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The Faculty of Education community mourns the passing of Dr. Dip Kapoor, Professor in the Social Justice and International Studies in Education specialization, on August 26, 2025. His loss leaves an irreplaceable void in our academic community and beyond.

Dr. Kapoor’s extraordinary integrity, moral clarity, and unwavering commitment to justice shaped both his scholarship and his relationships. He was a deeply caring mentor, a respected colleague, and a devoted advocate for students and communities.

After completing his BCom undergraduate degree (1987) and an MBA (1989) at the ¶®É«µÛ, Dr. Kapoor pursued an MEd and PhD in our very own Educational Policy Studies Department. Finishing his doctorate in 1995 with a focus on Political-Sociology of Education and Development (South Asia), he then spent seven years as an adjunct associate professor and instructor in the Faculty of Education. He served in an assistant professor position in the Faculty of Education at McGill University from 2003-2006. From there, he would find his way back to Edmonton, joining as an assistant professor in the Theoretical, Cultural, and International Studies in Education specialization. He would spend the rest of his career here, moving to the rank of full professor in 2013. Throughout his time as a professor in the Faculty of Education, Dr. Kapoor always sought to maintain and strengthen the presence of Social Foundations of Education in undergraduate and graduate programs. He was also invariably a supportive mentor for students as well as junior and new faculty he encountered.

Dr. Kapoor’s academic work spanned a remarkable range of critical areas. He was a key voice in international development education, anti-colonial education and the political sociology of education. His research illuminated the intersections of colonialism, dispossession and resistance, focusing particularly on Indigenous, peasant and migrant communities in India and Canada. Drawing on long-standing partnerships with grassroots movements, he brought global struggles and participatory research into dialogue with academic learning and policy debates.

His edited volumes such as Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession (2017), Research, Political Engagement & Dispossession (2019), and the most recent Contesting Colonial Capitalism in the Americas, Africa and Asia (2025) stand as enduring landmarks in critical, anticolonial education scholarship. Over his career, he edited or co-edited 13 book volumes and special journal issues and authored or co-authored 32 book chapters and 34 journal articles, foregrounding collaboration with colleagues, students and social movements on many of these publications.

Beyond his scholarship, Dr. Kapoor was deeply engaged in social action. As a voluntary research associate and board member of the Center for Research and Development Solidarity (CRDS) in Odisha, India — a grassroots organization supporting Adivasi, Dalit, peasant and forest-dwelling communities — he demonstrated a rare commitment to research rooted in solidarity, agency and justice. Above all, Dr. Kapoor was beloved by his students for his generosity, approachability and dedication. He guided numerous graduate students and colleagues with thoughtfulness, compassion and unwavering encouragement.

Dr. Kapoor’s passing is not only a devastating loss for our Faculty and University but also for the countless communities whose struggles he amplified. His intellectual brilliance was always matched by deep humility, kindness and fierce commitment to equity and justice.

In lieu of flowers, Dr. Kapoor’s family would appreciate donations in his memory to any of the following organizations: