Dr. Fatima Pirbhai-Illich has been named a 2015 Regina YWCA Woman of Distinction award winner for education and mentorship. She has been recognized for her international expertise in literacy development, her collaborations with educators at alternative schools and the school division to help students develop their literacy abilities. She also volunteers with Aboriginal children and teens, ethnic and linguistic minority students, newcomers to Canada, and the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Fatima Pirbhai-Illich is currently Associate Professor of language and literacy education at the in the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. Her community-based interest and research focus on anti-oppressive literacy education including critical multicultural literacy education for minortised and marginalized youth. She is currently the President of the International Chapter for the National Association for Multicultural Education (ICNAME); and both the Co-Chair for the Scholar Activist Award and fiscal Co-Chair of the Critical Educators of Social Justice (CESJ) Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Education Research Association (AERA). Fatima has also been appointed as a member of the International Committee for the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA).