Top 5 Education stories for Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering and Clarington
Published December 28, 2022 at 8:53 am
It’s been a very trying two-plus years for anyone working in the education sector and yet, of the five biggest education stories of 2022, only one could truly be called a ‘negative’ story.
Educators, from the elementary school level up to professors at the top of their game, did some really good things this year and were given their well deserved moment in the spotlight for it.
Here are the Top 5 Education Stories of 2022:
5.) Ontario Tech professor named UNESCO Research Chair
Dr. Barbara Perry, an Ontario Tech University global authority on hate crime and right-wing extremism in Canada, has been named as Research Chair in Hate Studies by the France-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Her appointment allows the school to showcase its leadership in the field and also advance the scope and mission of Ontario Tech’s own Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, which began operations in 2018.
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4.) Ontario Tech called out in Auditor-Generals’ report
Despite the headline, the Oshawa actually came out okay in the report, which was a scathing indictment on the financial practices of some Ontario universities.
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk looked at how effectively four small- to medium-sized universities are fulfilling their objectives in the wake of Laurentian University’s unprecedented decision to file for creditor protection and found that Ontario Tech and the other three schools studied had no formal debt policies or provided comprehensive business cases for capital projects.
An over-reliance on foreign students to balance the books appeared to a chief concern of Lysyk, a situation the Oshawa school avoided through internal benchmarks that set maximum thresholds for the percentage of students from any one country.
3.) Durham School Bord apologizes for e-mail leak of unvaccinated staff
A list of 800 employees of the Durham District School Board who are unvaccinated was leaked to half the employees on the list.
On January 5, a routine e-mail on rapid test compliance was sent to 399 school board employees who have stated they are “unvaccinated/prefer not to disclose”. As part of this e-mail, a spreadsheet containing a list of all those in that category – the board has stated that number is approximately 800 – was inadvertently attached.
2.) Ontario Tech named one of the world’s top young universities
Only weeks after being named one of Canada’s Research Universities of the Year for 2021 in the small school category, Ontario Tech added another feather in its cap by making the top 200 list of the world’s best young universities.
The latest honour was bestowed last month by Times Higher Education, a British magazine considered by many experts to be the most prestigious international university ranking organization. The magazine ranked all international research institutions that are under 50 years old. Ontario Tech, which obtained its charter in 2002 and only accepted its first cohort of students in the fall of 2003, is among the youngest universities on the entire list. The school was ranked 187 in the world.
1.) Top Chef Winner puts Durham College culinary program on big stage
A Durham College Culinary Arts grad won the tenth season of Top Chef Canada and became the first person of colour to do so as well.
Trevane ‘Tre’ Sanderson, a 2015 graduate, 25, won a number of quickfire and elimination challenges on the sunny beaches of the Cayman Islands, wowing the judges and showing off his Jamaican-inspired culinary skills with his jerk shrimp and frilled triggerfish – a fish he had never cooked before – before getting the nod over Vancouver’s Deseree ‘Des’ Lo of Vancouver in the final showdown.
Sanderson told Food Network Canada that he hoped his victory could inspire other chefs of colour to make their mark. “This means a lot and I’m so excited for what’s to come next, for the next generation.”
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