After 25 years at Sheridan College, Pat Spadafora is hanging up her Sheridan hat and embarking on a new adventure!
After spending time working as a social worker in the field, Pat joined Sheridan as a professor in 1992. In 1993, she was the founding coordinator of the Social Service Worker – Gerontology Program, creating the gerontology stream from the existing Social Service Worker program in order for students to receive specialized training to work with older adults in their professional careers. While still program coordinator, Pat planned and hosted a very successful two-day conference for educators, practitioners and consumers to honour the International Year of Older Persons in 1999. This was the first conference of this scale ever held at Sheridan College.
In addition to her leading edge curriculum-related work at Sheridan, in 2002 Pat was the national recipient of the ‘Leadership Excellence Award’ presented by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), recognizing her as a pioneer in the field of aging. Pat was also responsible for the delivery of policy papers at two international conferences held by the International Federation on Ageing (IFA) concerning the role of older adults in policy decision-making and the implementation of UN Principles for Older Persons, and served two, four-year terms as an IFA Director.
In 2003 Pat Spadafora conceived of, and established, the Sheridan Centre for Elder Research (previously called the Sheridan Elder Research Centre, or fondly, SERC) an interdisciplinary, on-campus applied research facility. Under her leadership, the Centre has matured into a nationally respected research group that has conducted over 100 research, evaluation and design projects that have directly benefited older adults and their families. Through these projects, the Centre team has worked with over 500 Sheridan student volunteers, practicum/co-op students and Research Assistants from over 30 different programs at Sheridan, has developed over 40 formal relationships with businesses, community organizations and service providers, and has hosted over 150 events for older adults, the Sheridan community and industry leaders, not-for-profit organizations and the general public.
Pat has said that we must free ourselves of limiting beliefs about aging and recognize that individuals continue to grow, learn and contribute to their communities throughout their life journeys. To that end, she’s not calling this a retirement, and so neither are we! We simply want to wish her, on behalf all of her friends and colleagues at Sheridan, the very best as she continues her journey– while she will indeed be missed, we know she will make great contributions wherever she goes, and can’t wait to see what exciting things she comes up with next! Cheers to you Pat, and congratulations on all your achievements at Sheridan!
In lieu of a formal farewell get together, we invite you to drop by the Centre before the holiday break to wish Pat the best in person!
Andrea England, Dean, Undergraduate Research
Brian Jervis, Vice Provost, Research