Distinguished Fellows are prominent members of the community who have significantly contributed to the operations of the Robarts Centre and helped improve its standing, financially, publicly and reputationally. Distinguished Fellows are members of the Robarts Centre for a two-year term (renewable).
Alexandre Brassard is the Dean of the Faculties of Arts and Sciences at the Université de Saint-Boniface.
Andrea Davis
Andrea Davis is the Associate Vice President Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Wilfrid Laurier University. Formerly a distinguished faculty member and chair in the Department of Humanities, York University. She was the founder and program coordinator of the Black Canadian Studies Certificate and was the academic convenor of the 2023 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Lorna Marsden
C.M., O.M. (FRG), O.Ont, PhD (hon), PhD
Marsden is a sociologist whose research has focussed on Canadian social change in labour markets, women’s status and population studies. She graduated from the University of Toronto (1968) and received the PhD from Princeton University (1972). She was on the faculty of U of Toronto for twenty years before becoming president and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University (1992-97) and then York University (1997-2007). She has published six books and many book chapters and refereed articles. She served as the third president of NAC, on many volunteer and corporate boards and committees both Canadian and international, Senator for over eight years. Since leaving York’s presidency she has taught and carried out research from Glendon campus. She is a Continuing Senior Fellow at Massey College. She has been recognized with six honorary degrees, the Order of Canada and by the Order of Merit of Germany.
Deborah McGregor
Deborah McGregor (Anishinaabe) is a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Indigenous Ways of Climate and Water Sustainability for Planetary Health and Wellbeing at the University of Calgary.
She is cross appointed to Osgoode Hall Law School and Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change. Professor McGregor’s research has focused on Indigenous knowledge systems and their various applications in diverse contexts including water and environmental governance, environmental justice, forest policy, and management, and sustainable development. Her research has been published in a variety of national and international journals and she has delivered numerous public and academic presentations relating to Indigenous knowledge systems, governance and sustainability.
Jai Parasram
Jai Parasram is a journalist, author, and communications and media specialist, who worked at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) until his retirement in 2013. He was the Line-up Editor on the pioneering team that inaugurated the CBC’s 24-hour cable news service in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1989, and was privileged to edit the first newscast to air on the service. Jai’s career began in his native Trinidad and Tobago in 1972 and spanned more than four decades, mostly in television, during which he worked as a reporter, editor, producer, interviewer, news anchor, news director and executive producer. He has worked with clients in Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and the United States in program development for radio and television, corporate communications, event management and political communication. He has also trained journalists in Trinidad and Tobago and Canada. He has also served as a political and communication adviser to two Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago. Jai has won several prestigious awards for excellence in journalism. He holds a Master of Journalism degree (MJ) from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Jai is the author of Far from the Mountain (2013), a series of notes and commentaries on the politics of Trinidad and Tobago between 2007and 2012, and Beyond Survival: Indians in Trinidad and Tobago 1845-2017 (2017), a narrative about a people who blended the best of East and West to preserve for themselves and future generations, some of India.
Joyce Zemans
University Professor and Senior Scholar, Joyce Zemans is the former Director of the Canada Council of the Arts (1988-92) and a member of the Order of Canada (in recognition of her contributions to Canadian arts and culture). She is an art historian, curator, author, and academic administrator. She served as Dean of York’s Faculty of Fine Arts, now AMPD (1985-88); Chair of York’s Department of Visual Arts (1975-81); the Director of the Graduate Program in Art History and the Diploma Program in Curatorial Studies. From 1994-2020, she was Director of York’s Schulich School of Business MBA Program in Arts, Media & Entertainment Management where she also served as Acting Director of the MBA Program in Non-Profit Management and Leadership. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of Waterloo, Concordia University and NSCAD University, and is an Honorary Fellow of OCADU.
Email: jzemans@schulich.yorku.ca