The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) has named YUFA member Professor Enakshi Dua (School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, York University) the 2026 recipient of its Equity and Social Justice Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to advancing equity for professors, academic librarians, and other academic staff who belong to historically marginalized groups.

Professor Dua is a full professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies. She is also Vice-President Internal of YUFA, beginning a new term on June 1, 2026. As a YUFA member, former equity officer, member of the race equity caucus, she has played a key role in advancing equity within the University and across Ontario universities. She has more than 30 years of experience in feminist, anti-racist and equity work. She has held a number of equity related  positions, including the Director of the Centre for Feminist Research, York University Faculty Association Equity Officer, Chair of the Race Equity Caucus;  Chair of Equity Committee, Canadian Association of University Teacher;  Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Employment Equity and Inclusion, at York University, a member of the President's Advisory Council on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, its steering committee, and as a Chair of sub-committee on developing an EDI strategy that is relevant to faculty. In these positions, she has spearheaded a number of equity initiatives – including bargaining for thresholds for racilaised faculty in the York University's Collective Agreement, development of targeted equity hires, a critical analysis of the use of workshops in EDID, and readiness policies.

The Equity and Social Justice Award is part of OCUFA’s annual Awards of Distinction, which honours achievements in teaching and academic librarianship, equity and social justice, collective bargaining, service to the academic community, graduate student achievement, and investigative journalism on higher education. OCUFA will hold its annual Awards Ceremony event on Saturday, October 24, 2026, in Toronto. OCUFA represents more than 18,000 university faculty, academic librarians, and academic professionals across Ontario and advocates for a well‑funded, accessible, high‑quality system of public higher education.

For more information about this year’s Awards of Distinction, see the announcement on the 
OCUFA website