Opening Plenary Speakers
May 13, 2025 (in-person)
Robert Gibbs is a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Toronto.
He was the Inaugural Director of the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto, where he engaged in exploring new horizons for humanities research, supporting leading scholars at all career stages.
His next book is What Could a University Be? Revolutionary Ideas for the Future (UBC Press), focuses on students’ research capacities.
Aarthi Ashok is a Professor, Teaching Stream, in Biological Sciences, at UTSC. Professor Ashok’s research focuses on the impact of curricular design and pedagogical innovations on student learning, campus and classroom experience, metacognitive development, and the formation of scientific identity. As an innovative educator and accomplished scholar of teaching and learning, she is recognized for her leadership in curriculum development and administration. Her dedication to student-centered learning has been acknowledged with several prestigious awards, including the Principal’s Faculty Teaching Award, the President’s Teaching Award, and the Early Career Teaching Award. In addition to her teaching and research, Professor Ashok has extensive experience in advisory roles within the university. She currently serves as the Special Advisor on Teaching Stream Faculty Success.
Trimble is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the Women and Gender Studies Institute, where she is currently serving as Associate Undergraduate Director. She teaches courses in the field of feminist cultural studies and is the faculty lead for Feminist Sports Club, a new experiential learning and teacher-training initiative at WGSI. Trimble’s first book, Undead Ends: Stories of Apocalypse, is available from Rutgers. Notable recent essays are included in the collections It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (2022) and Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom (2024). Trimble is a 2024 recipient of the University of Toronto’s Cheryl Regehr Early Career Teaching Award.
Keith Adamson, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, joined the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work in August 2017. He has more than 20 years of progressive senior management experience in clinical, management and professional practice leadership roles, in healthcare settings. Keith pursues research that seeks to explore innovative pedagogical approaches to interprofessional education and practice, research that explores new roles for social work within a changing healthcare system, as well as research that explores how compassionate care and empathy can be enhanced in social work education through collaboration with service users, clients and their families. Keith is a 2022 recipient of the Early Career Teaching Award.
Closing Plenary Speaker: Jessica Riddell
May 13, 2025 (in-person)
Dr. Jessica Riddell is a Full Professor of Early Modern Literature at Bishop’s University and holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence. As founder of the Hope Circuits Institute (HCI), she drives systems-change in higher education, focusing on governance, leadership, and student success. In a landscape rife with indictments of broken systems, her work invites people across the post-secondary ecosystem to co-create blueprints for meaningful rewiring that centers justice, equity, and access. Her 2024 book, Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing (McGill-Queen’s Press), offers a roadmap for this transformation. A recognized leader, scholar, and educator, she serves on multiple boards and has received numerous awards and grants for teaching and leadership, including the 3M National Teaching Fellowship (Canada’s highest recognition of educational leadership), the D2L Innovation Award (the highest recognition of innovation in partnerships), and the Forces Avenir award (Quebec’s highest recognition of teaching excellence in higher education).
Digital copies of Hope Circuits: rewiring universities and other organizations for human flourishing are available through the University of Toronto Libraries.
Order a copy of Jessica Riddell’s Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing from McGill-Queen’s University Press using 25% discount code MQ25 until 31 Dec 2025.
Jessica has shared her current reading list with us. A selection of these titles, including Hope Circuits, will be given away as an in-person draw on May 13th.
