Three Arts professors receive Dean’s Scholarly Research and Creative Activity Award
Each year, the Dean's Scholarly, Research and Creative (SRC) Activity Award recognizes individual faculty members for their remarkable achievements and impact on their disciplines. SRC is vital to knowledge mobilization, diversifying research perspectives, and advancement within and beyond the academic community. Nominees are evaluated in their teaching, SRC and service roles to ensure recipients demonstrate excellence across all areas. The 2025 Faculty of Arts awardees are professors Emmanuel Kyeremeh, David MacKenzie and Lixia Yang.
Emmanuel Kyeremeh, David MacKenzie, Lixia Yang
Emmanuel Kyeremeh, Department of Geography and Environmental Science
Emmanuel Kyeremeh is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, specializing in social and urban geography with expertise in mixed methods research. His program of research focuses on three important dimensions: wellbeing, integration, and networks (WIN) as they pertain to both immigrants and non-immigrants. His ongoing research examines food sovereignty within Black communities in Toronto, integrating a social prescribing dimension aimed at improving the health outcomes of individuals experiencing food insecurity. He is also investigating how immigrants conceptualize wisdom and how their migration experiences over time contribute to personal growth and the development of wisdom.
Kyeremeh is part of a team of researchers investigating Complex Migration Flows and Multiple Drivers in Comparative Perspective (MEMO) under the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Migration and Integration.
“This award is both timely and invaluable in two key ways. First, it enables me to contribute to addressing food insecurity—a complex and pressing issue—among one of Canada’s most marginalized and vulnerable groups. Through this work, I aim to amplify the experiences of immigrants and generate targeted policy recommendations that foster meaningful change. Second, this award will help me support the training of students—who are the next generation of scholars—by providing them with opportunities to engage in critical research on societal challenges, equipping them with the tools to drive future solutions.” — Emmanuel Kyeremeh
David MacKenzie, Department of History
History scholar and professor David Mackenzie’s research expertise is in North American history and International relations. MacKenzie teaches in the areas of Canadian foreign policy and Canada and the First World War. MacKenzie is the author of numerous books, most recently King and Chaos: The 1935 Canadian General Election (external link) (UBC Press) and Un Pays en Conflit: La tumultueuse election canadienne de 1917 (Les éditions Septentrion), a French-language translation of Embattled Nation (external link) (co-authored with Patrice Dutil).
His book publications on Canadian international relations include Canada and International Civil Aviation, 1932-1948 and Inside the Atlantic Triangle: Canada and the Entrance of Newfoundland into Confederation, 1939-1949. His books on the history of international organizations include A World Beyond Borders: An Introduction to the History of International Organizations and ICAO: A History of the International Civil Aviation Organization. MacKenzie is presently engaged in a project that combines these two areas of interest into an investigation of Canada’s role in the development of international organizations up to before 1945.
“I would like to thank the Faculty of Arts for this SRC award. Very few of us embark on research projects planning to win an award like this, but, when it happens, it is greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank my Department of History colleagues. Historical research and writing can be a solitary process; however, over the years our Department has created a welcome and supportive atmosphere, both here and when our SRC activities take us to other parts of the world.” — David MacKenzie
Lixia Yang, Department of Psychology
Psychology professor and director of the Cognitive Aging Laboratory Lixia Yang has published extensively in her field, including 91 peer-refereed research articles and six book chapters. Her research excellence has been recognized with the 2024 Social Innovation Action Scholarly Research and Creative (SRC) Award and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Early Career Researchers Award. Yang previously received the Dean’s SRC Activity Awards in 2021.
Lixia Yang’s expertise in aging, cognition, and wellbeing has contributed to an impressive body of research and has spurred thriving national and international collaborations with researchers from different institutes, communities, and industry partners. Since the pandemic, Yang’s research has increasingly taken a health-focused direction, particularly examining the psychological wellbeing of vulnerable populations, including older adults, immigrants, and undergraduate students. Yang’s research on older adults addresses societal challenges related to aging with transformative impacts on active and healthy aging in Canada. She is a community leader who has been actively promoting psychological wellbeing of Chinese immigrants in Canada and seeks to follow up her research by examining resilience conceptualization, assessment and intervention approaches from a cross-cultural lens.
“I am thrilled to receive this award, a recognition of the past and an incentive for the future in my research endeavour. Many thanks for the support from the faculty, program, colleagues, and my dedicated team of students.” — Lixia Yang
Congratulations to Emmanuel Kyeremeh, David MacKenzie and Lixia Yang!
