Sara Louise Diamond, (born 9 March 1954) is a Canadian artist and was the president of

OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public university, public art school, art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park (neighbourh ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Life

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, US, in 1954, Diamond was raised from 1959 in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, where her father was the executive director of the Jewish Family and Child Service and her mother a professor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Diamond has an undergraduate Honours BA in Communications and History from Simon Fraser University, and a master's degree in

Digital Media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

Theory from the University of the Arts, London. Diamond holds a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in computing, information technology and engineering, from the University of East London, England, with a focus on data visualization.OCAD University
Office of the President, OCAD University. Accessed 13 October 2012. Diamond was the artistic director of media and visual art and director of research at the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta, Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the Performing arts, performing and fine arts, as well as leadership trai ...

, where she created the Banff New Media Institute in 1995 and led it until 2005. Diamond taught at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, at Capilano College, at the California Institute for the Arts and remains an adjunct professor at UCLA. She is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 2012 she was made a member of the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...

Career highlights

Founded and led the international Banff New Media institute from 1995 to 2005, establishing research and commercialization summits of artists, designers, scientists and companies, practice based and research workshops, creative co-productions, laboratories and research in new media. Diamond also led Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U) to retain its traditional strengths in art and design, while transforming the university to become a leader in STEAM+D (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math, Medicine and Design), with capacities in digital media, design research and curriculum. She initiated and funding the Digital Futures Initiative and the Digital Media Research and Innovation Institute; supported OCAD U's unique research in Inclusive Design and design for health. She collaborated with Indigenous colleagues to develop the Indigenous Visual Culture Program, with correlative prioritization of Indigenous knowledge and culture at OCAD U. At OCAD U, Diamond led three strategic plans with resulting scorecards and metrics, new vision and mission, brand development, related academic, research, capital and digital infrastructure strategies and implementation plans, multi-year forecasts. The three projects were: Smart Communities as Platform Co-operatives, Housing Typology Innovations, and Culture Creates Bonds. Diamond is founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre and current co-chair (with RBC). She is co-principal investigator on the Centre for Information Visualization/Data Driven Design, an OCAD U/

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

major initiative and sits on the board of the National Centre of Excellence GRAND. Diamond continues to write and lecture on the subjects of digital media history, digital media, strategic foresight; mobility and design strategy for peer-reviewed journals and acts as a reviewer and evaluator for IEEE and ACM conferences and journals; SSHRC, CFI and the Canada Research Chair programs. Her artwork is held by prestigious collections such as the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, NYC and the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

Art career

Diamond's work as an artist was shown in exhibitions including at the

, the

, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 1992, Diamond's work was shown in a retrospective titled ''Memories Revisited, History Retold,'' organized by the

. During her time as an undergraduate student at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

, Diamond created the Women's Labour History Project, which, beginning in 1978, collected the oral histories of women who were active in the trade union movement, published resources on the women, toured a photo exhibition, and produced videos of the histories. The project is now housed in the Simon Fraser University Archives.

Works

Awards

* 2018: Inspiring 50: Advancement of diversity of STEM fields, Government of Netherlands and Senate of Canada * 2017: Canada 150 Women: Leaders, Champions and Luminaries * 2014: Toronto Life's 50 Most Influential * 2014: Appointed as senior fellow, Massey College, University of Toronto * 2013: Awarded Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for significant contributions to * Canada * 2013: Awarded Digital Media Pioneer, Grand National Centre of Excellence * 2012: Awarded Order of Ontario * 2009: Nominated and inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Art * 2003: CodeZebra – Winner of Canadian Digital Innovation Award * 2002: Educator of the Year – Canadian New Media Awards * 1995: Bell Canada Award in Video Art 1995 * 1990: Dean's Medal and gold medal for outstanding achievement in History, History Department, Simon Fraser University * 1990: The Stephen McIntyre Book Prize, Simon Fraser University

Author's publications

* * *Diamond, Sara (2005). ''Participation, Flow, and the Redistribution of Authorship: The Challenges of collaborative Exchange and New Media Curatorial Practice.'' ''Museums and the Web 2005: Proceedings'', Mar. 31 Spring, 2005. * *Diamond, Sara; Kibbins, Gary (1998). ''Total recall: History, memory & new documentary''. Vancouver: Satellite Video Exchange Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Sara Living people 1954 births American emigrants to Canada University of California, Los Angeles faculty Canadian university and college chief executives Canadian video artists Canadian women video artists Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Members of the Order of Ontario Academic staff of OCAD University Canadian academic administrators Women heads of universities and colleges Members of the Order of Canada Alumni of the University of the Arts London OCAD University administrators