Joyce Smith

Joyce Smith arrived at Ryerson in 2001 from the globeandmail.com, where she was features editor and a member of the founding breaking news team. She had previously worked at the Toronto Star as well as freelancing and serving as senior site editor for a commercial web developer. Joyce is the original director of Ryerson’s online journalism program, and has also taught research, diversity and creative problem-solving classes to undergraduate and graduate students.

She served as interim director (2008 – 2009) and then director (2010 – 2013) of the School’s Master of Journalism program. Other major service commitments have included co-chairing the school’s undergraduate curriculum committee, as well as membership on Ryerson’s Academic Standards committee and Research Ethics Board. In 2018/19 she became academic director of the Ryerson Journalism Research Centre.

Joyce was a Rotary International Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar representing a Canadian/American district while at the University of Natal in 1994. Apart from giving her a permanent appreciation for South Africans, media and democracy, her work investigating the coverage of religion surrounding the election of Nelson Mandela resulted in her PhD: “Reporting Religion in a New South Africa.” She turned her attention to Canadian media shortly after, including a study of national news as a Rockefeller Research Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Study of Religion in 1998-1999. She has also received SSHRC-funding for a study of perceptions of religious representation in Canadian news media.

Joyce has been on the board of directors for Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture. She hosted the 7th International Conference on Media, Religion and Culture at Ryerson in August of 2010.