Professor Uppal, or simply “Priscila” as she preferred, arrived in the Department of English from Ottawa as an undergraduate in 1993, and graduated summa cum laude in 1997. After earning a master’s degree from the University of Toronto, she returned to York University for her doctorate, which was awarded in 2004. At the same time, she was also becoming a renowned poet, novelist and teacher. She was appointed to a faculty position in the Division of Humanities before she graduated, and as coordinator of York University’s Creative Writing program, brought her unstinting energies to its renewal and revitalization into the distinguished program it is today. She was a Fellow of Founders College.
In 2006, she became a tenured professor and achieved the rare distinction of full professorship before she was 40. Her works have been published internationally and translated into numerous languages including Croatian, Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Korean and Latvian. In 2010 she was the CANFund poet-in-residence during the Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics and was dubbed “Canada’s Coolest Poet” by Time Out London magazine. In 2014 she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.