2 minute read
Driven to Excellence
Katyayini Thakur is the first former international student to be appointed as a member of faculty full time.
In a landmark moment for Fanshawe, Katyayini Thakur (Health Systems Management alumni, 2020) is Fanshawe’s first full-time faculty member who was once an international student at the College.
A trained physician who hails from India, Katyayini arrived at Fanshawe in 2019. She quickly became an integral part of the Fanshawe community by serving on the Fanshawe Student Union executive team, including as president during the 2020/21 academic year. Katyayini is now teaching in the Automotive Service Management program in the College’s School of Transportation Technology and Apprenticeship.
“It is such an honor to be the College’s first former international student full-time faculty hire,” says Katyayini. “It is indeed a significant milestone in my professional life, and I am committed to upholding the high standards and values that this role represents.”
Before her full-time appointment, she taught part time in the Automotive Service Management program as well as the Health Care Administration Management program at Fanshawe’s London South Campus.
Katyayini is also developing equity, diversity and inclusion curriculum for the Green Vehicle Technology program, set to launch in 2024. She is exploring several topics for inclusion, such as identification of equity-deserving communities and the barriers they face, the importance of diversity and inclusion and how to create an inclusive environment in the workplace, discussions on the environmental impact of alternate fuels and technologies and more.
“With melting glaciers and untamed wildfires, the need of the hour is to address global climatic change in a proactive manner, sooner than later,” she says. “Finding sustainable energy solutions in the automotive sector is just one step in the right direction.”
