Laura E. Taylor
Associate Professor, York University
Sector: Academia Sector
Discipline: Education
Year: 2014
Magic Moment: The first step towards my career as a professor was to apply for a job for which I was not qualified. The job was a full-time urban and regional planning professor. I had no teaching experience and I didn’t have a PhD! But I wrote a letter explaining why I thought I would be great for the job. I was hired to teach one course, loved it, and the rest is history.
Key Influence: Eha Naylor, Dillon Consulting Ltd. – She told me that you can only do your best and trust that your best is good enough. The key is to consistently bring your best to everything you do!
Ray Simpson, Hemson Consulting Ltd. – Admit it and say “I don’t know” to a client if you don’t know the answer but then say “I will find out.”
Next Big Challenge As An Industry: The next big challenges are:
1. To pay more attention to neighbourhood-scale nature. Consolidating natural features into natural heritage systems is important to retain and restore ecosystems—especially for climate change mitigation and adaptation—but we also need to think about the importance of nearby-nature in communities to support everyday quality of life; and
2. The energy transition to net zero communities is about to change the way energy infrastructure is planned and delivered.
Secret Talent: Movie critic
On Championing Others… My superpower is networking and I connect incoming students, emerging planners, and new professors with others in their field.
One word that captures you: Curious