Professor Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández appointed as Chair of the Department of Social Justice Education

Sent on behalf of Professor Erica N. Walker, Dean of OISE.

Dear OISE Community,

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández as Chair of the Department Social Justice Education for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2024. I would like to thank the members of the advisory committee for their important work in selecting a new Chair.

Professor Gaztambide-Fernández received an Ed.D. in Learning and Teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2006, joining OISE's Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning the same year as an Assistant Professor. He was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2011, and promoted to Full Professor in 2019. In addition to his appointment in CTL, Professor Gaztambide-Fernández holds a cross-appointment in the Department of Social Justice Education. He is a Senior Fellow at UofT’s Massey College, and has held visiting professorships at the University of Puerto Rico and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Professor Gaztambide-Fernández’s research, which has been funded by SSHRC, the Spencer Foundation, the Newton Foundation, and TDSB, focuses on the areas of cultural production, culture and inequality, sociology of education, and theories of curriculum and pedagogy. He teaches in the Curriculum & Pedagogy program, including courses in Pedagogies of Solidarity, Decolonization and Education, Arts in Education and Foundations as well as Contemporary Curriculum Thought.

Professor Gaztambide-Fernández has been Editor-in-Chief of the renowned scholarly journal 'Curriculum Inquiry' since 2014, and sits on the editorial boards of several other journals. His other leadership roles have included serving as Program Coordinator of the Curriculum & Pedagogy Program (2015-19, 2022-24), Director of the Centre for Media and Culture in Education (2010-17), Interim Director of the Centre for Urban Schooling (2017-18), and Chair of OISE Council's Research Standing Committee (2020-24). In 2023, he received the Critical Mentoring Award from the journal Equity & Excellence in Education.

I am thrilled that Professor Gaztambide-Fernández will be leading the Department of Social Justice Education and joining our senior leadership team at OISE. Please join me in congratulating Rubén on his appointment and in welcoming him as the next Chair of SJE!

Warm regards,

Erica N. Walker
Professor and Dean
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto