Karim Bardeesy appointed distinguished visiting professor

Karim Bardeesy, former deputy principal secretary to the Premier of Ontario, has been appointed distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson University. He will serve as a special advisor to the provost and vice-president, academic on areas related to education, health, economic development, innovation and community engagement. His appointment is for one year.

As a member of the senior management team for Premier Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty, Bardeesy provided policy and communications guidance and served as point person for the premier on budgets, throne speeches, mandate letters and signature policy initiatives including post-secondary reform, pensions, transit and health. Prior to his service in the Premier's Office, he was an editorial writer at The Globe and Mail, and a DiverseCity fellow at the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance.

“I am pleased to welcome Karim Bardeesy to Ryerson,” said Chris Evans, interim provost and vice-president, academic. “Karim brings extensive knowledge and experience from government, academia and journalism, and through this appointment, he will engage in university-wide activities supporting leadership and the student experience, enhancing community engagement and city building initiatives.”

Since 2009, Bardeesy has been a leadership instructor at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. He has co-taught Leading Change and Getting Things Done, a graduate class combining leadership theory, values-based motivation, and practical engagement in the world.

“This opportunity is an exciting one – Ryerson is incredibly driven and innovative – and I look forward to meeting students and colleagues in the academic community,” said Bardeesy. “The university, like myself, is motivated to improve society through education, research and the development of people’s talents and skills.”

Concurrent to this role, Bardeesy has been appointed special adviser to the president, with the primary goal of building a student-centred leadership initiative at the university. The leadership initiative at Ryerson will bring students, members of the Ryerson community and partners together to help develop more leadership and policy capacity in our community and society, and to help tackle some of our largest collective challenges. Bardeesy will be responsible for identifying and securing partnerships and funding for projects related to the initiative.

Bardeesy earned his undergraduate arts degree at McGill University and his master’s in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.