AVP and dean of Graduate Studies reappointed to second term
Allison Sekuler, left, helps plant a tree at Dig with the Dean, held last April. The event saw 25 grad students and postdoctoral fellows join Sekuler and School of Graduate Studies staff plant more than 100 trees in the community for Earth Day.
McMaster’s associate vice-president and dean of Graduate Studies has been reappointed to a second term.
A Senate selection committee unanimously recommended Allison Sekuler’s five-year reappointment, to being on July 1, 2013. It was confirmed by the Board of Governors Thursday.
“Allison brings an unparalleled passion for education and research to her position,” said David Wilkinson, McMaster’s Provost. “Under her leadership, McMaster’s School of Graduate Studies is very well-positioned for the future.”
“It’s an incredibly exciting time in Graduate Studies – our students are more engaged than ever, connecting with each other and with the community in ways they never did before,” said Sekuler. “We’ve made great strides in creating a strong ecosystem for graduate studies, including partners from within the University, in the local community, and globally. Our goal for the next five years is to build on that ecosystem and student engagement to support students beyond the labs, libraries, and lecture halls, while ensuring our graduate programs remain at the top in Canada and the world.”
An expert in aging and neural plasticity, perceptual learning, face and object perception and motion processing, Sekuler is co-director of the University’s Vision and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab and past Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience.
In her first term – which was one of McMaster’s fastest periods of graduate expansion – Sekuler worked to enhance the culture of research and opportunities for research for faculty, undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
She currently serves as the chair of the Ontario Council of Graduate Schools, and recently was elected to serve as the sole Canadian representative on the board of directors for the US-based Council of Graduate Schools.
She expanded McMaster’s national and international relationships and developed several innovative programs for students including Dine with the Dean and an improvisational theatre-training program in collaboration with Theatre Aquarius.
She also founded the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and the Office of Undergraduate Research and served on the founding steering committee of the Science Media Centre of Canada.
She holds a BA in math and psychology from Pomona College, and a PhD in cognitive psychology from UC Berkeley.
