“My belief in equity wasn’t something I could shut off or hide”: Professor Anne Sullivan on leaving Georgia Tech for York University

Who: Anne Sullivan, 50, assistant professor of computational arts, York University Known for: Using gaming to encourage civic engagement in young people Moved from: Georgia Institute of Technology in December of 2024

When Trump was first elected, in 2016, I didn’t think it would affect me professionally. I was very wrong. States were emboldened to take steps they hadn’t before, a trend that continued even during the Biden administration. In 2021, I was working as an assistant professor in digital media at Georgia Tech, in Atlanta. The Board of Regents, a government-appointed body that oversees public universities in ­Georgia, made a change to the protections around a professor’s tenure: we could now be dismissed or have our tenure revoked without the peer-review process. That made me uneasy, because tenure is what gives professors security of employment so they can do their research even when it’s not politically favourable. Related: Trump’s Loss, Toronto’s Gain—Meet the artists, professors, scientists and other luminaries ditching the US and moving north

The following year, one of the Georgia representatives in Congress had all of the public universities in the state give them the names of employees who had been affected by DEI measures, worked on a DEI committee, done research in DEI or taught DEI. Since Trump’s first term, I’ve been integrating more and more anti-racist pedagogy into my classes. For example, I’ve researched storytelling in underrepresented groups in gaming, worked on a project researching queer crafters in Atlanta, and written papers about queerness in games and the democratization of game design.

It eventually became clear that funding for my work could be reduced or even eliminated, but at the same time, I didn’t want to leave Georgia Tech. It’s one of the top schools in my field, and I loved my colleagues. Then I got sick. In 2023, my intestines twisted in on themselves, and I needed emergency surgery. My recovery took six months, and I was forced to continue working throughout that time if I wanted to be paid my full salary. That, coupled with the uncertainty of funding and tenure—along with the fact that it looked like Trump was probably going to win again—made staying in the US untenable. My belief in equity wasn’t something I could easily shut off or hide.

Serendipitously, that’s when a recruiter working with York University emailed me. They were looking for a new assistant professor to join the school of the arts, media, performance and design—specifically, someone focused on social justice and DEI research in interactive storytelling, such as games. It felt like that job description was written for me. I applied for the position, and I got it. When Kamala Harris lost, I remember thinking how incredibly lucky I was to have a job waiting for me in Canada.

I did make some concessions moving to Toronto. I gave up tenure, my salary has dropped and I teach more than twice the number of students I did at Georgia Tech. But, because I don’t need a car here, my cost of living is lower, and there’s a better work-life balance. I feel more relaxed, and I have more energy to give to my students. Also, I’m excited about the research I’m doing. I have an upcoming project where I’ll be looking at civic engagement in younger populations and how we can apply some of the design aspects in gaming to encourage youth to become more involved in political discourse, voting and volunteer work.

Gaming attracts consumers of different ages, genders, ethnicities and backgrounds, but the industry itself is typically dominated by creators who are white and male. Our department’s faculty at York is diverse, and one of my goals is to encourage more women and people from underrepresented backgrounds to study gaming and work in the field. Toronto should be a hub for gaming talent of all kinds—it’s one of the most multicultural places in the world, and there’s a very active indie game development community here. So we’re uniquely well situated to become a global leader by leveraging the strengths the city already has. Increasingly, gaming is one of the key ways in which people all over the world interact with one another, so it’s important that everybody is represented and feels welcome.