‘The heart of OISE’: Meet our 2026 Staff Excellence Award winners
Each year, the ¥ award certain staff members who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to support students and faculty members.
OISE’s Staff Excellence Awards are a special acknowledgement of their great contributions over the past year. This year, four staffers – Caren Li, Jennifer Tucker, Alex Merrick, and Omar Elfarseisy – have been recognized for their role in supporting OISE’s academic mission.
This year, the Dr. Claire Alleyne Staff Excellence Award is being shared with Li and Tucker. Merrick is the recipient of the Leadership Award, and Elfarseisy receives the Innovation Award.
“Our staff are at the heart of OISE,” said Professor Creso Sá, Acting Dean of OISE. “The care, skill and commitment they bring to their work every day make a real difference across our community. I want to thank our 2026 award winners for all they do and warmly congratulate them on this recognition.”
Professor Sa would like to thank the 2025-2026 Staff Awards Selection Committee members for their hard work selecting recipients – including Krystal Huang, Lance McCready, Madelaine Panoulias, Elisabeth Rees-Johnstone, Ahmet Su, and Marcelo Vieta – and to Helen Huang, OISE’s Chief Administrative Officer, for chairing the selection process.
Below, we describe each award and each recipient’s. We have also asked each recipient three questions, so we could learn more about them:
- What does it mean to be bestowed this award?
- How would like to pay this honour forward?
Dr. Claire Alleyne Staff Excellence Award
Co-winner: Caren Li, Program Coordinator, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development
Co-winner: Jennifer Tucker, Senior Human Resources Consultant, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer
The Alleyne Award was established in 2008, in recognition of OISE’s former Registrar, Dr. Claire Alleyne, and her retirement after more than 35 years of exemplary service – and her dedication to, and respect for OISE administrative staff. The Award celebrates contributions of a staff member who has continually demonstrated a deep commitment to excellence and outstanding service, and whose actions have created a positive and lasting impact on our community.
Caren Li’s nomination was supported by 33 students from multiple cohorts of the Master of Education in Global Mental Health and Counselling Psychology program – who described her as the “essential heart” and the “quiet engine” of their academic journeys. Her organizational insight, consistency, and collaborative approach creates a supportive learning environment that benefits students, faculty, and the department as a whole.
Jennifer Tucker is an exemplary HR professional, Jennifer demonstrates patience, compassion and a deep respect for all staff. In working with clients and stakeholders, she thoughtfully considers the implications of each recommendation she makes ensuring that her guidance aligns with OISE’s values, and strengthens our commitment to equity, diversity and accessibility in practice. Jennifer is a source of inspiration to OISE’s people leaders consistently demonstrating genuine respect for people, centering fairness, dignity, and clear communication.
What does it mean to be bestowed this award?
Li: It has been a great and unexpected honour to receive the Staff Excellence Award. As an OISE alumna myself, I was supported by a group of knowledgeable and approachable advisors and faculty members when I was a student and I'm glad that now I have the opportunity to give back to the community. The award re-affirms the value of the work I do alongside colleagues who share the same commitment to supporting students and each other.
Tucker: To be bestowed with the Dr. Claire Alleyne Staff Excellence Award is an incredibly meaningful honour. I am truly grateful to be recognized for contributing to OISE in ways that reflect the professionalism, compassion, integrity, and deep respect for staff that Dr. Alleyne exemplified. Thank you for this recognition and for the shared commitment we continue to build together at OISE. I am profoundly grateful, not only for this award, but for the opportunity to serve and grow within our community.
How would you like to pay this honour forward?
Li: Having the opportunity to work at OISE is truly wonderful and rewarding. I will always remember the people who shaped my view of how higher education should be and I hope to carry the torch forward by continuing to support those around me.
Tucker: I hope to pay this honour forward by continuing to support my colleagues with the same care, professionalism and collaborative spirit that has shaped this nomination. I want to honour Dr. Alleyne’s legacy by continuing to advocate for the OISE community ensuring they feel respected, informed and supported. I will continue to be a positive, supportive presence, contributing to a community where everyone can thrive.
Leadership Award
Winner: Alex Merrick, Partnership, Practicum and Experiential Learning Coordinator, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
The Leadership award celebrates the achievements of a staff member who has demonstrated exceptional leadership through inspiring a high level of commitment from others, and motivating them to achieve outstanding results; setting and maintaining high professional standards.
Alex Merrick’s leadership, dedication, and community-building efforts have transformed the experiential learning and practicum processes in the Master of Teaching program and strengthened partnerships with schools.
The new “Practicum Matters” communication strategy, developed under her leadership, is a reliable and supportive channel for sharing essential information with teacher candidates and faculty advisors. Her redesign of the practicum protocols has improved clarity, accessibility, and consistency for teacher candidates.
What does it mean to be bestowed this award?
Receiving this award affirms for me how transformative it can be to work with people who support and trust in each other. Since joining CTL, I have been fortunate to receive mentorship, guidance, and wise counsel from an incredible team of educators and staff. Every day I arrive to work with a sense of awe that I’ve landed in a place where everyone is committed to supporting each other in effecting positive and impactful change in education. Not a day has gone by where I haven’t learned something new or had the opportunity to try something new. From navigating the complexities of practicum challenges to imagining new ways of fostering profound, meaningful learning for teacher candidates, the CTL Staff and MT Leadership Team have created an environment that allowed me to truly flourish. Having the team that has supported played an integral role in the success of the learner agency tool (the MT Guidebook) and supported changes to practicum, nominate me for this award is truly the best, most rewarding feeling. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to continue working with and learning from such an inspiring group of humans!
How would like to pay this honour forward?
As a parent of 3 school-aged kids, the future of education can feel so precarious and uncertain. My passion for the work I do in education is rooted in asking how can we centre human-ness, empathy, authentic and generative communication skills, curiosity, critical thinking, and a deep sense of responsibility to each other and the planet? My goal in paying this honour forward is to continue to intentionally and humbly connect and collaborate with staff, faculty, instructors, students, associate teachers and school partners to answer these questions. My aim continues to be to support teacher candidates in their learning journey of becoming agentic and reflective educators who understand the importance of meeting students where they are at and modeling the way for a better future for all. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to do this work at OISE and with the staff and leadership team within CTL.
Innovation Award
Winner: Omar Elfarseisy, Student Success Officer, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education
The Innovation Award celebrates the achievements of staff, individually or as a team, who have developed and implemented a creative solution that increases the productivity and enhances the value added to research, teaching, and the administrative processes at OISE.
Through his positive, problem-solving attitude, Omar Elfarseisy strives to improve administrative processes and the use of data and systems to support departmental operations. He has made Slate system modifications for the 2026-2027 admissions cycle, including tailored admissions flow to programs and degrees, revamped the review process, improved data collection, and increased visibility of files to ensure effective decision-making.
He also created presentations and supports for department Slate users to guide them through the process. His commitment to innovation has benefited the department and the wider OISE community.
What does it mean to be bestowed this award?
I feel genuinely honoured to receive this award; it’s a very heartwarming validation of the hard work and long hours continuously invested in pushing the boundaries of our administrative capabilities to better serve OISE as a whole. The OISE community consistently stewards tangible innovation across our teaching, research, and administration; I’m truly grateful to be recognized for having played a part in contributing to this collective process!
How would I like to pay this honour forward?
I’d like to pay this honour forward by supporting colleagues across OISE in developing and implementing their own innovative ideas. I aim to be a resource for others as they navigate bringing those ideas to life and to advocate for creating the time and capacity within our work for innovation. As someone who would not be here without the support of my colleagues and supervisors, I truly believe that even small investments in supporting and empowering our staff can lead to meaningful, lasting impact.