Media Releases

Beth Ali appointed executive director of KPE co-curricular athletics & physical activity programs

November 1, 2016

Toron­to, ON – In a state­ment issued on Fri­day, Octo­ber 28, pro­fes­sor Ira Jacobs, dean of the Fac­ul­ty of Kine­si­ol­o­gy and Phys­i­cal Edu­ca­tion at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, announced the appoint­ment of Beth Ali to the posi­tion of exec­u­tive direc­tor of co-cur­ric­u­lar ath­let­ics and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty pro­grams at KPE. Report­ing to the dean of KPE, the exec­u­tive direc­tor pro­vides over­all lead­er­ship and strate­gic direc­tion to KPE’s co-cur­ric­u­lar pro­grammes, activ­i­ties and ser­vices at the St. George cam­pus, the U of T Var­si­ty Blues pro­grammes that involve stu­dents from all three U of T cam­pus­es, and relat­ed tri-cam­pus ini­tia­tives.

“I am very hap­py and excit­ed to announce the appoint­ment of Beth Ali to the posi­tion of exec­u­tive direc­tor of co-cur­ric­u­lar ath­let­ics and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty pro­grams at KPE,” said Pro­fes­sor Jacobs. “Through both her per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence, Beth has demon­strat­ed exem­plary advo­ca­cy for sport devel­op­ment and the ben­e­fits of sport and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty in the devel­op­ment of the whole per­son, espe­cial­ly the pos­i­tive impact it has on a student’s uni­ver­si­ty expe­ri­ence.

“Her expe­ri­ence, skills, and knowl­edge, com­bined with her pas­sion for the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, made her a nat­ur­al and over­whelm­ing choice to lead our co-cur­ric­u­lar ath­let­ics and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty pro­grams. We are very for­tu­nate that she has agreed to assume that lead­er­ship role.”

A pas­sion­ate “true Blue”, Ali was the direc­tor of inter­col­le­giate and high per­for­mance sports at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to from 2010–15. She is an active and high­ly respect­ed leader with­in the Ontario Uni­ver­si­ty Ath­let­ics and nation­al USports (for­mer­ly CIS) orga­ni­za­tions. A for­mer stu­dent ath­lete and nation­al, provin­cial and uni­ver­si­ty field hock­ey coach, she has held promi­nent lead­er­ship posi­tions in that sport both nation­al­ly and inter­na­tion­al­ly. She has also been chef de mis­sion for Cana­di­an teams at major inter­na­tion­al sport­ing events such as the FISU Games.

“I am hon­oured to have been appoint­ed to this excit­ing posi­tion at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to,” said Ali. “I am pas­sion­ate about pro­vid­ing out­stand­ing ath­let­ic and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty pro­grams, ser­vices and facil­i­ties to all U of T stu­dents which enhance their uni­ver­si­ty expe­ri­ence, build a sense of belong­ing and com­mu­ni­ty, and con­tribute to their over­all well-being now and in the future. I believe ath­let­ics and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty is a cat­a­lyst for cam­pus spir­it and insti­tu­tion­al pride and con­tributes to the incom­pa­ra­ble rep­u­ta­tion of U of T. I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing our part­ner­ships with all stu­dent life staff and orga­ni­za­tions to pro­vide out­stand­ing pro­grams and ser­vices to our U of T com­mu­ni­ty.”

Ali brings to her new posi­tion many years of uni­ver­si­ty co-cur­ric­u­lar senior lead­er­ship excel­lence at three dif­fer­ent uni­ver­si­ties (U of T, Ryer­son and Uni­ver­si­ty of Water­loo) and across the con­tin­u­um of pro­gram­ming that includes inter-uni­ver­si­ty and high per­for­mance sports, intra­mur­al sports, open recre­ation, chil­dren and youth, strength and con­di­tion­ing.  She was a key mem­ber of major sports infra­struc­ture project plan­ning com­mit­tees that includ­ed the Mat­tamy Cen­tre (for­mer Maple Leaf Gar­dens) at Ryer­son Uni­ver­si­ty, and the Back Cam­pus Fields revi­tal­iza­tion project and the Goldring Cen­tre for High Per­for­mance Sport project at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to.

Ali’s appoint­ment takes effect on Novem­ber 1st, 2016.

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For more infor­ma­tion:

Sarah Bak­er
Direc­tor, PR & Com­mu­ni­ca­tions
Fac­ul­ty of Kine­si­ol­o­gy and Phys­i­cal Edu­ca­tion
Office: 416–978-1663
sarah.e.baker@utoronto.ca