Biography

Don Dippo is a University Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University.  His interests include: the social and political organization of knowledge; refugee and forced migration studies; environmental and sustainability education; university/community relations; and teacher education.  From 2010 to 2023 he served as co-director of the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) project (http://www.bher.org ), an initiative designed to bring post-secondary education opportunities to people living in the Dadaab refugee camps in northeasern Kenya.  Professor Dippo was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2024. 

Faculty & School/Dept

• Faculty of Education - Bachelor of Education - Graduate Studies

Selected Publications

• Don Dippo (2021). Learning with and from People Living in Displacement: The Promise of Borderless Higher Education. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, S. Neil-Muller & R. Happ (Eds.) (Eds.), Digital Approaches to Promoting Integration in Higher Education; Opening Universities to Refugees. Springer briefs in Education
• Josephine Gitome & Don Dippo (2021). The Challenges of Reciprocity and Relative Autonomy in North/South Partnerships. In Wenona Giles & Lorrie Miller (Eds.) (Eds.), Borderless Higher Education for Refugees: Lessons from the Dadaab Refugee Camps. London: Bloomsbury Academic
• Wenona Giles & Don Dippo (2019). Transitions from Knowledge Networked to Knowledge Engaged: Ethical Tensions and Dilemmas from the Global to the Local. In Susan McGrath & Julie Young (Eds.) (Eds.), Mobilizing Global Knowledge: Refugee Research in an Age of Displacement. University of Calgary Press

Selected Presentations

• D. Dippo, W. Giles, I. Issack, A. Bishar (2021, March). Emerging BHER Scholars: Establishing a Refugee Research Agenda in Dadaab. Presented at: Refugee Research Network Webinar Series
• Don Dippo (2019, December). Learning With and From People Living in Displacement: The Promise of Borderless Higher Education. Presented at: The Humboldt Graduate School, Berlin, Germany

Research Projects

Borderless Higher Education for Refugees

Awards

• University Professorship, York University - 2011
• Minister's Award of Excellence, Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities - 2022
• Order of Canada, Governor General of Canada - 2024

York University Affiliations/Cross Appointments

• Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS)
• Graduate Program in Development Studies, York University
• Graduate Program in Environmental Studies, York University