Toronto Met Awards celebrates exceptional faculty and staff

The pursuit of innovation is at the heart of Toronto Metropolitan University’s mission. While progress is often witnessed at an institutional level, it is the people – the dedicated faculty and staff – who drive this meaningful change and enrich the student experience. The President’s Blue and Gold Award of Staff Excellence, the top award in the TMU employee recognition program co-ordinated by Human Resources, celebrates the faculty and staff who exemplify this commitment.

“This year’s award recipients embody the spirit of innovation and collaboration that we champion at TMU,” said President and Vice-Chancellor  Mohamed Lachemi. “Their contributions not only enhance our university community but also inspire others to push boundaries and pursue excellence in their own work.”

Donna Bell, the secretary of Senate, will receive the individual award this year and the team award goes to the Innovation Boost Zone (IBZ) team. These two awards are among many employee, research and teaching awards to be presented at the Toronto Met Awards Gala on May 8. 

President’s Blue and Gold Award of Staff Excellence: Team

The IBZ team is being recognized for their outstanding contributions to the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at TMU. Honourees include:

• Tarek Sadek, executive director and the leader of the IBZ team 
• Ashu Syal, director of the Innovation Boost Zone
• Wesley Kosiba, Deep tech manager at the IBZ
• Tabitha Grant, manager of the Centre for Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CEIE)
• Torrey Sirdevan, learning and recruitment specialist at the Innovation Boost Zone (IBZ) and Lab2Market
• Shiqiang (Eden) Jing, Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship program administrator and CEIE coordinator

The Innovation Boost Zone (IBZ) is an early-stage startup incubator that began in 2016 as part of the Zone Learning framework. Initially focused on supporting students entering the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science (FEAS) master’s program and engaging them with real-world problems, the IBZ has significantly evolved over the last year.

“We realized that we can do more,” said Tarek Sadek, leader of the IBZ team. “We quickly evolved from focusing on students who know that they're entrepreneurs who just want to work on their startup and success, to various programs that focus on the student experience, learning experience and the development of an innovative mindset.”

For example, the IBZ Design Teams program offered support to FEAS students eager to apply their technical skills to meaningful challenges. Following a successful pilot in winter 2024 that supported 100 members, IBZ expanded its support in the fall to 300 students – all without any budget or new hires.

Also in 2024, the IBZ launched Hack the World, an SDG-focused initiative designed to support the development of measurable social impact projects. With a $100,000 investment from IBZ, the program aims to empower 40+ students to create proof-of-concept projects that tackle urgent global challenges. 

A hallmark of Hack the World is its emphasis on collaboration across disciplines and with partners. “Something common between all of our teams is that we believe in the power of technology to make our lives better or worse,” Sadek said. “Our graduates will be the leaders who determine if new technology will save or destroy our planet. It’s on us to teach them how to navigate this responsibility.” 

Reflecting on receiving the award, Sadek said, “we do a lot of things that don’t fit traditional academic units, and we sometimes feel like outliers. This recognition gives us validation. Feeling that the community and leadership at the university appreciate our work encourages us to do more. It empowers my team. This award tells us, yes, you should do that. You're allowed to pursue the road less travelled.”

President’s Blue and Gold Award of Staff Excellence: Individual

Secretary of Senate Donna Bell is receiving the award for her innovative solutions to complex administrative and operational challenges in the Senate office and her dedication to people-first experiences.

Appointed the secretary of Senate in 2018, Donna Bell’s commitment to modernizing Senate operations have significantly enhanced the governance framework at TMU. In her role, Bell has streamlined nominations and elections processes to emphasize transparency and collaboration. She has implemented a virtual delivery model to ensure the smooth operation of Senate during the pandemic. Bell also led the migration of 48 Senate academic policies from PDF to HTML, ensuring AODA compliance and accessibility for the entire TMU community. 

“If they're not up to date, if they're not current, if they're not meeting the needs of the population, then how could we be expecting the population to grow and drive our mandate?” Bell said. “What motivates me every day is to improve those processes and give the community systems, values and policies that we can truly believe in and support.” 

Recognized as a “natural trust-builder” who consistently puts the person first, Bell’s commitment to enhancing the academic experience at TMU is rooted in her ability to listen to the community and recognize emerging needs. “I love problem solving. I love analyzing things and finding out where they can be improved,” she said.

“I spend a lot of time being a listening ear to the community. I think that's really important in my role for recognizing a lot of the needs of the community, from staff, faculty and students.”  

This proactive, support-driven approach led her to identify the need for, and launch, TMU’s Make-Up Test Centre, which administered over 4,000 make-up exams in 2023/2024— a 38% increase from the previous year. Additionally, she developed a customized software application for managing student academic appeals, and created a trusted repository for all academic consideration requests.

In a sentiment that embodies her dedication to collaboration, Bell attributes her achievements as a testament to teamwork: “I want to emphasize that I really view this as a team award. Everything that I've accomplished to date has been through collaboration. You can't accomplish anything alone. The incredible relationships that I've made over the years have helped me accomplish my role, and I hope that I've helped accomplish theirs.” 

The Toronto Met Awards is part of the TMU employee recognition program co-ordinated by Human Resources to celebrate the achievements of TMU faculty and staff in teaching, research, administration, service and leadership, and employees who have reached a significant service milestone. Congratulations to all nominees and recipients! To learn more about all the award winners, visit Recognition and Awards. Learn more about milestones on the Service Milestones page.

Awards will be presented at the Toronto Met Awards Gala on May 8, 2025.