*In April 2022, the university announced our new name of Toronto Metropolitan University, which will be implemented in a phased approach. Learn more about our next chapter.*
Sara Asalya
Sara Asalya (external link) is an award-winning leader who brings more than two decades of experience working internationally and in Canada in various sectors including not-for-profit organizations, NGOs, think tanks, and higher education institutions. Sara has received numerous awards for being a champion for immigrants' rights and for her leadership and dedication to advancing their economic resilience and civic engagement. She was named one of Canada’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrants in 2018, one of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence in 2021, and most recently one of the Top 50 women leaders in the Not-for-Profit sector.
Sara has collaborated and worked on different research and policy development projects and is a sought-after media commentator and thought leader on issues and policies related to refugee displacement, protection, and resettlement, labour market access, and outcomes for newcomers, refugees’ access and pathways to higher education, newcomer settlement services, and racialized immigrant women's economic resilience and advancement. Sara has testified before parliamentary and senate committees as a subject matter expert on such issues and policies.
Sara holds a Master’s in Education in Higher Education from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature and a Postgraduate certificate in Community Engagement, Leadership and Development and in Immigration and Settlement Studies. She is the founder and former Executive Director of the Newcomer Students’ Association, a national not-for-profit organization working at the intersection of migration, education, and social justice, and a platform committed to promoting inclusion and equity for post-secondary immigrant and refugee students. Sara currently works as the Executive Director of Newcomer Women's Services Toronto (NEW); a multi-service settlement organization with a gender-focused mandate and a feminist approach to service delivery, operating across four locations across the Greater Toronto Area, and serving thousands of immigrants and refugees annually.
TMCIS occupies space in the traditional and unceded territory of nations including the Anishnaabeg, the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and territory which is also now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. This territory is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, as well as the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas.