Three TMU professors have been named 2025-26 Massey College fellows - a prestigious honour that gives them a year to dive deep into research that matters.
Jane Griffith, professor at The Creative School, Lia Langworthy professor at The Creative School, and Hyacinth Simpson, professor in the Faculty of Arts, will join an elite community of scholars at the University of Toronto's postgraduate residential college.
Massey College brings together scholars, professionals and graduate students from different fields to learn from each other and push their work forward.
Through TMU's partnership with the college, faculty members are chosen each year as visiting fellows to pursue research and creative projects while engaging in cross-disciplinary dialogue.
Jane Griffith, Lia Langworthy and Hyacinth Simpson are visiting scholars at Massey College.
Jane Griffith: How language helps shape Canadian identity
For Jane Griffith, this fellowship year is a chance to explore the histories of the words we use, the media we consume and public messaging.
During her sabbatical, Griffith will focus on two major book projects about communication history in Canada.
One book examines the history of hydroelectricity and public relations in the U.S. and Canada. The second, co-written with Feather Maracle and Brendan Edwards, traces the history of the Canadian Press Clipping Service - a media monitoring agency that operated for nearly 100 years.
"While these archival projects may seem quite different, they both trace shifts in language and power," says Griffith. "Being offered the chance to spend a year in conversation with people from a wide range of disciplines is hugely inspiring."
The interdisciplinary community at Massey College is what excites her most.
"I'm most looking forward to connecting with the people, especially students and other faculty. I have already met a variety of Massey fellows and am blown away by the connections. I am also really excited about the Robertson Davies Library from previous research on nineteenth-century printing presses."
Lia Langworthy: Challenging stereotypes through screen storytelling
Screenwriter and professor Lia Langworthy brings a creative approach to this year's fellowship. Her work explores race, media and historical representation, challenging one-dimensional portrayals of Black lives through layered, character-driven storytelling.
Langworthy's current projects explore complex identities and history on screen.
One project, Tribe, is a historical drama co-written with Emmy Award winning writer Noam Dromi. It tells the story of how historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S. helped Jewish scholars fleeing Nazi persecution find refuge and academic positions during the Second World War.
She's also developing Charity & Chase, a dramedy inspired by her own move from Los Angeles to Toronto. The series follows African-American women navigating life in Canada and explores the cultural differences, humour and challenges of adapting to a new place.
"It's a great opportunity to collaborate with other thinkers and artists from different disciplines," says Langworthy about Massey College's collaborative environment. "Anytime you have that kind of exchange, it broadens your perspective."
Her storytelling process focuses on showing the complexities of real life.
"I take from my own life and the experiences of people I know. The way you fight stereotypes and one-dimensional characters is by creating characters that are multi-dimensional and highly nuanced."
Hyacinth Simpson: Uncovering Black Canadian history
Scholar and writer Hyacinth Simpson will use her fellowship year to advance research that deepens understanding of Black Canadian history and how Black Canadians are represented in national stories.
At Massey College, Simpson will work on two major projects.
She'll complete The Halifax Incident, 1916-1917, a book exploring an important but little-known story of how a group of Jamaican soldiers of the British West Indies Regiment suffered frostbite while en route to England in 1916. They became central to the launch of Canada's rehabilitation program for wounded veterans.
"As a Jamaican Canadian I have to tell this story!" says Simpson. "It's one of many examples of the longstanding, sometimes fraught, relationship between the Caribbean and Canada."
Her second project is a museum exhibition titled Black Canadian Women on the Home Front: War Work of the Female Relatives of the Men of No. 2 Construction Battalion. Simpson is collaborating with community partners and descendants of the battalion's members to highlight how the women mothers, wives, sisters and others supported the unit and their communities during the war. The exhibition opens in 2026.
"It's painstaking and necessary work," Simpson says. "The Black archives are a rich resource for those of us doing this kind of research."
For Simpson, this work is both academic and deeply personal. She sees her research as a means of amplifying Black voices and stories that have long been muted, and filling gaps in narratives of Canada's past.
Simpson says, "This fellowship has come at the right time in my career as it's giving me the time that I need to complete two major research projects and also an opportunity to develop a larger scholarly and professional network. In the vibrant research and social culture at Massey I've found an academic home away from home."
Building bridges across disciplines
"We are proud to see TMU faculty recognized with this distinguished appointment," says Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano, provost and vice-president, academic. "This fellowship speaks to the depth of creativity, scholarship, and interdisciplinary excellence that define our academic community. I look forward to seeing how their time at Massey College will expand their research, spark new collaborations, and enrich the broader intellectual landscape."
TMU has a long-standing connection with Massey College. Previous fellows include James Nadler, Monique Tschofen, Jonghun Park, Asmaa Malik, Ruth Panofsky, Carolyn Kane and Atefeh Mashatan - scholars whose research and creative work have built bridges across disciplines.
