Appeals & Academic Honesty Committee
Graduate Students’ Biographical Statements
Ryan Lee, Graduate Program in Humanities
I am writing in interest for the position of Graduate Student Volunteer in the Appeals and Academic Honesty Committee. My name is Ryan Lee, currently heading into the second year of my PhD studies in Humanities.
During my studies at York, I have worked and wore many hats in various departments and colleges, while taking lead in many creative projects. First, my most ambitious project challenged me to rebuild the Humanities Graduate Student Association from the ground up: the project included the planning and hosting of the annual graduate conference. Hosting and planning involved advising and creating reports to the various heads within the Humanities department. I also undertook other responsibilities directed by the department. Second and most recently, I served on the Tenured and Promotions Committee for the department of Humanities: I worked closely with the tenured professors to review cases of applying professors to tenured positions. My experiences have led me to gain skills to able to adjudicate cases and reappraise appeals to the standards of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
These skills and experiences, I think, can be a tremendous asset to this position. Thank you for considering me for this position of graduate student volunteer to work in the Appeals and Academic Honesty Committee
Jessica Padgett, Graduate Program in Psychology
Jessica Padgett is a PhD student in the Social and Personality area of the Psychology Department where she works with Richard Lalonde in the Cultural Collective Lab. Her primary area of research focuses on national identity and its relationship with historical narratives and contemporary sociopolitical issues. Other areas of interest include stereotyping, psychometrics and measure development, and Natural Language Processing. She has a strong interest in statistics and research methodology and is completing a Quantitative Methods Diploma alongside her PhD. She also has a strong interest in mentoring and teaching, having worked for the Statistical Consulting Service, completed several teaching certificates with the Teaching Commons, and acted as a co-supervisor on several undergraduate thesis projects. Jessica has TA’d multiple courses, winning the Teaching Excellence Award in 2020. She has also worked as a Course Director for Writing in Psychology and is currently co-developing a fully online version of Research Methods in Psychology, both of which focus on ethics within research and academia. Jessica has also contributed service to her area, acting as a co-coordinator for the Social and Personality Psychology’s colloquium series for two years and volunteering as the graduate student representative for her department’s Tenure & Promotion Committee. Most recently, she was invited to be an adjunct member for an Appeals and Academic Honesty Committee hearing and is eager to contribute more substantial work to the AAHC.
Lisa Seiler, Graduate Program in Sociology
Lisa Seiler is completing her second year as a PhD student in the Graduate Program in Sociology. She acted as the student representative for her program on the augmented Appeals & Academic Honesty Committee (AAHC) in two cases in the past academic year. She also documented two undergraduate cases of academic honesty so that they could be appropriately adjudicated. Through those experiences, she has learned about the procedures involved in cases of academic honesty at York. She understands the importance and consequences of having such situations documented and dealt with fairly. Lisa appreciated the thoughtfulness with which the AAHC approached its task. At the hearings, she was complimented for her insightful input. As an older student, Lisa is able to see many sides of a situation and can consider the student’s point of view as well as the impacts of the situation and decisions on the wider student body.
Lisa has been a member of her program’s Graduate Curriculum Committee for the past two years, and has an orientation toward policy matters. In her previous career working with a network of non-profit organizations, she helped a number of those organizations establish or clarify their by-laws so that they could operate more effectively. She has held a variety of volunteer board and committee positions.
Lisa would be very happy to have the opportunity to work with the members of the AAHC as a student representative and, in that way, provide service to the wider York community.
Mikhaela Slavin, Graduate Program in Kinesiology & Health Science
My name is Mikhaela Slavin, and I am a 2nd year MSc student in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science and will be transitioning into my PhD in the Fall. I started my academic career at York seven years ago having since completed my undergraduate degree and started graduate studies. During my Bachelor’s, I competed on the Varsity Field Hockey team while living on campus, and thoroughly enjoyed representing my institution in competitive sport, while contributing to the cultivation of York pride on campus as an active member of York’s athletic community. Most recently, I have channelled my athletic interests into researching exercise physiology within the Muscle Health Research Centre, and continue to represent York at national and international conferences, presenting my research and advocating for one of the best Kinesiology programs in the country. As I endeavour into my PhD, by the end of my studies, I will have spent over a decade studying at York, a testament to my desire to continue representing the school and my interest in promoting the academic interests of the university. As a proud member of the York community for 7+ years, my hope is to continue to grow and serve this institution to the best of my abilities. My passion for academics aligns with the values that this committee represents, in promoting academic integrity and honesty. As such, it is with great enthusiasm that I submit.
Liming (Lilian) Yang, Graduate Program in Humanities
I am an incoming master student in Humanities. I completed my undergraduate studies in York University’s East Asian Studies program. In the undergraduate program, I through interdisciplinary studied of culture by taking courses from different disciplines within the humanities. Throughout undergraduate studies, I was also exposed to literatures from various geographical locations within East Asia, including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature. By studying a wide array of topics within East Asian studies from various geographical contexts, I became vividly aware that I am most interested in studying comparative East-West literature and history.
During undergraduate studies, my research experience included Film Analysis of Fighting Scenes and Shooting Techniques in Chinese Martial Arts Movies (Explored the relationship between the spirit of Martial Arts culture and Chinese society, culture, and politics), impacts of Confucianism and new Confucianism on East Asian Societies, the development and Contributions of Buddhism in Burma (analyzed the development of Buddhism in Burma, from historical origins to contemporary Burmese society, resulting in a comprehensive review), and review of modern Chinese women writer Eileen Chang’s literatures. Conducted thorough peer-reviewed research on Eileen Chang’s writing style.
In the past 3 years, I was worked as an international language teacher in York Region School Board, and I got reword of Certificate of Appreciation YRDSB and Certificate of Distinction form York Region School Board.
I am interested to working at FGS Standing Committee to better involve in York University family.
Kaiwen Zhou, Graduate Program in Psychology
Hi, I am Kev. I am a second-year Ph.D. student in Social Psychology. I received an MSc in Psychology from Queens in 2020 and a BSc in Psychology from UT in 2018. I served at the Governing Council of Arts & Science at UofT as a student representative in undergrad and continuously ran for numerous governing bodies.
I am one of these doctoral students that would have supervisors ask to commit less to TAship. To me, students’ growth and passion for learning are as significant as the exploration of new knowledge. It was never an either-or situation – they both decide the future of our institution, community, and society.
If I were elected, I promise to treat every appeal with as much caution and consideration as possible. In this role, I trust in my strong sense of social responsibility more than my intuition.