Jennifer Simpson is a Professor in the School of Professional Communication. She served as the chair of the renaming committee at TMU, one of the early instances of a large institution addressing colonial practices through renaming. She has served in multiple senior leadership roles including that of Dean and Provost. Her focus as a leader, researcher, and teacher has for three decades focused on contemporary forms of racism and colonialism in North America and in public life, with a specific focus on universities in North America. She brings passion, humour, perspective, and self-reflection to this work. She is an invitational teacher and leader, foregrounding questions, increased understanding, and shared interests. She shows up with her head and her heart, and believes that attending to inequity and mapping out new ways forward is difficult, possible, and necessary.
- Equity
- Universities' obligations to the public good
- Contemporary forms of racism and colonialism in North America
- Implementing systemic change
Jennifer has published two single authored books through the University of Toronto Press (Longing for Justice: Higher Education and Democracy's Agenda (2014) and I Have Been Waiting: Racism and U.S. Higher Education (2003); as well as multiple articles in academic journals and in more widely available venues. Current research projects include a focus on knowledge mobilization that integrates a) her extensive research on racism, colonialism, and the obligations of universities to the public good; b) her experience in senior leadership roles; and c) the current attacks on EDI and universities more generally.
Selected Publications and Projects
- Simpson, Jennifer S. (2023). "Equity and academic programming: beyond simply an additive approach." University Affairs (December 8).
- Simpson, Jennifer S. (2023). "Why universities warrant public investment: Preparing students for living together well." The Conversation (December 14).
- Simpson, Jennifer S. “Moving toward equity: hard questions, shared conversations at Toronto Metropolitan University.” University Affairs, May 11, 2022.
- Simpson, Jennifer S., Giwa, Sulaimon, and St. Denis, Verna (2021). “In Times of Racial Injustice, University Education Should Not Be ‘Neutral’.” The Conversation (September 12).
- Understanding and Finding our Way: Decolonizing Canadian Education (external link) (2021).
- Simpson, J.S. (2014). Longing for Justice: Higher Education and Democracy’s Agenda. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Simpson, Jennifer S. (2003). “I Have Been Waiting:” Race and U.S. Higher Education. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.