TORONTO, January 26, 2009 -- Professor Martin Singer has been named the inaugural dean of the new Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. The new Faculty, encompassing humanities, social sciences and related professional studies, will merge the Faculty of Arts and the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies and create one of the largest Faculties in Canada. Singer officially begins his five-year term on July 1, 2009.
"York University is fortunate to have attracted such a strong scholar and administrator as the first dean of the new Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies," said President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “Dr. Singer has demonstrated outstanding leadership, strong planning skills and good judgment throughout his career at Concordia; he is the ideal candidate to lead the new Faculty.”
Reached in Montreal, Singer said, “I am delighted to be joining the York community and very much look forward to working collegially to launch the exciting new Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.”
Singer comes to York from the Concordia University in Montreal, where he has been a professor since 1972. During his 37-year career at Concordia, Singer has led academic planning processes which resulted in the recruitment of more than 350 tenure-track professors; the construction of several major academic buildings including the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex; strategic growth in student enrollment; a range of initiatives to enhance teaching effectiveness; transformative changes in research; and the expansion of international collaboration and recruitment activities.
He previously served at Concordia as provost; dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science; director of the Council for International Academic Cooperation; and Chair of the History Department.
Singer has a BA from Hunter College of the City University of New York, and an MA in East Asian studies and a PhD in history from the University of Michigan. While at Concordia he has published and lectured on Chinese history and contemporary Chinese-Canadian academic relations and has also earned a reputation as a committed and effective teacher.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as more than 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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Media contact:
Killeen Kelly, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22938 / killeenk@yorku.ca
