Moving Targets
If you really want to know what York is about, don’t ask for a mission statement. Instead, look at what keeps its people up at night – and what gets them out of bed in the morning. At York, it’s the stubborn questions that refuse easy 
answers, and the pulse of inquiry that animates every corridor. Here, change is always under construction, and the future is a moving target – never quite where you expect it, always just out of reach.
The Summer 2025 issue of The York University Magazine is a field guide to that kind of curiosity. Our cover story drops you into the work of Lassonde School of Engineering Professor Kevin Zhang, who doesn’t just talk about climate resilience – he builds it, blueprint by blueprint, turning construction sites into laboratories for the cities of tomorrow. His approach reminds us that progress isn’t always headline-grabbing; sometimes, it’s the steady recalibration, the willingness to rethink what we take for granted, that leaves the deepest mark.
This spirit of adaptation runs through every corner of York. Our business minds, for example, are giving luxury a reality check. In a world where sustainability is no longer a buzzword but a baseline, status symbols are being redefined – less about exclusivity, more about ethics. These days, it turns out the most coveted accessory is a conscience.
Elsewhere, York researchers are rethinking youth and gaming – not by echoing the usual anxieties about screen time, but by examining how digital spaces become arenas for experimentation, strategy and new forms of friendship.
Innovation at the University isn’t limited to the digital realm. At Keele Campus, the new Goldfarb Gallery is set to become a launch pad for the next generation of art makers and thinkers. Meanwhile, over at Markham Campus, our recently established sports management program shifts the focus to data, strategy and building real community – preparing students for the realities of the modern sports industry.
And York alumni? They’re rewriting the rules in every field. Mitchell Marcus is transforming Downsview’s old airport lands into a cultural epicentre for Toronto. Pamela Shainhouse’s journey as a mature student proves that it’s never too late to start something new – or to give back. In the background, there’s the legacy of Harold Levy, whose decades at the Toronto Star helped force the justice system to reckon with its own blind spots – a reminder that lasting change often begins with asking the uncomfortable questions.
As you turn these pages, I hope you find something that unsettles you, inspires you or simply makes you see things a little differently. After all, the only thing more dangerous than standing still is not noticing when the ground shifts beneath your feet.
So, what will move you this summer? ■
— Deirdre Kelly