Dalyce Newby: A Humber Polytechnic stalwart

Newby has provided four decades of unwavering support to students

By Shernett Bennett, Humber Archives on
Reading time: 2 min read
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One might ask, who is Dalyce Newby, and why was she regarded as a Humber Polytechnic stalwart? The simple answer to this question is anyone who has given unwavering support to an institution for over four decades is a stalwart.  

Also, she is a Black woman who epitomizes Humber’s Black Heritage Month theme for 2025 which is “Roots & Rhythms: Celebrating Black Culture, Creativity and Community” and is deserving of celebration.  

A black-and-white head-and-shoulders photo of a person.

Dalyce is a seventh-generation Canadian of Afro-American heritage. She grew up next to the Underground Railroad between Chatham and the American border and was aware of the cultural implications of where she lived. She always had a keen interest in Black history in both Canada and the U.S. and has vast knowledge of freedom seekers and the underground railroad. Hence her academic pursuits in social and cultural Anthropology.  

Newby is a historian and published author with her first biography being “Anderson Ruffin Abbott: First Afro-Canadian Doctor,” who volunteered as a surgeon in the American Civil War.

Newby’s journey at Humber began in the early 1980s. Throughout her four decades at the institution, she worked in various roles including:

• Buyer, Accounts Payable, Clerk

• Educational Consultant

• Part-Time Faculty

• Intercultural Centre Coordinator

• International Student Advisor  

• Immigration Consultant

For 32 of her more than 40 years at Humber, Newby’s focus was on supporting international students during their transition to life in Canada. During her early days working with international learners, the international student population at Humber numbered in the hundreds. Newby helped support that growth to reach more than 10,000 international learners.

Recognizing that international students faced many barriers, including culture, language, transportation, and a feeling of loneliness in a foreign country, Newby’s passion for international learners to succeed was at a high. She created a programme dubbed “Humber Friend” in 1994 where she partnered with Cheryl Taylor, who oversaw Peer Tutoring. The program matched international students with Canadian students who helped them to learn how to use public transit system, understand Canadian culture, set up bank accounts, get health cards, improve their English and meet new people. Newby pointed to the excellent knowledge exchange with international students and was quoted as saying “we learn different cultures and they learn the Canadian way of life.”

Newby was not a counsellor but an advisor. Her goal was to meet people in a nonjudgmental open-minded way. She worked the 'multicultural beat' handling programs of interest to different groups in conjunction with the Student Association Council (SAC) at the time. She organized many workshops catering to international students or new residents on issues such as study skills, cultural shock and immigration status.  

A group of six people stand together.

She kept the students calm, especially when they were in distress or frustrated. In a 1997 article entitled Humber’s Intercultural Centre welcomes students from abroad, the reporter said “Newby had a calming effect on the Jordanian student who appeared to be frustrated at the thought of having to renew his passport” that was expired.

It is no wonder Newby is a recognized leader amongst her colleagues both at Humber and across the country. A display on Dalyce Newby has been mounted in the library on the fourth floor of the LRC building at North Campus. The display can be viewed until the end of April 2025.