2020-21 Black Graduate Student Fellowship and Scholarship Awards
Emilie-Andree Jabouin, Communication and Culture PhD
Emilie Jabouin is a PhD candidate in the joint communication and culture program. Her doctoral dissertation explores Black women's intellectual histories, organizing and expressive cultures in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century English-Canada. As a curious and intuitive researcher and dance artist, Emilie merges research and performance to share stories with the public that are under-explored and locked away in libraries. Digging through the archives, her work is a source of information for collective healing in service to her community and to society. Additional research interests of hers include early twentieth-century health and dance history. In 2020, Emilie co-choreographed a solo piece on Mary Ann Shadd that created impactful dialogue, collective processing and ownership of a past that in our present is consistently weaving our future. In manifesting her vision, Emilie founded Emirj Projects, a multi-faceted research and performance production company inspired by the dance process of curiosity, intuition and exploration (www.emirj.ca).
Adisa Julien, Molecular Science PhD
Adisa Julien is driven by a desire to encourage people from various socio-economic, ethnic and educational backgrounds to become scientifically literate. This drive motivates his PhD research on biodiversity in the city, his community outreach activities with organizations such as Urban Water TMU and his role as Let’s Talk Science Coordinator at TMU. Adisa is an essential leader and mentor of youth, both as a science outreach guide for elementary and high school students and as a jiu-jitsu instructor in Toronto neighbourhoods.
Olivia Provost-Walker, Clinical Psychology PhD
Olivia Provost-Walker (she/her) is in her first year of the PhD in clinical psychology, working under the supervision of Dr. Martin Antony. She completed her master’s thesis at X University examining reassurance-seeking behaviours in body dysmorphic disorder, an understudied OCD-related disorder. She has co-authored works examining anxiety’s impact on sexual arousal, post-event processing in social anxiety disorder, and emotional processes in hoarding disorder and has presented several posters at national and international conferences in psychology. Olivia has been involved in leadership and advocacy from the start of her graduate career. She joined the American Psychological Association Graduate Students (APAGS) Committee on the Advancement of Racial and Ethnicity Diversity (CARED) which aims to foster a representative psychology pipeline and to foster community among ethnic minority graduate students. Olivia is also a co-founder of the Graduate Student Anti-Racism Initiative (GSARI) whose purpose is to urge the program to address racism in psychology training and in the field more broadly.
Vanessa Wachuku, Policy Studies PhD
Vanessa C. Wachuku is a doctoral candidate in the policy studies program at Toronto Metropolitan University specializing in the immigration, settlement and diaspora policies stream. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria. Vanessa holds a bachelor of arts degree in community studies and a diploma in public administration and management from Cape Breton University. She also holds a Teaching Certificate (GTDP) from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Certificate in Municipal Administration Program from the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO). Vanessa’s research focuses on the intersection of public policy, human rights, refugee and settlement policies, migration and border studies, in relation to Canada’s immigration detention policy.