Sheridan welcomes Mark Jones as new Dean of the Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design

Sheridan is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Jones to the position of Dean of the Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design (FAAD), effective Aug. 28, 2023. 

Jones comes to Sheridan with over two decades of experience in the postsecondary sector. Most recently, he served as the Chair of the School of Creative Arts and Animation at Seneca Polytechnic for over 10 years. In that role, he established the college’s Film Institute as founding Director, focusing on industry partnerships and responsive, cross-disciplinary programming in the screen-based arts. While there he helped grow enrolment, strengthen industry partnerships and support high student satisfaction.    

Jones remains active as an executive producer/producer and exhibiting artist with installations at venues such as Nuit Blanche and the National Gallery of Canada. Further, Jones has fueled his impact with extensive participation in the arts community serving on boards and committees from the Canada Council for the Arts, to founding board member of the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International and by participating in a Toronto mayoral trade mission to India.   

“Mark’s scholarship, creative practice and leadership have been consistently inflected by concerns for access, equity and social justice,” says Carol Altilia, Provost and Vice President, Academic at Sheridan. “He brings a demonstrated focus on inclusion with the extension of his own reflective learning at Northwestern University preparing him well to advance the ground-breaking work underway in FAAD. His reputation as an empathetic, collaborative leader precedes him, and I am thrilled to have his skills at Sheridan.” 

Jones’ creative grounding began in theatre, specializing in performance technology with a BA (Hon) from York University. He completed his graduate work at Toronto Metropolitan University in Communications and Culture.