An independent scholar, author, as well as a theatre and media artist, Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell has been named Lakehead University’s 10th chancellor, where she currently acts as a member of the President’s Council on Truth and Reconciliation in addition to an Adjunct Professor of Education. Moreover, she is also a member of Act 3, a collective of older professional female actors and is part of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). She is also an Adjunct Professor of Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University.
Over the course of her career, Rita made a name for herself in the media sphere. In addition to hosting several programs for CBC (Regina Noon, 24 Hours in Saskatchewan, CBC Access and Take 30) in the 1970’s, she was the Director of the University of Regina’s Journalism School in the 1980’s, and she co-founded Vision TV where she was Vice President of Production, before becoming News Director at APTN until 2005 mentoring her Indigenous successor.
In the summer of 2005, Rita retired from full-time broadcasting and returned to theatre and drama. She was the first CanWest Global Fellow at Western University (2006) and Storyteller in Residence at Centennial College’s Centre for Creative Communication (2008-2009).
Her many distinguished honours include two Geminis, the Black Women’s Civic Engagement Network Leadership Award, membership in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and recipient of the Order of Canada (2005). She was named 2018 ACTRA Woman of the Year for her contributions to arts and activism, and she received the ACTRA Fraternal Benefits Society’s Award for Volunteerism. Rita Shelton Deverell has served on several boards and advisory councils, including the then Ontario Media Development Corporation and the Ontario College of Art and Design.
2019 saw the publication of her book American Refugees: Turning to Canada for Freedom, and her play Who You Callin Black Eh? won the Teen Jury prize at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
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