Public Policy at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy | University of Toronto

Two School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG) graduate students have been selected by UofT for the 2017 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award in recognition of their outstanding extracurricular contributions to the university and inspiring others to do the same.

The School is pleased to announce this year’s award recipients include Master of Public Policy graduates Alexa Greig and Dalia Hashim.

Alexa was nominated and won for her wide ranging impact as a student leader spearheading initiatives across the School of Public Policy and Governance and Massey College. She served as Co-Executive Editor of the Public Policy and Governance Review, a student-led digital magazine that showcases writing on public affairs by students, academics, and leaders in the policy world. Her leadership drove a dynamic editorial team to reach record audiences and transition the successful publication to a new digital format. Alexa’s leadership didn’t stop there – she organized events inviting journalists to speak, meet with, and mentor students at SPPG; and was an organizing committee member of the Walter Gordon Symposium on Public Policy which explored the topic of Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Dalia Hashim was nominated and won for her deep impact providing leadership for students navigating religious, racial and gender identities, including Islamophobia. As President of the Muslim Student Association, she has led more than 70 volunteers to bring over 50 events for students this year past year and fundraising more than $80K for orphans around the world. Dalia also served as Director of the Policy and Innovation Initiative at SPPG, which this year hosted the School’s first Policy Hackathon focusing on health policy. Pushing herself even further to contribute to her University, she is also Senior Producer on Beyond the Headlines, a regular radio show airing on CIUT.

“It’s this kind of student leadership – Alexa and Dalia’s – that exemplify the very best of a Master of Public Policy graduate. We are all so proud of both of them,” said Peter Loewen, Director of the School of Public Policy and Governance.

The Gordon Cressy Award was established in 1994 by the University of Toronto Alumni Association (UTAA) and the Division of University Advancement. It was named after U of T’s former vice-president of development and university relations, Gordon Cressy, whose higher education and community service commitment has spanned more than 30 years.

SPPG congratulates both Alexa and Dalia!