Joy Mighty

Dr Joy Mighty is the Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Queen’s University and is cross-appointed as a Full Professor in the Queen’s School of Business . She has a wealth of experience and expertise as an administrator, teacher, e ducational developer, researcher and consultant, with a special interest in equity and diversity issues. With over 30 years of practical experience, her academic and professional background spans several countries and levels of education.

Born in Georgetown Guyana , Dr Mighty obtained her B.A. (English Honours), Post-Graduate Diploma in Education, M.A. in Education and Post-Graduate Diploma in Management Studies from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica . She went on to earn her MBA from Howard University in Washington , D.C. in the USA , and her Ph.D. in Organizational Behaviour from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto , Canada .

Dr Mighty has taught at high schools in both Guyana and Jamaica and was one of the seven pioneer lecturers of the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Montego Bay , Jamaica . She has also worked in various capacities at the post-secondary level in Egypt , Trinidad and Tobago and the USA . In addition, she has worked as a training and development practitioner in the private sector, serving as the Training Officer at the Jamaica National Building Society from 1983 to 1986.

Prior to her appointment at Queen’s in 2003, she was a professor in the Faculty of Administration at the University of New Brunswick ( Fredericton ), where she taught several courses on Organizational Behaviour, including a graduate level course she developed on “Managing Diversity in Organizations”. In 1994, she was the recipient of the Faculty’s first ever “Excellence in Teaching Award”, and in 1996 she was appointed as Coordinator of the UNB Teaching and Learning Centre with a mandate to promote excellence in teaching among faculty at both UNB campuses. In 2004, she received the Association of Atlantic Universities’ Distinguished Service Award and was awarded the Emerald Literati Award of Excellence for best article published in the Journal of Management Development.

Dr Mighty’s primary research interests include issues related to the management of workplace diversity, the dynamics of diversity in teaching and learning, workplace effects of family violence, and organizational development and change. Her Ph.D. dissertation was entitled: “Managing Workforce Diversity: Institutionalization and Strategic Choice in the Adoption of Employment Equity”. She has given numerous presentations at national, regional and international conferences, and has several publications in various conference proceedings, journals and books. She has also provided consulting services (primarily on issues relating to teaching and learning in higher education, managing diversity, inter-cultural communication and organizational change) to private, public and not-for-profit organizations in Canada, the Caribbean, England, and the USA.

At Queen’s, Dr Mighty chairs the Senate Educational Equity Committee, the Queen’s Educational Developers’ Network, the Selection Committee for the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award, and co-chairs the Teaching Assessment Committee. She is also a member of the Teaching Spaces Committee and the Selection Committee for the Queen’s University Chair in Teaching and Learning . She has served on the Senate Committee on Academic Development Sub-committee on Academic Integrity and on the Queen’s University Faculty Association Task Force on Equity. She is also a member of the recently formed Queen’s Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Diversity (QCRED), a coalition of faculty, staff and students, and administers the Faculty-Student Mentorship Program for Self-Identified Racialized Students.

At the national and international levels, Dr Mighty provides leadership for several academic and professional associations. She is the President of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) and represents Canada on the Council of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED). She was the inaugural Chair of the STLHE’s Educational Developers Caucus and represented STLHE on the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. She is also currently serving on the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents (OCAV) Joint Working Group on Teaching and Learning and on the University of Windsor ‘s Vice-Provost’s International Advisory Council on Teaching and Learning.

Active in community service, Dr Mighty is a l icensed Lay Reader and the Servers’ Training Instructor in the Anglican Parish of Christ Church Cataraqui. She has just ended her term of office as the representative for the Frontenac Region on the Diocese of Ontario Lay Readers Association Executive Committee. She is a member of the Program Advisory Committee of the National African Canadian Initiative and is listed in the historic publication entitled Who’s Who in Black Canada : Black Success and Black Excellence in Canada – a Contemporary Directory.