The York University faculty are among 89 new Fellows who have been elected by their peers for their outstanding scholarly, scientific and artistic achievement, and 51 new members of the RSC College.
Five York University professors have been elected to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). They are: Philip Girard, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School; Jennifer Hyndman, associate vice-president research and a professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS); Michele Johnson, associate dean of students and a history professor in LA&PS; and Christina Petrowska Quilico, a music professor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design. Appointed to the RSC College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists is Jane Heffernan, a professor of mathematics and statistics in the Faculty of Science.
“York is delighted to see that professors Girard, Hyndman, Johnson, Petrowska Quilico and Heffernan have been recognized by the Royal Society of Canada,” said Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation. “These exceptional researchers embody our vision to enhance our impact on the social, economic, culture and overall well-being of the communities we serve.”
Royal Society Fellows
Philip Girard
Osgoode Hall Law School
Philip Girard’s prize-winning work on the legal history of Canada has shaped the field and redefined its agenda for the 21st century. Tracing the roots of today’s legal pluralism to the historic encounter of two European empires with Indigenous peoples in northern North America, he stresses how this pluralism allowed Quebec civil law to flourish on a continent of common law and now creates space for the renaissance of Indigenous law.
Jennifer Hyndman
Centre for Refugee Studies
Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Jennifer Hyndman studies geographies of forced migration, ethnography of the international refugee regime, feminist geopolitics, critical refugee studies and extended exile. Her research addresses violence in relation to diaspora and displacement among Tamils and other people on the move, international humanitarianism in war zones, as well as refugee and migrant inclusion in Canada.
Michele Johnson
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
An international leader in Black history, Michele Johnson is esteemed for rigorous and methodologically innovative studies of cultural production and performance, race and racialization, gender relations and labour among persons of African descent in the Caribbean and Canada. Equally committed to networking and communicating with multiple audiences, Johnson has employed her global prominence to benefit students and scholars around the world, and to promote wider community engagement with Black history.
Christina Petrowska Quilico, C.M.
School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Appointed to the Order of Canada “for her celebrated career as a classical and contemporary pianist and for championing Canadian music,” Christina Petrowska Quilico, professor of musicology and piano performance at York University, has opened the ears of students and audiences with numerous premieres of music of our time, featuring many women composers and repertoire ranging from baroque to the present in solos, chamber works, 45 concertos and on over 50 internationally acclaimed CDs.
RSC College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists
Jane Heffernan
Faculty of Science
Jane Heffernan is a recognized international leader in infectious disease modelling. Her Modelling Infection and Immunity Lab tackles important questions in mathematical epidemiology and in-host pathogen dynamics, using mathematical and computational modelling to ascertain key characteristics of pathogens, individual hosts, and populations that allow for disease spread and to determine public health and medical intervention strategies that will be needed to contain or eradicate an infectious disease.
These York University faculty are among 89 new Fellows who have been elected by their peers for their outstanding scholarly, scientific and artistic achievement, and 51 new members of the RSC College. Recognition by the RSC for career achievement is the highest honour an individual can achieve in the arts, social sciences and sciences. The RSC College consists of mid-career leaders who provide the RSC with a multigenerational capacity to help Canada and the world address major challenges and seize new opportunities, including those identified in emerging fields.
“This year, the Royal Society of Canada welcomes an outstanding cohort of artists, scholars and scientists, all of whom have excelled in their respective disciplines and are a real credit to Canada,” says RSC President Jeremy McNeil.
On Friday, Nov. 19, the RSC will welcome the Class of 2021 new RSC Fellows and new members of the RSC College and present awards for outstanding research and scholarly achievement.