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For their strong leadership and outstanding contributions to the U of T community, two staff members – Luke Barber and Gina Trubiani – have received the Emerging Leader Chancellor’s Award.

The honour is one of  in collaboration with the university. The prestigious program dates back to 1921 and recognizes outstanding faculty, staff and students.

As director of information and instructional technology services at U of T Mississauga, Barber led a complete transformation of campus technology when the COVID-19 pandemic hit – rolling out remote capabilities to equip the entire campus with online resources and upgrading classrooms with camera systems to support remote instructional delivery. He also took the lead in setting up Zoom for the tri-campus community.

In honouring Barber, that hissupervisors and colleagues praise him as a generous manager who consistently demonstrates his appreciation for others. He is admired as an authentic leader who brings out the best in everyone.

Trubiani, director of occupational health and safety and associate director of environmental health and safety, has long demonstrated her impressive leadership, collaborative style and creative problem-solving. In early 2020, she stepped up to lead the university’s health and safety response to the COVID-19 pandemic – ensuring that essential on-campus work proceeded in compliance with all public health requirements, collaborating on health and safety guidelines for students abroad, and developing COVID-19 case management protocol. 

In honouring Trubiani, that colleagues say Trubiani rose to the challenge of her many new responsibilities with calm, generosity and resilience. Highly regarded for her diplomacy and judgment, she is described as a true leader who instills confidence and gives everyone the reassuring sense that, “We’ve got this, we’ll adapt and persevere.”