest arts and professional studies faculty in Canada.
An award-winning author and researcher, Sean’s work examines histories of parks, animals, cities, and energy in modern Canada. His book, Inventing Stanley Park: An Environmental History, earned the CLIO Prize for best book in B.C. history from the Canadian Historical Association and was a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award. He has also been published in Environmental History, Canadian Historical Review, and Urban History Review.

As director of the Network in Canadian History and Environment, Sean also hosts and produces Nature's Past: Canadian Environmental History Podcast.

He holds a PhD and master of arts in history from York and a bachelor of arts (Hons) in history from the University of British Columbia.