About
A Pan-University Hub for Black Scholarship
The Black Scholarship Institute (BSI) is a pan-university hub at Toronto Metropolitan University where scholars, students, academic units, institutional partners, and community collaborators come together to advance Black scholarship and Black intellectual life.
BSI connects people, ideas, resources, and opportunities so that Black scholarship is more visible, better supported, and more fully integrated into TMU’s research, teaching, creativity, public engagement, and community partnerships.
Our purpose is practical and long-term: to help build the conditions where Black scholarship is recognized, connected, supported, and sustained.
Why This Work Matters
Black scholarship strengthens TMU’s academic mission by advancing research, teaching, creativity, and community-engaged work that reflects Black intellectual traditions, responds to pressing social issues, and reimagines what scholarly excellence can make possible.
Through BSI’s pan-university ecosystem of scholars, students, institutional partners, and community collaborators, TMU is building stronger pathways for SRC innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, public scholarship, and community impact.
This work helps position TMU as a university where Black scholarship is integral to scholarly excellence, global relevance, institutional renewal, and meaningful social change.
What We Do
The BSI works collaboratively to:
- Convene scholars, students, institutional partners, and community collaborators across TMU.
- Connect Black scholars across disciplines, faculties, units, and communities.
- Co-create programs, research initiatives, mentorship spaces, and academic supports.
- Strengthen pathways for visibility, collaboration, public scholarship, mentorship, faculty development, and community impact.
Through this work, BSI supports Black scholars across the academic lifecycle, from graduate study and postdoctoral development to faculty life, leadership, and legacy.
Our Strategic Priorities
Sustainable Pathways for Black Scholarship
The BSI works with university partners to strengthen Black scholarship across research, teaching, creativity, knowledge mobilization, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Lifecycle Support and Succession Planning
The BSI supports Black graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and academic leaders through mentorship, writing support, professional development, research support, and leadership development.
Relational Equity and Community Engagement
The BSI strengthens reciprocal relationships between the university and Black communities through dialogue, public scholarship, community-engaged research, and shared initiatives.
From Presence to Coordinated Impact
The BSI is supporting TMU's movement from distributed Black scholarly presence to coordinated pan-university impact.
Black scholarship is already present across TMU — across Faculties, disciplines, classrooms, research agendas, and community relationships. The BSI helps organize this exisiting strength in collaboration with Black scholars, departments, Faculties, academic units, and institutional partners.
The BSI does this by helping to:
- Make Black scholarship visible across disciplines, Faculties, and areas of
expertise. - Connect scholars, students, and partners through research clusters,
mentorship, lifecycle supports, and public scholarship. - Align people, resources, and opportunities so Black scholarship can
contribute more fully to research, teaching, community engagement, and
institutional transformation.
Building The BSI's Research Infrastructure and Ecosystem
The BSI is moving from visibility and coordination toward durable infrastructure. It is building structures, relationships, and supports to strengthen Black scholarship, making it easier to find, connect, resource, and sustain across TMU.
This work is being shaped with BSI members—Black scholars whose knowledge, research priorities, and institutional experience ground the ecosystem’s development.
Together, these four areas create a stronger foundation for coordinated and sustained Black scholarship across TMU:
Scholar-led governance
Stewards the BSI’s direction, accountability, and long-term development.
Research clusters
Mobilize interdisciplinary collaboration around shared questions and areas of public impact.
Scholarly supports
Strengthen research development, mentorship, publication, and academic pathways.
Affiliates and partners
Extend the BSI’s capacity by aligning institutional and community expertise, resources, and opportunities.
Who We Work With
The BSI works with:
Black graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and academic leaders.
Faculties, departments, schools, academic units, and institutional partners.
Community-rooted scholars, organizations, and collaborators.
Students, staff, and allies committed to strengthening Black scholarship and Black intellectual life.
Connect With Us
The BSI invites Black scholars, students, faculty, staff, academic leaders, community partners, and collaborators from across TMU and beyond to connect with the Institute.
You can engage with BSI through events, research initiatives, mentorship opportunities, writing spaces, community partnerships, and future calls for participation.
Together, we are building stronger conditions for Black scholarship to flourish across the university and across generations.
Photos at top from 2025-2026 BSI Events. Used with permission.