Professor Haley Zubyk has earned the Emerging Educational Leader Award from fellow Canadian biology educators in the Open Consortium of Undergraduate Biology Educators (oCUBE) and the Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs (CCUBC). The award recognizes her contributions to undergraduate biology education and acknowledges her potential for continued educational leadership.
Potential for growth
Zubyk’s commitment to teaching and educational leadership began as a graduate student, when she became involved with oCUBE. She is now an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, in the University of Toronto’s Human Biology Program at CSB and serves as an Experiential Learning Faculty Fellow in the Faculty of Arts & Science.
One area of Zubyk’s educational leadership has been the redesign of Human Biology course HMB453: HIV/AIDS. This course now connects students with community organizations serving people living with and affected by HIV, allowing them to apply their scientific knowledge to authentic, partner-informed projects.
“My background is in biochemistry and microbiology, so I came to HIV education initially from the biological side,” says Zubyk. “But you can’t meaningfully understand HIV without also considering stigma, access to care, structural inequities, and the experiences of the communities most affected. I want students to learn how to take their scientific knowledge and communicate and apply it in ways that are thoughtful, respectful, and genuinely useful to the communities they are working with.”
Zubyk has also emphasized the importance of involving students in shaping their own educational experiences. While developing HMB304, she established a student advisory board to provide feedback on the course structure and student experience. She is now expanding the course to include an undergraduate antibiotic discovery laboratory module.
“I think students should have a meaningful voice in their education,” says Zubyk. “As instructors, we bring expertise in our disciplines and in teaching, but students bring an important perspective on how they experience our courses. Creating opportunities for them to contribute helps me continually reflect on and improve the learning environments I build.”
Enhancing the undergraduate environment
Zubyk’s educational leadership also extends beyond individual courses. Through conversations with Human Biology students, she identified a recurring challenge: many students were interested in undergraduate research but did not know where to find opportunities or how to begin approaching potential supervisors.
“One of the things I care deeply about is making opportunities in science feel more visible and accessible to students,” says Zubyk. “I was a first-generation university student, and I remember how difficult it could be to navigate opportunities when you didn’t necessarily know where to start or what questions to ask. I want students to feel that research is something they can participate in and that there are concrete steps they can take to get there.”
In response, Zubyk developed the Human Biology Program’s Research Support and Opportunities Portal, which centralizes research postings and provides resources to help students identify opportunities and prepare competitive applications. She has also supported the development of undergraduate research resources for the Human Biology website.
“For me, educational leadership isn’t only about what happens during a lecture,” she says. “It’s also about looking at the broader student experience, identifying where barriers exist, and thinking about what we can do as educators to make those pathways clearer and more equitable.”
Making an impact nationally
Zubyk’s educational leadership also includes supporting and learning from fellow educators. As a member of the Virtual Events Committee, she has organized faculty development opportunities within oCUBE, including an event for people interested in teaching-stream careers.
Looking ahead, Zubyk is particularly interested in questions surrounding civil discourse and the thoughtful integration of artificial intelligence into undergraduate education.
“AI is going to be part of the environment our students learn and work in, so I think our responsibility is to help them develop the skills to use it thoughtfully,” says Zubyk. “There can be real value in these tools, but I want students to have the foundational knowledge and confidence to think critically, evaluate what AI produces, and make intentional decisions about when its use supports their learning and when it might take away from developing their own skills.”
Zubyk is also developing and evaluating civil discourse training in HMB453: HIV/AIDS: A Global Perspective, designed to help students engage thoughtfully and respectfully with sensitive and potentially contentious topics. She hopes to share what she learns from this work with educators beyond the University of Toronto.
“My educational leadership is ultimately centred on the student experience,” says Zubyk. “I want students to leave my courses with strong scientific knowledge, but also with greater confidence in themselves, stronger transferable skills, and a sense that they have something meaningful to contribute to science and to their communities.”
Congratulations, Professor Zubyk!