Biography

Rita Deverell is a producer, playwright, host, and performer, journalist, and scholar. She is the current occupant of Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount St. Vincent University. She was the first woman to lead a journalism program in Canada in her position as Director of the School of Journalism at the University of Regina in the 1980s.

In 1988, she responded to the need for more diverse television by co-founding Vision TV, a multi-faith and multicultural broadcaster. She helped to build the channel because of the hurdles and obstacles she and some of her colleagues faced in the broadcasting industry. She was also head of News and Current Affairs at Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and is the founding Chair of the Advisory Board of Canadian Multicultural Radio. Dr. Deverell is also an adjudicator-at-large for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council and a board member of the Media Awareness Network.

Dr. Deverell has also been recognized for her work by the Maclean’s Honour Roll of Outstanding Canadians and was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She was awarded the prestigious Order of Canada in 2005. She is also the recipient of the Canadian Black Achievement Award and Media Watch’s Dodi Robb Award. Dr. Deverell was recently honoured with the BWCEN Leadership Award, by the Black Women’s Civic Engagement Network.