Sheridan College has now publicly announced Mark Jones will be the school's next Dean of the Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design.
He was appointed to the position last week, and he will assume his new role as of Monday, August 28, 2023 (just before the start of Sheridan's upcoming fall semester.)
Jones comes to Sheridan with, according to a press release, "over two decades of experience in the postsecondary sector." Most recently, he served as the Chair of the School of Creative Arts and Animation at Seneca Polytechnic for the last 10 years.
In that role, he established the college’s Film Institute as founding Director, focusing on industry partnerships and responsive, cross-disciplinary programming in the screen-based arts. While there he helped grow enrolment, strengthen industry partnerships and support high student satisfaction.
Jones remains active as an executive producer/producer and exhibiting artist. His installations have been featured at venues like Toronto's Nuit Blanche and the National Gallery of Canada.
Sheridan adds that, "Jones has fuelled his impact with extensive participation in the arts community serving on boards and committees from the Canada Council for the Arts, to founding board member of the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International and by participating in a Toronto mayoral trade mission to India."
"Mark’s scholarship, creative practice and leadership have been consistently inflected by concerns for access, equity and social justice," says Carol Altilia, Provost and Vice President, Academic at Sheridan.
"He brings a demonstrated focus on inclusion with the extension of his own reflective learning at Northwestern University preparing him well to advance the ground-breaking work underway in FAAD. His reputation as an empathetic, collaborative leader precedes him, and I am thrilled to have his skills at Sheridan."
Jones' creative grounding began in theatre, specializing in performance technology with a BA (Hon) from York University. He completed his graduate work at Toronto Metropolitan University in Communications and Culture.
More information about this new appointment can be found online here.