FOBA Speaker Series presents Dr. Aydin Farrokhi, Assistant Professor, Business Analytics and Information Systems at Lakehead University.
Friday, May 1
12:10 to 1 p.m.
ATAC 1007 or Zoom (https://lakeheadu.zoom.us/j/97324803134)
Are you a graduate of Lakehead University over the last two years or currently in your senior
year of your degree program expected to graduate in 2026? Lakehead University invites
applicants to an “Advanced Skills Training for Young Professionals” at its Orillia Campus at 500
University Avenue. To complement the trainee’s formal university education, the training is a
short-term and competitive capacity building program for the youth to gain career competencies
not taught in schools yet sought by employers and expected from job applicants.
Join us on Saturday February 28th, 2026 Boardroom to Ballroom FOBSA Formal.
Delta Hotel Thunder Bay (2240 Sleeping Giant Pkwy, Thunder Bay, ON P7A 0E7)
Tickets: $65 each
Cash Bar available
Prize basket raffles — bring cash to participate!
Music by DJ SUGAMAN
Doors Open 5:00 PM | Dinner Served 6:30 PM | Event will run until 1:00 AM
Please CLICK HERE by February 9th to attend -- All Students Welcome!
Discounted hotel rooms are available for attendees and can be booked using the group rate link below:
Dr. Tocheri and many of his Indonesian and other international collaborators at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) in July 2025.
Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ont. - Lakehead University is receiving over $750,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to support eight diverse projects that will advance our understanding of people, cultures, and societies.
Dr. Yuanyuan Wu and Dr. Olakunle Akingbola, professors in the Faculty of Business Administration at Lakehead’s Orillia campus, are working with over 25 rural non-profit organizations in central Ontario to examine how financial and human resource limitations impact operations and non-profits' ability to support people in their communities.
“Improving the well-being of people in underserved and marginalized communities is particularly challenging in rural areas due to geographic location, a shrinking workforce, and the unique needs of each community,” explained Dr. Wu.
Supported by a four-year, $65,689 Insight Grant, the research team will identify and understand current operational issues and explore solutions to improve the sector’s innovative capabilities to address pressing social challenges.
In another project, law professors Monique Woolnough and Larissa Speak are studying the ethics and impacts of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law’s Indigenous land-based learning curriculum. Lakehead University is the first law school in Canada to mandate this course requirement for all first-year students. The three-day Gaa-maada’ooniding – Anishinaabe for “the place where we share together” – Law Camp introduces students to Indigenous legal orders through ceremonies, art, and sharing circles led by Elders and Indigenous community members.
"Land-based learning spaces include both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, so we need to carefully study the ethics of using Indigenous land-based teaching methods in Canadian law schools to see if they truly have decolonial effects,” Speak explained.
The team is receiving a two-year $67,540 Insight Development Grant for the study, the results of which will be valuable for universities, colleges, and schools that are implementing land-based learning as part of their curriculum.
On a global scale, Dr. Matt Tocheri, professor in the Department of Anthropology, is continuing his long-term archaeological fieldwork on the Indonesian island of Flores. Dr. Tocheri and an international team of collaborators are reconstructing the environmental, biological, and cultural contexts surrounding the disappearance of Homo floresiensis (the “hobbits” of human evolution) around 50,000 years ago and an indigenous population of modern humans (~3,000-4,000 years ago) to explain why these early human populations went extinct.
“Understanding what happened to human species and populations in the past helps us, the last humans standing, make more informed decisions as we face threats to our own existence like the recent global pandemic and current climate crisis,” explained Dr. Tocheri, who is receiving a five-year Insight Grant of $360,000.
“We are grateful to SSHRC for supporting these projects that will help us navigate the complex challenges we collectively face as a society,” said Dr. Langis Roy, Vice-President, Research and Innovation.
In 2024/25, Lakehead University received almost $2.8 million in assistance from the Research Support Fund to support the indirect costs of research, including the management of intellectual property, research and administration, ethics and regulatory compliance, research resources, research facilities, and research security.
Connections Grants (one-year grant)
Dr. Charles Z. Levkoe, Department of Health Sciences, “Food Studies Digest: A Podcast to Mobilize Food Studies Knowledge”, $48,040.
Partner(s):
Canadian Association for Food Studies
Collaborators:
Kristen N. Lowitt, Queen's University
Rachel Engler-Stringer, University of Saskatchewan
Laurence Godin, Université Laval
Philip Loring, University of Guelph
Insight Grants (two-five-year grant)
Dr. Matthew W. Tocheri, Department of Anthropology, “Late Pleistocene and Holocene Archaeology of Flores, Indonesia: Human extinction versus survival”, $360,000.
Partner(s):
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Collaborators:
Elena Maria Essel, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Elizabeth G. Veatch, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Dr. Hanneke Meijer, University of Bergen
Dr. Matthew Skinner, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Matthias Meyer, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Rene Dommain, Smithsonian Institution
Sam Lin, University of Wollongong
Dr. Thomas Sutikna, National Research and Innovation Agency
Jennifer McKee, Department of Geography and the Environment, Lakehead University
Dr. Yuanyuan Wu, Faculty of Business Administration, “To Do or Not to Do: Social Innovation of Rural NPOs in Central Ontario under Resource Constraints”, $65,689.
Collaborators:
Dr. Olakunle Akingbola, Faculty of Business Administration, Lakehead University
Insight Development Grants (one-two-year grant)
Dr. Keira Loukes, School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism, “Manoomin's stories: An Anishinaabe account of manoomin on Rice Lake, ON”, $74,999.
Dr. Michael Stevenson, Departments of History and Interdisciplinary Studies, “Canada and the Third United Nations Law of the Sea Conference, 1973-1982”, $55,343.
Dr. Monique Woolnough, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, “Mino-waabandan Inaakonigewinan (Seeing Law in a Good Way): Indigenous land-based pedagogies, Indigenous legal orders and the mandatory Canadian law school curriculum”, $67,540.
Collaborators:
Ms. Larissa Speak, Lakehead University
Mr. Robin Sutherland, Lakehead University
Mrs. Jerri-Lynn Orr, Lakehead University
Dr. Laura Hall, Carleton University
Dr. Doris O'Brien-Teengs, Faculty of Education, “Systematic Analysis of the Indigenous Language Revitalization programs and activities of the Anishinaabemowin Boodawe Committee”, $68,102. *TO BE CONFIRMED*
Collaborators:
Dr. Paul Cormier, Lakehead University
Tyler Armstrong, Lakehead University
Andrew Manitowabi
Mary O'Donnell
Destination Horizon Grants (one-year grant)
Dr. Kathryn Amanda Maranzan, Department of Psychology, “Reducing stigma through strategic disclosure: The Honest, Open, Proud program”, $14,869.
Collaborators:
Carmen Simonsen, University of Oslo
Dr. Nicolas Rusch, Ulm University
Dorottya Ori, Heim Pal National Pediatric Institute
Dr. Luca Pingani, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
If you need someone who gets things done, talk to Joel Abraham.
This entrepreneur and third-year Honours Bachelor of Commerce student has been a whirlwind on the Lakehead Orillia campus.
"Everyone at Lakehead is very friendly, and because it's still a young university, you have the honour of starting new clubs and taking the university to new heights," Joel says. "Orillia is a breath of fresh air, too. It's a quaint little town with the most beautiful summers I've ever seen—and I've travelled to several countries."
Joel's hometown is the city of Bangalore—known as the Silicon Valley of India. "I started my entrepreneurship journey in Bangalore when I was 14 or 15, specializing in buying cryptocurrencies," he explains.
“Tech, finance, and entrepreneurship are my interests,” Joel says. “My current business venture is intended to help researchers and students who are part of the Solana cryptocurrency community.”
Joel credits his business professors, particularly Dr. Xuequn Wang and Andrew Ault, with deepening his understanding of finance and entrepreneurship. "I see Lakehead Orillia as a boutique university with access to top researchers and professors."
Since arriving at Lakehead, Joel hasn't confined his activities to the classroom. In his second year, he founded the Lakehead Orillia Enactus Club and became its inaugural president. Enactus is a non-profit organization with clubs around the world. The postsecondary students who belong to Enactus clubs use entrepreneurship to create positive economic, social, and environmental change. Among his Enactus projects, Joel developed a framework to make the Orillia Area Community Development Corporation more profitable.
In 2025, he had a consultancy with a First Nation in Manitoba. "I assisted Professor Ault with a report on the feasibility of a proposed riverfront marina and fishing resort," Joel says.
Winning Streak: Joel accepts three Lakehead Leader Awards from Orillia Principal Dr. Linda Rodenburg.
Currently, Joel is the president of the Business Orillia Student Society (BOSS). In this role, he's been an ambassador for the Canadian Young Investors Society and delivered financial literacy and investing seminars to students across Canada. He's also given presentations about investing in alternative assets and taxation on behalf of the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE), as well as served on Lakehead's Senate Academic Appeals Committee.
Building personal connections with his fellow students is equally important to Joel. He's mentored overseas students to help make their transition to Lakehead Orillia easier. In addition, Joel has tutored students struggling with Lakehead's "Introduction to Finance" course, ensuring that each of them earned 80% or higher in the class.
Joel's efforts haven't gone unnoticed. He was recognized with a Lakehead Leader Luminary Award and Lakehead Leader Awards in the categories of community engagement and innovation. He's also received the David Richards Community Spirit award, the Paul Rependa Learning Award, and the 2025 Keith and Carrie Black Award.
So what drives Joel to keep up such a gruelling pace of activities?
"Everything I do is for my mom," Joel says. "She struggled to get me where I am today and funded my education. Sometimes, I'll call her at 4 am in the morning in India to tell her about an award I've won or a new accomplishment. She deserves a son who does well, and she's my first priority in terms of who I help."
After he graduates from Lakehead, Joel plans to earn an MBA and a chartered financial analyst (CFA) certification. His ultimate goal is to work in finance on Bay Street or Wall Street.
"Lakehead is such a wonderful university," Joel says. "I will be sad to be graduating next year."
Right now, though, he is focused on giving back to the Lakehead community.
"I want to show the students coming up after me on what's possible at Lakehead and the fantastic opportunities open to them. I want to inspire them to start their journey so that they can carry themselves, and Lakehead, farther."
The Faculty of Business Administration (FOBA) at Lakehead University is seeking a highly organized, proactive, and collaborative Administrative Assistant to provide comprehensive administrative support to the Dean, faculty, staff, and contract lecturers at both Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses. As one of the key administrative team members, the successful candidate will help ensure the smooth operation of academic programs, maintain effective communication and coordination within the Faculty, and contribute to a positive experience for students, faculty, and stakeholders. This is a dynamic position involving a wide variety of responsibilities, including confidential administrative support, faculty assistance, course and exam coordination, student engagement, and event planning. The role requires the ability to multitask, manage competing priorities, and work collaboratively with a second Administrative Assistant and other FOBA team members.
Deans Office Support – 30%
Provide confidential administrative support acting as the first point of contact to the Dean regarding policies, procedures, regulations, protocols and with a high volume of inquiries.
Perform daily administrative functions such as composing correspondence, memos, minutes, printing, copying and managing all ingoing and outgoing mail; Manage the Dean’s calendar, and all documentation preparation; Coordinate travel arrangements, planning, logistics and budgeting. Coordinate the Promotion, Tenure and Renewal process and provide administrative support for appeals and academic integrity offences.
Monitor, manage and maintain office supplies, physical access to the department and office expenses.
Faculty Support – 30%
Provide general and daily administrative support for approximately 50 faculty, contract lecturers, staff and Faculty Council.
Manage full recruitment for faculty positions.
Coordinate Academic Calendar submissions and manage all materials and information on the LMS. Keep faculty and staff abreast of new or updated information regarding Lakehead University policies, procedures, approaching deadlines and important dates. Communicate with students on behalf of faculty.
Coordinate and manage all textbook orders from instructors, book classrooms and meeting rooms on behalf of faculty and instructors. Arrange catering, phone/video conference and A/V equipment. Coordinate event planning related to faculty teaching and courses.
Course Administration – 20%
Develop the timetable submission for scheduling of the academic timetable, order textbooks and custom course materials from The Bookstore, assist with scheduling and managing logistics of examinations, assist with processing of Remark scores, liaise with Student Accessibility Services and Enrolment Services regarding exam processes for students with accommodations, arrange for production and distribution of exam materials and manage the distribution and collection of course evaluations.
Student Support – 10%
Serve as first point of contact for all inquiries and keep students informed of events, employment opportunities, information sessions, and meetings.
Manage the confidential files and records system for all Faculty of Business Administration students and act as a resource in regard to areas of support available on campus to aid students (e.g., Student Accessibility Services, Student Health and Wellness, etc.).
Support to other Administrators – 10%
Provide administrative support to other Administrators, as needed. Provide onboarding for new faculty or staff to ensure smooth transition and operations. Maintain up-to-date information on course offerings per term and degree requirements for Program Chairs.
1. Post-secondary education in business administration, office administration, or a related field.
2. Minimum of 3 years of administrative or executive assistant experience, preferably in a post-secondary or academic environment.
3. Excellent organizational and time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines.
4. Strong written and verbal communication skills.
5. High degree of discretion and professionalism in handling confidential information.
6. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, Learning Management Systems (e.g., D2L), and administrative platforms such as
calendar scheduling, finance systems, and communication tools.
The Faculty of Business Administration (FOBA) at Lakehead University is seeking a highly organized, proactive, and collaborative Administrative Assistant to provide comprehensive administrative support to the Dean, faculty, staff, and contract lecturers at both Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses. As one of the key administrative team members, the successful candidate will help ensure the smooth operation of academic programs, maintain effective communication and coordination within the Faculty, and contribute to a positive experience for students, faculty, and stakeholders. This is a dynamic position involving a wide variety of responsibilities, including confidential administrative support, faculty assistance, course and exam coordination, student engagement, and event planning. The role requires the ability to multitask, manage competing priorities, and work collaboratively with a second Administrative Assistant and other FOBA team members.
Deans Office Support – 30%
Provide confidential administrative support acting as the first point of contact to the Dean regarding policies, procedures, regulations, protocols and with a high volume of inquiries. Process cheque requisitions, invoices, credit card statements, budget transfers, hospitality claims, etc. Perform daily administrative functions such as composing correspondence, memos, maintain meeting minutes, printing, copying and managing all ingoing and outgoing mail; Manage the Dean's calendar, and all documentation preparation; Coordinate travel arrangements, planning, logistics and budgeting. Coordinate the Promotion, Tenure and Renewal process and provide administrative support for appeals and academic integrity offences. Monitor, manage and maintain office supplies, physical access to the department and office expenses.
Faculty Support – 30%
Provide general and daily administrative support for approximately 50 faculty, contract lecturers, staff and Faculty Council. Manage full recruitment for faculty positions. Book classrooms and meeting rooms for faculty and instructors, as needed. Coordinate Academic Calendar submissions and manage all materials and information on the LMS. Keep faculty and staff abreast of new or updated information regarding Lakehead University policies, procedures, approaching deadlines and important dates. Communicate with students on behalf of faculty. Coordinate and manage all textbook orders from instructors, book classrooms and meeting rooms on behalf of faculty and instructors. Arrange catering, phone/video conference and A/V equipment. Coordinate event planning related to faculty teaching and courses.
Course Administration – 20%
Develop the timetable submission for scheduling of the academic timetable, order textbooks and custom course materials from The Bookstore, assist with scheduling of examinations and managing logistics of examinations, assist with processing of Remark scores, liaise with Student Accessibility Services and Enrolment Services regarding exam processes for students with accommodations, arrange for production and distribution of exam materials and manage the distribution and collection of course evaluations.
Student Support – 10%
Serve as first point of contact for all inquiries and keep students informed of events, employment opportunities, information sessions, and meetings. Manage the confidential files and records system for all Faculty of Business Administration students and act as a resource in regard to areas of support available on campus to aid students (e.g., Student Accessibility Services, Student Health and Wellness, etc.).
Support to other Administrators – 10%
Provide administrative support to other Administrators, as needed. Provide onboarding for new faculty or staff to ensure smooth transition and operations. Maintain up-to-date information on course offerings per term and degree requirements for Program Chairs.
1. Post-secondary education in business administration, office administration, or a related field.
2. Minimum of 3 years of administrative or executive assistant experience, preferably in a post-secondary or academic environment.
3. Excellent organizational and time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines.
4. Strong written and verbal communication skills.
5. High degree of discretion and professionalism in handling confidential information.
6. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, Learning Management Systems (e.g., D2L), and administrative platforms such as calendar scheduling, finance systems, and communication tools.
