Working in Social Innovation: Dr. Melanie Panitch

In a special series, these spotlight interviews highlight the work being done by the team at the Office of Social Innovation (OSI). 

What does social innovation (SI) mean to you?

SI is the creative way of doing social justice work. I felt confirmed in this at OSI’s Launch Event in January 2020, when a group of students involved with the office presented on the SI projects and initiatives they had been working on. What SI boils down to is work that is creative and social justice-oriented and that looks at collaborative ways of thinking about equity, inclusion, and many of the principles on which we have built OSI. 

What sparked your interest in pursuing social innovation and social justice initiatives in your work?

My interest in SI and social justice stemmed from when I was a teenager working at a camp for disabled children. In my twenties, I took a job working in community living. The role that I had was somewhat of a counsellor, but now it could legitimately be described as an oppressor. Years later, I was able to recognize the fault with the segregative nature of community services and how this work needed to be challenged. 

While I was in the disability field, I attended a trial for a young man with Cerebral Palsy who was living in an institution and wanted to move to the community to live with friends. Although his friends were happy to support him, his family protested the move and tried to have him found mentally incompetent, so that they would have the authority to make decisions for him. In court, you either sat behind him, or his parents. You had to take a position, and that was sort of a significant moment for me. So disability rights made sense, but then entered SI. The way I understand SI and the way I approach it is to respect the voices of people who have not been heard. The history of disability has been written by scientists, doctors, and policymakers, but the voices of people who could tell their own stories were not heard. 

Can you tell us about how you started working at Toronto Metropolitan and your role in starting the School of Disability Studies and establishing the Minor in SI? 

In 1997, I was invited to be part of an advisory committee for a new program in disability at Toronto Metropolitan. The Dean of the Faculty of Community Services (FCS) hired me to write the proposal for the disability studies program. I started a doctoral program in Social Welfare at the City University of New York. After completing my residency of one year, I came back to Toronto Metropolitan and was appointed director of the school. While launching the program I flew back and forth to New York to complete a second year of courses.  

After 12 years as director, I took a year of administrative leave and came back in 2012 while Toronto Metropolitan was positioning itself as a socially innovative university. At that time there was much ado about zones and ventures. My colleagues and I in FCS didn't see ourselves in the way SI was being taken up in these many spheres. This is where understanding SI in terms of social justice began to resonate.

So why me and why SI? The Dean at the time offered to release me from two courses to help establish a foundation for SI in FCS that resonated with the faculty in our nine schools who had years of experience in social movements, transformational change, social justice, and issues of rights and equity. Out of that came building SI into the curriculum and that was the impetus for Kiaras Gharabaghi and I to create a minor in SI where we now both teach. 

In 2015, you were appointed the John C. Eaton chair Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, can you tell us a bit more about this position and your role in developing SI at Toronto Metropolitan?

As the chair, I co-taught two courses in the SI minor. With Kiaras, we started a series called the “Community Transformation Cafe,” which were guided conversations with a number of distinguished visiting professors at Toronto Metropolitan that included topics about changemaking in the 21st century, women, politics, and leadership. Another thing that came out of that was an exchange program with Amrita University in India and an FCS conference on SI around the refugee crisis. The Artist-in-Residence program was also started while I was chair. Overall, the role was a bit of seeding SI and social justice, trying to see if there was room for that in the ecosystem at Toronto Metropolitan. 

As the Executive Director at OSI, what does your position entail?

I provide strategic direction on a number of initiatives, curriculum, and investigative research to create a space for student, faculty, and staff engagement with SI internally and with the broader community. 

From your perspective, how has the vision for SI changed at Toronto Metropolitan University over the last year?

At OSI, we took the time to consider our work and vision, which has put us into a position to go forward feeling strong about making our mark as an SI centre at Toronto Metropolitan. Even though we are a small team, I think we are very joined at the hip in our thinking and approach. The quality and the content that the students presented at the OSI Launch Event was an affirmation of the direction we are headed in. If you follow what you’re committed to and understand deeply, you get to communicate it authentically. There is an edge to the work; we resist traditional ways of doing things. 

Throughout your time at Toronto Metropolitan, what is a milestone you feel most proud of?

I’m proud of having created a space for new fields of study, exploration, and research. Toronto Metropolitan was the first university to give institutional recognition to disability studies as a program with a degree. And through OSI, there is a new space being created at Toronto Metropolitan around SI. 

What advice would you give to students who want to get involved in SI at Toronto Metropolitan?

They should just do it. They should come to see us. They should step up. Everyone has agency and contributions to further justice and equity. There are a lot of lessons to be learned about SI, social change, and social justice. Due to COVID-19, we are seeing radical change every day, from governments responding to the economic impacts to designers using their talents to create personal protective clothing. I think now is a time for possibility; we can’t go back. I keep thinking about what SI at Toronto Metropolitan might look like down the road and I want to hold the door open to students who may have ideas.