Dr. Anusha Kassan has been appointed as the Myrne B. Nevison Professorship in School or Counselling Psychology for a three-year term, from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028. Congratulations, Dr. Kassan!
During the term of the Professorship, Dr. Kassan is charged with the following mandate:
- demonstrably impact education in and beyond BC by advancing knowledge and improving practice in school or counselling psychology, especially for students from historically, persistently, and systemically marginalized groups;
- advance a program of work that has the potential to effect systemic and social change; and
- provide leadership in these areas within and beyond the Faculty through research, teaching, training/mentoring and school/community engagements.
Dr. Kassan is an Associate Professor in the School and Applied Child Psychology Program within our Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education (ECPS). Her research has two main foci: (a) the immigration experiences of newcomer youth in Canada; and (b) decolonizing teaching and learning in psychology programs. Dr. Kassan has a strong record of grant funding, publishing and presenting to scholar, practitioner, and community audiences. She has received numerous awards, recognizing her contributions to research, teaching, graduate student mentoring, and service, which speaks to the impact her work is having across university, school, and community sectors.
Dr. Kassan’s commitment for the term of this professorship is to community engaged scholarship that emphasizes equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization. Specifically, her vision is to enhance the wellness of newcomer children and youth in French and English schools through a series of identity-based, participatory, arts-based engagement ethnographies. This work will entail deconstructing dominant conceptualizations of wellness and investigating the specific needs of newcomer children and youth. By leveraging existing community partnerships, projects will focus on young newcomers at different stages of development in both French and English public school systems, culminating in holistic wellness initiatives that bolster the mental health of newcomer youth.