Dr. Carl James was appointed as the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora for a five-year term effective July 1, 2016. Dr. James brings a strong record of scholarship and community engagement to this key position; and as Chair he will focus on addressing issues and concerns related to marginalized people within a framework of equity, inclusivity, and social justice.

Dr. James is the Founding Director of the York Centre for Education and Community and has been a member of the Faculty of Education since 1993. He is cross-appointed to the graduate programs in the Department of Sociology, and supervises graduate students in Environmental Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, Social Work, and Social and Political Thought.

A former youth leader and community worker, he has extensive experience with critical ethnography, action research, and government and institutional policy analysis. Dr. James is widely recognized for his work in ethnically and racially diverse communities and for his role, nationally and internationally, in research around equity and identity as related to race, class, gender, racialization, immigration and citizenship. He is known for his mentorship and is engaged in professional development with social service workers, community agencies and educators.

On an international level, he has worked with teacher educators, teachers and teacher-candidates at Uppsala University and Sodertorn University College in Stockholm (1997 to 2013). In January 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden for his contribution to social equity and anti-racism education. In 2012, Dr. James was elected Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada.

His community recognition includes: New Pioneers Award (2006) from Skills for Change; William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations (2008), City of Toronto; African Canadian Achievement Award 2009), Pride News Magazine; Harry Jerome Award, (2013) Black Business & Professional Association.

His publications include Making It: Black Youth, Racism and Career Explorations in the Big City (1991); Experiencing Difference (2000); the co-edited volume, Talking About Identity: Encounters in Race, Ethnicity, and Language (2001); Seeing Ourselves: Exploring Race, Ethnicity and Identity (1991, 2003 and 2010); Race in Play: The Socio-Cultural Worlds of Student Athletes (2005); Possibilities and Limitations: Multicultural Policies and Programs in Canada (2005); Race and Well-being: The Lives, Hopes and Activism of African Canadians (2010); Life at the Intersection: Community, Class and Schooling (2012).