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 and has served as Interim Director of York’s Centre for Feminist Research. She is also Vice-President Internal of YCAR, beginning a new term on June 1, 2026. As a YUFA member and former co-chair of joint equity initiatives, including work to increase the representation of Black faculty at York, she has played a key role in advancing equity within the University and across Ontario universities.

The Equity and Social Justice Award is part of OCUFA’s annual Awards of Distinction, which honour 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