Dr. Ashley Stirling has been appointed as Vice-Dean of Academic Affairs in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education for a four-year term effective July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022. The appointment was approved by the Governing Council’s Agenda Committee and confirmed by the Chair of the Academic Board, the Chair of Governing Council and the President.
Dr. Stirling is currently an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Faculty and KPE Director of Experiential Education. She completed her undergraduate and CGS/SSHRC-funded graduate degrees at KPE and her doctorate in sport and exercise psychology was followed by a SSHRC post-doctoral fellowship at York University. Her scholarship was recognized in 2009 by the European College of Sport Science with its Young Investigator Award, and by the Canadian Heritage Sport Participation Research Initiative Award. Applying her research to practice, she has developed and evaluated national coach education initiatives for the Coaching Association of Canada.
Since her appointment to her academic position at KPE in 2012, Dr. Stirling has quickly become recognized within KPE and the broader U of T community as an engaged, dynamic, creative leader in curriculum development and innovation. She was asked to undertake the role of being the Faculty’s first Director of Experiential Education, a role that entails development and oversight of high quality, pedagogically sound experiential learning opportunities across the undergraduate and graduate curricula. The impact of her achievements in that role has been very positive, very rapid and highly valued by students and faculty alike. Her “exceptional commitment to student learning, pedagogical engagement and teaching innovation” was recognized by U of T when she was a recipient of the 2016-17 University of Toronto Early Career Teaching Award.
Dr. Stirling has demonstrated a true passion for enhancing the theory-practice nexus reflected in her introduction of new courses in experiential education with a strong pedagogical grounding. She was a member of U of T’s Task Force on Experiential Learning and contributed to the development of the institution’s whitepaper, “Re-thinking higher education curricula: increasing impact through experiential, work-integrated and community engaged learning.” In response to requests from other U of T divisions she has shared her experiential education and curriculum development expertise widely. Her strengths include strategic thinking and visioning and the ability to translate strategy into implementation plans and operations.