Celebrating student excellence at Fall 2024 Convocation
On October 16, 2024, Faculty of Arts students walked the stage during the Fall convocation ceremony. The momentous occasion was celebrated by friends, family, faculty, and staff in the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) community, who congratulated the new graduates on their achievements and hard work. During the ceremony, Interim Dean of Arts Amy Peng delivered prestigious awards to two Arts graduate students for their scholarly contributions and community impact.
The Toronto Metropolitan University Gold Medal is the university’s highest award. The recipients demonstrate both academic excellence and a remarkable dedication to enhancing the university, their professional or broader communities.
Established in 2008, The Dr. C. Ravi and Shanti Ravindran Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis recognizes exceptional doctoral dissertations for their originality, contribution to theory, and knowledge mobilization to social, cultural, economic, or industrial advances of national significance.
Parky Lau receiving his doctoral hood during the convocation ceremony (left). Vincent Santiago shaking hands with President Lachemi at the convocation ceremony (right). Photos by Harry Choi
Gold Medal recipient: Vincent Santiago
Psychology graduate Vincent Santiago (PhD) walked the stage at convocation where he received TMU’s Gold Medal Award, recognizing his astounding scholarly achievements.
Vincent Santiago receiving his Gold Medal from President Lachemi. Photo by Harry Choi.
Santiago’s contributions during his time in the Clinical Psychology program testify to his rigorous scholarship and unwavering commitment to inclusivity, access, and care. As a researcher in professor Stephanie Cassin's Healthy Eating and Lifestyle (HEAL) Lab, Santiago investigated interventions for food addiction, which culminated in his successful dissertation. Santiago combined Adapted Motivational Interviewing, person-centred counselling, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) into a treatment for people addicted to hyper-palatable processed foods. His commitment to seeking informed, accessible, and effective treatments for disordered eating represents an innovative and successful progress in supporting the health needs of diverse community members.
Santiago has also been pivotal in TMU’s academic community as a co-organizer of the Diversifying Psychology Recruitment Event. Hosted by the Department of Psychology, the event seeks to provide insight to prospective students and recruit underrepresented groups into the field of psychology. Santiago acknowledges this effort as vital to diversifying the voices in research and representation of treatment providers in the field.
Reflecting on the award, Santiago shared his most transformative experiences, best advice received, and most profound lessons learned during his academic studies. The psychology department’s first Cultural Humility Simulation Training, jointly held in 2021 with the School of Social Work, exposed Santiago to a live-action simulation focused on “detecting and repairing microaggressions in clinical work.” Santiago remembers it as a transformative moment in his academic career, combining theory and research and offering the opportunity to “observe and learn from each others’ unique approaches to clinical work” in a “safe and supportive environment.” Santiago described the use of motivational interviewing in his dissertation as highly collaborative, which required a strong understanding of patient-client relationships. “In our sessions, my supervisor, Dr. Stephanie Cassin, often used the phrase “Drop the rope,” when working with a client and it feels like there is a “tug-of-war” happening,” remarked Santiago. The advice informed Santiago’s approach to client care, utilizing motivation to make strides toward the patient’s values while remaining aware of moments where change might be difficult. “Find a way to get back on the same side and work together. Find shared goals.”
As Santiago works toward registering as a clinical psychologist and imagining a future of teaching, he remains grounded in the three life lessons that sustained him throughout his doctoral studies:
“Rejection is part of the process, give back to your community, and take time to savour the wins.”
Outstanding Doctoral Thesis recipient: Parky Lau
Psychology graduate Parky Lau (PhD) was named the 2024 recipient of The Dr. C. Ravi and Shanti Ravindran Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis. Lau’s ambitious and innovative dissertation investigates how sleep medicine knowledge can be mobilized for teens with sleep problems. Lau’s interdisciplinary research promises vital public health implications in addressing adolescent sleep health.
Parky Lau receiving his award from President Lachemi and Dr. Ravi Ravindran. Photo by Harry Choi.
Lau’s interest developed in the Sleep and Depression (SAD) Lab, where he worked alongside his supervisor, professor Colleen Carney, to investigate cognitive behavioural therapy for individuals struggling with chronic sleep disturbances. Lau shared that he was inspired to “learn more about issues associated with the accessibility of the treatment and potential modalities that could help support scalable access to science-based sleep treatments” and engage “beyond the lab by bringing sleep apps like DOZE (external link) into the community.”
Lau’s research was bolstered by a Mitacs Accelerate Fellowship (external link) grant he received in 2021 as part of the Lab2Market Initiative. Bridging science with entrepreneurship, Lau explored market research that indicated consumer preferences in sleep technology–a vital impetus for his dissertation topic.
Currently, Lau is pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship in psychiatry at Standford University, where he will continue his evidence-based research on sleep issues and work toward making nonpharmacological treatments more broadly accessible.
“I felt very honoured to be the recipient of this award. I have had the good fortune to work with many of the students, peers, administrative staff, and faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University; therefore, I have first-hand experience with the kind and brilliant folks that make up this community. To be recognized amidst such wonderful colleagues, and for my work to be evaluated as important enough to receive this award, was a very humbling and validating experience.”