On Tuesday, May 5, the Department of Social Science will host a guest lecture by philosopher and feminist theorist Clara Serra titled The Meaning of Consent.

In this talk, Serra will discuss sexual consent and how its meaning is shifting in contemporary culture. Approaching the topic from philosophical, historical and political perspectives, she will unpack the ambiguities inherent in the very idea of consent. Beneath the apparent simplicity of the consent lies the question of: what does it actually mean to consent?

Serra will explore the implications of the dominant doctrine of affirmative consent, arguing that it signals a broader desiderative shift – a re-signification of consent that moves away from its semantic proximity to will and closer to the notion of desire. This shift, she suggests, raises pressing questions about how desire is understood, articulated and regulated, and whether it can ever be expressed with complete clarity.

The York community is invited to attend. .��

Date: Tuesday, May 5
Time: 12 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Department of Social Science, Ross S701

About the guest speaker:

Serra is a philosopher and feminist theorist. She holds a PhD from the University of Barcelona, where she completed her dissertation on the concept of sexual consent in contemporary feminist theory. Her research engages with political philosophy, feminist theory and critical legal studies.

Serra is the author of several books, including The Meaning of Consent (Anagrama, 2024). She is currently a lecturer and researcher at BAU, Centre d’Estudis Universitaris d’Arts i Disseny of Barcelona and collaborates as an external researcher with the Complutense University of Madrid. Her work combines academic research with a strong engagement in public debate, and she contributes regularly to leading media outlets.

Alongside her academic work, Serra has been actively involved in institutional politics, having served as Secretary of Equality in the early years of Podemos and as a Member of the Madrid Parliament from 2015 to 2019.

Thomas Kettig, assistant professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics (DLLL), has published a new article in the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) titled Pre-aspiration and longitudinal voice quality trends in Received Pronunciation: The case of Queen Elizabeth II. The article examines how Queen Elizabeth II’s speech changed throughout her lifetime.

Kettig research focuses on how speech sounds vary and change through space and time. Some of his research aims to understand why the vowel sounds of English change from one generation of speakers to the next. He has also undertaken the first large-scale, multi-speaker investigation of the Hawaiian vowel systems.

Before joining DLLL at �첥��Ƶ, Kettig was at the University of York in the United Kingdom and later taught phonetics at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY). He earned his PhD in Linguistics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2021.  His dissertation, Haʻina ʻia mai ana ka puana: The vowels of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, focused on the phonetic structure of the Hawaiian language.

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A hands‑on course in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies's writing department is preparing students for the publishing industry by putting learners in front of Canada's largest publisher.

Duygu Biricik Gulseren, an associate professor in the School of Human Resources Management, recently contributed her expertise to an article in HR Reporter.

The article explains that research has shown women’s wages increase more slowly than men’s over the course of their careers, even though their job-to-job transitions are similar. This is because women’s career progression is often based on amenities such as remote work options, flexibility and better hours which substitute for pay. The research highlights the structural constraints that force women to accept lower-paying roles to accommodate other obligations, since amenities and lower pay are now often tied together by companies.

Gulseren says companies must be conscious of whether they are creating high-paying, high-value roles for employees of different genders and working arrangements. Managers must also create clear standards for evaluation so that employees working remotely, in-person, or in hybrid roles are all treated fairly and given equal opportunities to progress.

Gulseren holds a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Saint Mary’s University. Her research focuses on work disability, leadership and healthy, sustainable work.

Read the full article in .

Zachary Spicer, associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), has edited a new book titled Inside Public-Sector Innovation. The book features local administrators in Canada who have successfully moved innovations from conception to reality. The administrators share their expertise and experiences, including strategies taken, lessons learned and challenges faced across projects in policy domains such as public health, service delivery and more.

The book has received positive reviews. Jason Reynar of Lerners LLP said, “Every Canadian municipal leader should have a copy of this work. The case studies provide excellent frameworks, as they move from ideation to implementation through the innovation journey.”

Spicer holds a PhD in political science from the University of Western Ontario. He previously served as an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Brock University and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance and the Laurier Institute for the �첥��Ƶ of Public Opinion and Policy at Wilfrid Laurier University.

In addition to his academic career, Spicer has worked as a senior policy advisor with the Ontario Public Service and as director of research and outreach with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. He is the recipient of both the Susan Clarke Young Scholars’ Award and the Norton Long Young Scholars’ Award from the Urban Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.

Learn more about the book on .��

On Monday, May 4, the Department of Sociology will host a lecture by Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, titled The Japanese Left Today and the Return to Marx’s Capital. Shii will discuss why dominant social and economic systems require profound transformation and why Karl Marx’s Capital remains relevant in the contemporary world.

Shii has served as chairman of the Japanese Communist Party and was its secretary-general for more than 20 years. A member of Japan’s parliament from 1993 to 2026, he has been a prominent figure in Japanese left politics for decades. He is the author of numerous books, including Communism and Freedom (2024), Das Kapital is Interesting Now (2025), and Free Time and “The Capital” (2026).

The York Community is invited to attend. Please online.

Event details:

Date: Monday, May 4
Time: 3:30 – 5 p.m.
Location: South Ross Building, Room 802 (Keele Campus)

Refreshments will be served at 5 p.m.

The event is hosted by Professor Marcello Musto. For further information, please email marcello.musto@gmail.com.

A recent Financial Post article says mistakes made by CEOs deliver important lessons about conduct for those governing other companies. Richard Leblanc, a professor in the School of Administrative Studies at the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies who specializes in corporate governance, was quoted in the article, which discusses the recent resignation of Air Canada’s CEO, Michael Rousseau.

Rousseau announced that he would step down from the role after facing criticism for delivering a condolence announcement in English following the airline accident at LaGuardia Airport that led to the death of two Air Canada pilots.

Leblanc says that the CEO lacked a key skill needed for the governance of a national, bilingual airline and that this is a teachable moment for boards in Quebec. This was the second time the CEO failed to make the effort to speak French publicly, which he said diminished his credibility.

Leblanc is a leading expert in corporate governance and accountability. He is lawyer, public speaker and consultant and has taught corporate governance at Harvard University. He is a  Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Ontario and an academic fellow of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes.

Read the full article in the .

Professor of disaster and emergency management Ali Asgary, from the School of Administrative Studies, has shared his recent work from the  Advanced Disaster, Emergency and Rapid Response Simulation Lab (ADERSIM), where he serves as executive director.

The lab uses technologies such as agent-based modelling, virtual reality, AI, drones and web-mapping to simulate aviation scenarios. These simulations examine how decisions made by pilots, passengers, crew members and emergency responders can affect the outcomes of airport emergencies. Researchers can simulate disasters and test response plans that could unfold in real airport emergencies.

This work supports York’s research in disaster and emergency management and is more relevant than ever following the recent tragedy at LaGuardia Airport on March 22, involving a collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck.

Real the full story in YFile.

Professor Agnès Whitfield from the Department of English was recently featured in a report published by La Maison Suger, highlighting her scholarly work and contributions.

Whitfield earned her PhD from Université Laval and is a member of �첥��Ƶ’s Graduate Programs in English and French. She teaches primarily in Canadian literature, and her research focuses on the work of Canadian Francophone and Anglophone women writers and translators, the role of literary translation in fostering cultural exchange, language and gender in intercultural communication and pedagogy.

Read the report on .