We are very proud to announce that five of our students won the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (DARE). Congratulations to Matteo Cerilli, Sophie Corbiere, Royce Luu, Faridah Mazhar, and Yuwai Brian Wong!
In 2023, DARE was awarded to only 45 undergraduate students in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional (LA&PS) students. Each winner received $5000 and engaged in a research project supervised by a LA&PS faculty member.
Third-year English and Professional Writing student Faridah Mazhar’s project, “Burning Stories: Analyzing Media Representations of Forest Fires,” used a coding process to deduce rhetorical trends in how Canadian media report on wildfires. Faridah’s ENPR degree set her up for success in this project: “My familiarity with research databases and how to research played a big role while aggregating newspapers to be coded. Additionally, learning about a writer's purpose, audience, and context in all my courses aided me to design and write a rhetorically effective poster for the project presentation.”
My ENPR degree has fostered transferable skills that are already helping me to tackle real world issues.
— Faridah Mazhar
English and Professional Writing Major
For the project “Supporting Engagement with Canada's Computer History,” fourth-year Professional Writing student Yuwai Brian Wong worked with the York University Computer Museum to study the often-overlooked history of computing in Canada. “My degree in professional writing was instrumental in my work on the project,” Yuwai said. “Having the ability to zoom in and out of communications, coupled with a critical perspective on efficiency, allowed me to identify trends, select the best examples, and create templates for the museum's future use.”
My training as a professional writer kept me curious and pushed my understanding of computing in Canada.
— Yuwai Brian Wong
Professional Writing Major
Matteo Cerilli (PRWR and CRWR ’23) conducted archival research on how multiple activist groups—including gay men, Black activists, lesbians, feminists, immigrants, religious communities, and students—worked in solidarity to protest the 1981 Toronto Bathhouse Raids. For the project “Intersections of the Toronto Bathhouse Raids,” Matteo drew upon the research skills learnt in the Professional Writing program. “Professional Writing taught me how to be critical of my sources, and how to organize them, and triage,” said Matteo.
Sophie Corbiere (ENPR ’23) and Royce Luu (PRWR ’23) also gained new research expertise by participating in DARE. As Sophie notes, the project “Scholarly Writing for Publication at a Bilingual Canadian College” provided “invaluable research experience that I will be able to use in the future; from knowing how to code data, to research methods, to presenting at a conference.” Royce’s project, “The OHS Project,” offered the opportunity to study multiple discourse communities related to occupational health and safety, including legislation and regulations.