Nearly 200 colleagues gathered to thank Dr. Caroline Langill with a celebratory event in her honour, as she completes her term as Vice-President, Academic and Provost, a post she has held since 2018.
President Ana Serrano thanked Dr. Langill for her many contributions to shaping OCAD U as the country’s leading art and design university.
“Caroline’s caring, compassionate and inspirational leadership has helped advance the University’s mission to sustainably deliver high-quality, practice-based art and design education,” said President Serrano. “She has always lived the values that define OCAD U: a deep belief in inclusive education, and a lifelong commitment to interdisciplinary thinking.”
Colleagues shared memories of Dr. Langill’s time at OCAD U̶̶ ̶ from a sessional instructor to assistant professor to a cherished senior academic leader, including her time as associate dean and later dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences / School of Interdisciplinary Studies (now called the Faculty of Arts and Science).
Dr. Langill’s many accomplishments include her key contributions to a range of successful initiatives:
- The renewal of program curriculum with Flow, a university-wide initiative to create an inclusive and sustainable studio-based learning experience that builds on the unique strengths of OCAD U’s art and design education.
- Two cluster hiring initiatives aimed at recruiting racially diverse faculty candidates: the hiring of five Black faculty members in 2020 and five Indigenous faculty members in 2021-22.
- Guiding OCAD U through the pandemic by collaborating with all faculties to support the transition to online learning and back to in-person learning.
- Co-curating, with Prof Andrea Fatona, Fable for Tomorrow: A Survey of Works by Wendy Coburn at Onsite Gallery, a survey of the late Wendy Coburn’s multi-disciplinary artwork that included video, sculpture and photography.
A writer and curator whose scholarship looks at the intersections between art and science, as well as the related fields of new media art history, criticism and preservation, Dr. Langill’s interests in non-canonical art histories, gender studies and Indigenous epistemologies will now more fully occupy her time as she embarks on this new phase of her career.
At the event, President Serrano presented Dr. Langill with a kinetic sculpture, Centre/Search (currently on display at Ignite Gallery) by Ariane Labbé (2025 OCAD U Sculpture/Installation graduate) and the winner of this year’s Ignite Gallery Installation Award.
Dr. Langill will remain in her current role until August 29 to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Dr. Sandra Gabriele is joining OCAD University on August 18 as vice-president, Academic and Provost for a five-year term.
