Black Faculty in Conversation 2024
Showing up for Black Women in Higher Education
On February 15, 2024, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) community and OISE Black faculty gathered for a special conversation honouring the achievements of Black women in academia and recognizing their leadership and impact.
This annual Black History Month event explored what it means to be Black and a woman in higher education — highlighting the distinct challenges Black women face in the field and the shifts required to foster a more equitable environment.
This year's esteemed panellists include:
- Dr. Natasha Buford
- Dr. Marie Green
- Assistant Professor Linda Iwenofu
- Assistant Professor Shawna-Kaye Tucker
- Professor Ann Lopez
Professor Alana Butler moderated this year's event.
Event Poster
Additional Event Resources
About the Speakers
Dr. Natasha Burford has been teaching for over 17 years in the Toronto District School Board. In 2020, Dr. Burford received her doctorate from the University of Toronto and is currently a sessional lecturer at OISE in the Masters of Teaching program. She is a community advocate and has worked on various community projects throughout Toronto's west end. She is the founder of In Brilliant Company, a tech-tutoring organization, and started her own women's mentoring organization in 2006. Educator, scholar, entrepreneur, wife, mother of 3 amazing boys, and learner are all the titles that she carries.
Dr. Alana Butler has been an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University since 2017. She currently teaches in the Bachelor of Education and Graduate Studies program. Her research interests include the academic achievement of low-socioeconomic students, race and schooling, and equity and inclusion. Her current research projects include a study of post-secondary access for low-income youth, anti-oppressive/anti-racist pedagogy in secondary classrooms, Black school leaders, and the experiences of youth in foster care. Her scholarly work has been published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education, Canadian Journal of Education, Gender and Education, and Canadian Ethnic Studies.
Dr. Marie Green is an Ontario-certified teacher of history and law at the Intermediate/Senior level. She teaches “Anti-Discriminatory Education” and "Religious Education" at OISE's Master of Teaching program. Prior to joining OISE, she taught "Black Lives Matter in the Classroom” and “Faith Development Across the Lifespan” at the University of St. Michael's College Faculty of Theology. Green completed her undergraduate degree in history at Carleton University. She holds a Master of Theology from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Science in Adolescence Education from D’Youville College. She completed her PhD at the University of Toronto. Green conducts research at the intersection of Christianity, education, race, and Indigeneity.
Dr. Linda Iwenofu is an Assistant Professor in the department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE, and she is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Ontario. Dr. Iwenofu is the Director of the Power in Youth Research Lab, where she specializes in research examining how anti-Black racism impacts the health of Black children and youth. She provides clinical training and teaches graduate-level courses on anti-racist and anti-oppressive approaches to professional psychological practice. She regularly provides consultation and support to health and educational practitioners who work in schools, community, and private practice settings. Dr. Iwenofu is passionate about decolonizing Clinical Psychology education and practice and hopes to help inspire a new generation of diversified scholar-practitioners.
Dr. Shawna-Kaye Tucker is an assistant professor of applied linguistics in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at OISE. Her PhD from the University of Oxford focused on the English writing development of primary school learners in Jamaica as well as the role of writing instruction, language attitudes, and language policy in literacy. More broadly, her research and teaching focus on language and literacy development among learners with English as a second or additional language. As a Jamaican native herself, she has also worked with the Jamaican community in Canada to explore the nature of heritage language transmission and education among speakers of non-standardized languages in diasporic contexts.
Dr. Ann Lopez is a Jamaican-born professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She is currently the Director of the Centre for Leadership and Diversity and Co-Director of the Centre for Black Studies in Education and served as the Provostial Advisor, of Access Programs from 2017-2023 and Academic Director, of Initial Teacher Education from 2013-2016. Her research focuses on school leadership theorizing and praxis broadly. Her areas of interest include decolonizing educational leadership, and culturally responsive and socially just leadership. Dr. Lopez is co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of School Leadership and co-series editor of Studies in Educational Administration, and has authored a number of books including Decolonizing Educational Leadership: Exploring Alternative Approaches to Leading Schools. She is the recipient of OISE's 2020 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching, the University of Toronto's 2022 Award of Excellence, and the Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize for Influential Leader. Dr. Lopez is appointed as Professor Extraordinarius at UNISA, South Africa.
