Recognition Award in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

A Cancer Biologist and Associate Dean, Research and External Relations, Faculty of Science at McMaster University. Her research team studies the molecular/genetic causes of the disparities in incidence and poor outcomes of triple negative breast cancer in Black women.

As the longest-serving faculty member on the President’s Advisory Committee for Building an Inclusive Community, she played a lead role in advocating for McMaster’s inaugural Associate VP Equity and Inclusion position in Spring 2018. Professor Daniel was a founding member (in 2010) of the African-Caribbean Faculty Association of McMaster and played an instrumental leadership role in the development and implementation of the process to ensure a successful Black Scholar cohort hire. By December 2023, McMaster will have successfully recruited ~20 new Black Scholars! Professor Daniel’s extensive and sustained record of EDI advocacy at McMaster is further evidenced by her service on The Glass Escalator (Gender Equity) Task Force, The Parental Leave Policy Drafting Committee, and as a founding member of the McMaster Academic Women’s Success and Mentorship (AWSM) initiative. ​

Over the past two decades, Professor Daniel has been a passionate advocate, mentor and role model for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) and Black students/youth whose potential contributions to Science and Engineering have not been fully realized in Canada and beyond. Her passion for more diversity in STEM led her to co-found the Canadian Black Scientists Network (CBSN) who successfully hosted two Black Excellence in STEM & Medicine (BE-STEMM) virtual conferences (2022, 2023).

Professor Daniel’s EDI work and community service also extends beyond McMaster; she recently completed service on the Board of the Hamilton Community Foundation and on the YWCA-Hamilton Capital Campaign Advisory Committee.

Dr. Daniel is the recipient of the inaugural Canadian Cancer Society Inclusive Excellence Award, and a WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award among many others.

Joined the Department of Contemporary Dance of Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Arts in 2014, moving to Canada following a distinguished career as a performer, teacher and mentor in Vienna, Amsterdam and Brussels.

For the past two years she has been the Chair of the President’s Task Force on Anti-Black Racism (PTFABR) and Special Advisor to the Provost on Black Integration and Knowledges. In her role as Chair, she coordinated work that culminated in the writing of a report and the crafting of 88 recommendations that will guide the institution in its next steps towards addressing systemic anti-black racism.  Professor Willkie is now in the initial phase of implementing the recommendations. This involves working with Concordia’s four faculties to insure that the recommendations take root across curriculum, administrative processes, student experience, and research.

As a Special Advisor to the Provost, Professor Willkie has played a key role in navigating through the complexities that have arisen across academic freedom, freedom of speech, and respect in the classroom, including difficult discussions around the use of racial slurs and racialized language in the classroom. Professor Willkie has been a beacon of collegiality, tirelessly working to ensure that academic interests are heard while respecting the recommendations of the Task Force Report as well as the concerns expressed by all members of the community.  Through this process, she has also mentored countless faculty members, students and staff from equity deserving groups in the Faculty of Fine Arts and across the university.  Her generosity and collegiality, paired with excellence have drawn colleagues to collaborate, to take risks and be more open to change.

In 2022, her performance Confessions Publique was awarded the prestigious Prix de la Danse de Montréal.