Raquel A. Russell

Experts explore ‘power of place’ at Higher Education World Academic Summit co-hosted by �鶹ֱ��app

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 18:03:03 +0000

Experts explore ‘power of place’ at Higher Education World Academic Summit co-hosted by �鶹ֱ��app

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 09/10/2021 - 14:03

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Clockwise from top left: �鶹ֱ��app's Meric Gertler, Susan McCahan, Susan Hill, Joseph Wong, Karen Chapple, Richard Florida, Simon Pratt, Dan Breznitz, David Estok and Geoffrey Hinton.

Topic

School of Cities

Alumni

Artificial Intelligence

Centre for Indigenous Studies

Faculty of Arts & Science

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Rotman School of Management

Times Higher Education

How are universities shaped by their surrounding regions, and how do they contribute to the economies and societies of their host cities? How has the COVID-19 pandemic transformed our use of physical and digital spaces? How do global networks complement local success?

These were some of the questions explored at the 2021 World Academic Summit hosted by Times Higher Education in partnership with the University of Toronto. Held Sept. 1-3, the virtual summit saw university presidents, researchers, lawmakers and industry leaders from across the world participate in an array of keynotes and panel discussions under the summit’s overarching theme: “How powerful is place?”

The conference – which drew roughly 700 participants, including nearly 100 university presidents, vice-chancellors and rectors – also explored several sub-themes, including the role of post-secondary institutions in advancing reconciliation with Indigenous communities and why the humanities and social sciences are needed to guide the development of new technologies.

President Meric Gertler said �鶹ֱ��app was honoured to host the 2021 World Academic Summit, noting that the university and its partners at Times Higher Education had planned and prepared for the event for more than two years.

“There is no other event on the annual calendar that gathers together a broader or more impressive array of academic and industry leaders from around the world to discuss shared concerns and themes that span our sector,” President Gertler said.

“After more than two years in the making, our theme for the summit has only grown in importance and timeliness – ‘How powerful is place?’ The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged many of our long-held beliefs about the nature of place and the importance of physical proximity. It has also highlighted some difficult questions for higher education.”

The conference also featured release of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022, which saw �鶹ֱ��app ranked first in Canada and 18th in the world for the third straight year. Among North American public universities, �鶹ֱ��app was the second highest-ranked school.

In remarks to kick off the summit, Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city and its institutions of higher education have long enjoyed a “strong and collaborative” relationship.

“A strong university – or better yet, a strong university system – helps build a strong urban region and vice-versa, and a strong country for that matter as well,” Tory said. “These excellent institutions, plus an inclusive and enviable quality of life, see our city ranked among the most liveable in the world.

“Make no mistake, the universities and the education system – its accessibility, its excellence – contribute to that.”

Tory added that the pandemic had produced powerful innovation and dialogue, and that he’s “delighted that Toronto and the University of Toronto are hosting the World Academic Summit to explore some very important questions and topics.”

Addressing inequality and geographic division

President Meric Gertler said improving access to education is key to tackling challenges such as poverty, exclusion and disenfranchisement, which have been magnified by COVID-19.

The summit’s first panel discussion saw President Gertler join counterparts from Johns Hopkins University, the University of Oxford and the University of Cape Town to discuss how world-leading universities can address inequalities and ensure they don’t contribute to the perpetuation of social divisions.

President Gertler said that improving access to education is crucial to tackle challenges such as poverty, exclusion and disenfranchisement, which he noted have only been magnified by the pandemic.

“Higher education is a vitally important driver of social mobility and prosperity. It’s one of the primary mechanisms by which those who come from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds become full participants in our society,” he said, calling education “the great leveller.”

A professor of urban geography whose research explores city-regions as sites of global innovation, President Gertler challenged the notion that universities’ global aspirations are in constant tension with their local responsibilities.

“I would argue that our international impact depends directly on the liveability and quality of life in our host cities, and also that our international impact can be advanced in really important ways by serving our local communities,” he said.

“The more that universities do to improve social inclusion and quality of life – broadly defined for their local community – the more they’re actually doing to enhance their own success in attracting and retaining the talent that drives that global impact, standing and acclaim.”

That includes working to boost access to education, which is crucial to tackling the rise of anti-science and anti-truth sentiments, President Gertler said.

“In those communities where participation in higher education … is lowest, that’s where we see the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaccine sentiment and suspicion about science.”

Innovation, equity and attracting the best in the world

Dan Breznitz, chair of innovation studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, said universities have a key role to play when it comes to fostering an innovative mindset among students.

Issues of equity were also addressed in the conference’s opening keynote, in the context of the innovation economy.

University Professor Dan Breznitz, chair of innovation studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, discussed innovation policy and how it can be used to create a more equitable and sustainable economy.

He said the oft-admired Silicon Valley model of innovation – one driven by venture capital and tech startups – is difficult to replicate and creates high levels of income inequality. A better approach for most jurisdictions, he said, is to find and fill a niche stage of innovation that promises to bring wider economic benefits to the surrounding region.

Universities, meanwhile, should remain focused on teaching and research – but take note of what’s happening in their city and region, Breznitz said. That allows them to engage locally by reminding government policy-makers about the value of different innovation models.

Also key, according to Breznitz: Teach students to have an innovative mindset so they have the tools to create strong businesses and local jobs.

Richard Florida, University Professor at �鶹ֱ��app’s Rotman School of Management, said “it’s hard to imagine your region being a centre for science, technology and innovation” without a great university.

The role of universities in creating dynamic regions was also discussed by a panel that looked at how post-secondary institutions can attract and retain talent.

Panel member Richard Florida, University Professor at �鶹ֱ��app’s Rotman School of Management, said that leading, research-intensive universities are necessary to attract the brightest minds from around the globe.

“Universities are catalytic hubs of the knowledge economy,” said Florida, who has been studying the question for nearly four decades, making it a central theme of his influential book Rise of the Creative Class.

“Without a great university – or great universities – it’s hard to imagine your region being a centre for science, technology and innovation.”

Another benefit: Universities tend to create an environment of open-mindedness and tolerance, which is also a big draw for talent globally.

Florida, who was joined by panelist Stephen Cairns, co-director of the Future Cities Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, noted the concentration of great universities, innovation and start-ups is incredibly uneven.

For example, he said six metropolitan areas around the world account for 50 per cent of all venture capital startups. Therefore, any discussion of addressing economic inequality or class-based inequality needs to consider such geographic inequalities, he said.

Universities in the community

Clockwise from top left: Karen Chapple, Rufus Black, Denise Pires de Carvalho, Subhasis Chaudhari and Dame Nancy Rothwell participate in a panel discussion that brought together university leaders from the Global North and South.

The summit’s third panel, moderated by Karen Chapple, director of �鶹ֱ��app’s School of Cities, presented education leaders from the Global North and South the question: What kind of universities do we need?

The panel included Dame Nancy Rothwell, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester; Subhasis Chaudhari, director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay; Denise Pires de Carvalho, rector, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; and Rufus Black, president and vice-chancellor, University of Tasmania in Australia.

Reflecting on lessons learned since the start of the pandemic, the four experts discussed change management, learning about students – particularly those who are digitally excluded – and, most recently, working with communities on vaccination efforts.

“There’s this recognition that we’re all in this together,” Chapple said during the event. “We’re all excited to see how we leverage that new creative action to lift up people not just in the university but the communities that around us.”

The sentiment was echoed by Pires de Carvalho: “The society nowadays knows the importance of our institutions for the country – [and] not only because we are well known by our ability to [develop] doctors, engineers or lawyers.”

Rothwell, similarly, said she hopes to see universities and their communities come together around important issues such as climate change – just as they did in combatting COVID-19.

“If we can deploy the same spirt of collaboration and bringing together experts from different fields that we did over vaccination – if we can deploy that sort of approach to net zero and climate change – I think we’ve got a real chance of tackling what is an even bigger issue than COVID,” Rothwell said.

The legacy of place

Associate Professor Susan Hill, director of �鶹ֱ��app’s Centre for Indigenous Studies, said reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples is a process, not a destination, and that universities have a key role to play.

Yet, even as universities seek to forge a better future, critical questions remain about how they can help society make amends for the past – particularly the legacy of colonialism, slavery and mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples.

These and other questions were addressed in a pair of panel discussions.

The first, titled “What universities owe the descendants of slavery,” explored the ways in which Western universities benefited from slavery and helped to legitimize the practice, according to an article in Times Higher Education.

“It was the university sector more than any other that strengthened the ideological and public base of slavery,” Sir Hilary Beckles, vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, was quoted by Times Higher Education as saying during the discussion.

While universities have taken steps to acknowledge their ties to slavery, Beckles – who was jointed on the panel by Anton Muscatelli, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow and Daina Ramey Berry, professor and chair of the history department at the University of Texas at Austin – said they also need to be ethical leaders on the matter and listen to outside voices “on their true level of accountability.”

A second discussion – a keynote titled “The legacy of place: How to take transformative action” –focused on Indigenous Peoples and featured Associate Professor Susan Hill, director of �鶹ֱ��app’s Centre for Indigenous Studies, and Professor Shaun Ewen, pro vice-chancellor (Indigenous), at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Hill said it’s crucial to view reconciliation as a process rather than an end.

“I think reconciliation has been framed in the Canadian context as a starting place for conversation,” she said. “Far too often, people assume that it’s a destination. But, in reality, I think we’re always going to be in some aspect of movement within that – and I think that’s fine. It’s about relationship.”

Asked how universities should respond to the discovery of unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools in Canada, Hill said universities have a responsibility to help ensure such atrocities never take place again by making sure all community members are educated about the past.

“This isn’t actually news to people who have been listening … it’s unfortunate that it took this information about unmarked graves to get people’s attention, but I’m glad that so many people are now listening,” she said. “It’s really on the shoulders of universities to make sure their students, faculty and staff are not unaware – so, thinking about how we have a campaign of information mobilization that also helps to empower people … and also equipping people with the tools so that they can do something about it.”

Ewen, meanwhile, noted similarities between best practices to advance reconciliation in Canada and Australia, as evidenced by the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and Australia’s 1997 Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families (also known as the “Bringing Them �鶹ֱ��app” report). But he also warned each countries’ unique context will determine how reconciliation unfolds.

“I don’t think Australia is the same as Canada, and I don’t think the University of Melbourne is the same as the University of Toronto,” he said. “We have our similarities, of course, but our understanding of our histories and our responses will be locally informed and nuanced in a place-based way.”

While both panelists agreed that universities have a long way to go to advance reconciliation, they identified areas where universities have made progress.

“What I’m really excited to see is that more institutions are starting to listen to the Indigenous communities that they’re trying to partner with,” Hill said. “They’re taking more of a sitting-back approach and giving space for Indigenous communities to lead relationships and partners.

“In many cases, the communities know what needs to be done, they just don’t always have the resources to make it happen. That’s where universities have something to offer.”

Why technology needs the humanities (and universities)

Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton said the humanities and social sciences are needed to guide technological developments – which is why universities are essential to the development of artificial intelligence.

The summit’s first day ended with a one-on-one interview with �鶹ֱ��app Distinguished Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, an AI luminary and pioneer of deep learning.

Hinton, who works at Google, revisited a career trajectory that took him from the United Kingdom to the United States – and, ultimately, Canada and Toronto. He discussed how each of those places influenced the field of AI, noting Toronto is now a leader in the field of deep learning – a technology that many believe is poised to revolutionize everything from medicine to transportation. He also hailed the creation of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a partnership between �鶹ֱ��app, government and industry where he is chief scientific adviser.

Hinton also highlighted the importance of the social sciences and humanities in ensuring that technologies such as AI are harnessed in ethical and socially conscious ways – a focus of the recently created Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, which will be located at �鶹ֱ��app’s new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

“Technology allows us to create lots of goodies, but how those goodies get distributed and used depends on things that aren’t technology – it depends on social decisions about how we should divide things up, and those are really important,” Hinton said.

Universities, he added, “are going to be essential for ethical research on AI.”

Remote learning and teaching

Universities must be “technologically excellent,” but make sure to use that technology in a way that supports an in-person experience for students, said Professor Susan McCahan, �鶹ֱ��app’s vice-provost, innovations in undergraduate education.

The pandemic has underscored, many times over, the importance of technology in the education sector – and several of Thursday’s sessions explored how COVID-19 restrictions have affected teaching, learning, research and collaboration.

One of the panels saw the Times Higher Education consultancy team present insights from the THE Student Pulse, which surveyed more than 2,000 students around the world about their views on online and in-person learning experiences. The results were consistent with what �鶹ֱ��app learned from its students since March 2020, according to Professor Susan McCahan, �鶹ֱ��app’s vice-provost, innovations in undergraduate education.

“As we went through the pandemic, we observed that students were very hungry for in-person experiences and particularly for opportunities to connect with peers,” said McCahan, who was joined by Christine Ofulue, associate professor of linguistics at the National Open University of Nigeria, Jose Escamilla, director of educational innovation at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and Betty Vandenbosch, chief content officer at Coursera.

“Building that social interaction into online classes became critical.”

McCahan added the findings support the idea that students are looking for a university that is not only technologically excellent, but uses educational technology in a way that supports in-person learning effectively.

“They’re looking for that high-tech part of education technology – but only as a piece of supporting the in-person experience, particularly the connection between students and other people, their peers, their mentors, professors, our staff and the place that they are located in,” McCahan said.

Collaboration and Communication during COVID-19

Clockwise from top left: Joseph Wong, Philip Cotton, Gül İnanç, Tassew Woldehanna and Annalise Riles participate in a panel on global collaboration.

Yet another panel saw Joseph Wong, �鶹ֱ��app’s vice-president, international, moderate a discussion about global academic, educational and research collaboration during the pandemic.

He emphasized that COVID-19 occurred at a time when deep structural inequalities of society are being brought to the surface in very public ways. This means universities must do more to create opportunities for greater inclusion when it comes to collaboration, he said.

Annelise Riles, associate provost for global affairs at Northwestern University, expressed optimism about how the current climate might allow voices that were traditionally marginalized to finally be heard.

“The world is on the verge of a global reset and the traditional paradigms that we take for granted no longer hold,” Riles said. “The opportunity here is to create a new conversation globally.”

Tassew Woldehanna, president of Addis Ababa University, said it’s been challenging for African universities to maintain collaborations with universities in the West. He said the number of student exchanges, which African universities value particularly highly, have dropped significantly. Yet, despite the challenges, Woldehanna said his university was able to forge new connections with fellow African universities, as well as some universities globally, to work on COVID-related projects such as developing sanitizers, medicines and ventilators.

�鶹ֱ��app created a program in 2003 that now sends dozens of its teaching staff every year to provide medical and academic training at Addis Ababa University – an initiative that has helped produce more than 250 medical professionals in Ethiopia, who, in turn, have helped staff local universities, according to a recent article in Times Higher Education magazine.

Wong emphasized the important contributions Western institutions can make overseas during the panel discussion. “That means building partnerships with diverse institutions, with institutions that don’t look like ours, that bring to the table different kinds of resources,” Times Higher Education quoted him as saying.

The pandemic has also had a significant impact on the ways in which universities communicate with their students, faculty, staff and external audiences such as government and the news media.

The pandemic revealed gaps in university communications, but also led to important innovations, said David Estok, �鶹ֱ��app’s vice-president, communications.

David Estok, �鶹ֱ��app’s vice-president, communications, outlined some of the ways in which the pandemic affected �鶹ֱ��app’s approach to communication in a panel discussion with Johanna Lowe, director of marketing and communications at the University of Sydney, and Jane Chafer, director of marketing, recruitment, communications and global at the University of Exeter.

Estok reflected on how �鶹ֱ��app communicators responded to an unprecedented scenario in which 6,000 courses were moved online over the course of a weekend as the university and wider society scrambled to adapt to the onset of the pandemic.

“Hundreds of decisions needed to be made in the ever-changing context of public health regulations, and needed to be communicated simply, accurately and quickly,” Estok said.

He added that �鶹ֱ��app communicators did a remarkable job, under challenging circumstances, to respond to what he dubbed the “COVID curveball.”

“Just when you think you’re going down a certain path and you’ve done all this work, planning and communications, there’s a new announcement or new development,” he said. “One of the lessons is the importance of flexibility – the ability to say, ‘Here’s another day, here’s another challenge,’ and respond as quickly as you can.”

In the case of �鶹ֱ��app, Estok said its COVID-19 communications underscored three broad themes: how �鶹ֱ��app scientists and scholars were contributing to pandemic research; how �鶹ֱ��app was mobilizing university resources to help the community and the country fight COVID-19; and the resilience and caring shown by the university community amid the crisis.

He said COVID-19 also revealed gaps in university communications, especially in the area of internal communications because most resources are externally focused. He added that the pandemic also accelerated innovation in �鶹ֱ��app’s university communications, including the creation of highly successful podcasts and increased use of videos to highlight the knowledge of university researchers and experts.

‘The epitome of power of place’

Simon Pratt, director of research strategy and excellence at �鶹ֱ��app, answered questions about the progress of universities’ impact in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The third and final day of the summit featured a Festival of Data, which comprised an array of discussions that explored opportunities to use data and analytics in higher education. Among the programs was a session that saw members of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings Advisory Board – including Simon Pratt, director of research strategy and excellence at �鶹ֱ��app – field questions from attendees about the progress of universities’ impact in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In his closing remarks to end the summit, Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at Times Higher Education, cited data from conference partner Elsevier that showed the extent to which �鶹ֱ��app drives research, innovation and reputation for the city of Toronto, calling it “the epitome of power of place.”

Baty also referenced a remark from School of Cities Director Chapple’s panel – “We deal in transformation, and we deal in kindness” – and said it exemplified what contemporary universities should strive to be.

“So much of the conversations have been around how we need to re-engage with disenfranchised communities, how we need to connect with people who have been victims of widening inequality [and] how we need to look at really powerful reconciliation with Indigenous people,” Baty said.

“Universities are kind in so many ways – in terms of making the world a better place, in terms of transforming people’s life chances, and in terms of empowering their communities and cities. And I think that’s a really exciting and special raison d’être for universities worldwide.”

President Gertler closed out the conference by hailing “a truly wonderful couple of days of insight and conversation” that covered themes from innovation, creativity and collaboration to reconciliation and sustainability.

He said the diversity of perspectives represented in the various panels was a key element in the summit’s success.

“Only by creating the biggest tent, learning from the broadest range of perspectives, can we hope to meet the challenges facing us all.”

Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon' at �鶹ֱ��app helps fill online gaps in Canada's Black history

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 21:37:33 +0000

Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon' at �鶹ֱ��app helps fill online gaps in Canada's Black history

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 02/11/2020 - 16:37

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With the help of librarians, the Black History Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough invited participants to add and improve Wikipedia pages about Black history in Canada (photo by Raquel A. Russell)

Topic

There are significant gaps on Wikipedia when it comes to information about Black history in Canada – a problem since the collaborative online encyclopedia is a familiar entry point for many Canadians doing research on a topic.

It’s an issue that a group of University of Toronto information professionals hoped to address by co-hosting the university’s first Black History Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon earlier this month.

“In my own undergraduate education background, I realized that so much of my immediate knowledge of Black history was informed by an American context,” says Alex Jung, an open technology specialist with �鶹ֱ��app and a former Wikipedian-in-Residence at �鶹ֱ��app Libraries.

“For somebody that’s pretty new to Canada, or more specifically Toronto, the different nuances here – the very evident Afro-Caribbean communities, the African-diaspora communities – there’s a lot to learn, and there have been so few opportunities to focus on them.”

Recently held at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough Library, the Black History Wikipedia Edit-a-thon invited participants to edit and improve Wikipedia articles on Black Canadian history while �鶹ֱ��app information professionals and Toronto Public Library librarian and �鶹ֱ��app alumnus David Sprague provided basic editing training.

“The point of an edit-a-thon is to fill in gaps, and the gaps are often in areas of marginalized or underrepresented groups and histories,” says Whitney Kemble, a history librarian at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough. “We want to supplement and improve their representation and the content, and facilitate more learning about these topics.”

With access to primary and secondary sources from the �鶹ֱ��app Libraries and Toronto Public Library collections, 21 edits were completed and 19 references were steadily added by the end of the evening.

“That's what's great about having edit-a-thons in a library and with librarians,” says Kemble. “We have valid secondary sources. A lot are scholarly, and some are grey literature produced by government organizations or other community organizations.”

One of the new Wikipedia articles to come out of the night was for First Baptist Church, the oldest Black institution in Toronto, formed in 1826 by fugitive slaves. Before the edit-a-thon, the page did not exist.

Participants in the �鶹ֱ��app edit-a-thon added a Wikipedia page for Toronto’s First Baptist Church, which was formed in 1826 by fugitive Black slaves (screenshot via Wikipedia)

Other pending changes include a new page for the Congress of Black Women in Canada, a group that was created by Kathleen Livingstone, a Black social activist, actor and broadcaster. Work also began on a page for The Provincial Freeman, a weekly publication that advocated equality, integration and self-education for Black people in Canada and the United States and was co-founded by , Mary Ann Shadd, the first Black woman newspaper editor in North America.

The Black history edit-a-thon was part of a movement of librarian efforts to improve articles on Wikipedia. Wikipedia campaign #1Lib1Ref annually invites all librarians to “participate in the online encyclopedia project, specifically improving articles by adding citations.”

“There's more of a personal investment for me as well, as I owe a lot to Black history,” says Jung, a popping dancer in his free time. “I’m into funk style dances – Black dances. A shout-out, too, to the ball scene mainly comprised of queer and Black folks. I owe a lot to Black artists and Black culture. I think we all do.”

When it comes to Black Canadian culture and its documentation on Wikipedia, there remains much to be added – from entries on Donald Willard Moore, a Barbadian community leader and civil rights activist who fought to change Canada’s exclusionary immigration laws, to Black Theatre Canada, a Toronto theatre founded by Vera Cudjoe that was dedicated to the development of Afro-Caribbean works and artists.

“As a history librarian, and as someone who has studied a lot of Black history,” says Kemble, “I want there to be more information that reflects all kinds of people, experiences and events in Black history.”

�鶹ֱ��app Scarborough librarian uses research skills to confirm Indigenous roots

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 18:55:39 +0000

�鶹ֱ��app Scarborough librarian uses research skills to confirm Indigenous roots

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 07/11/2018 - 14:55

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A member of the Bonnechere Algonquin First Nation, Sarah Guay is the first librarian at the �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough Library to identify as Indigenous (photo by Ken Jones)

Raquel A. Russell

Topic

City & Culture

Indigenous

Truth and Reconciliation

�鶹ֱ��app Libraries

University of Toronto Scarborough

When it came to discovering more about her family’s Indigenous roots, Sarah Guay, a liaison librarian at the University of Toronto Scarborough, approached the journey with the same passion and determination that she brings to her job.

Earlier this year, Guay registered as a member of the Bonnechere Algonquin First Nation after a lengthy two-year verification process made difficult by lack of documentation – a challenge Guay didn’t allow to hold her back.

After being hired full-time at the �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough Library, she learned that she is the first librarian there to identify as Indigenous.

“It’s very exciting to be the first, but for me this is also still very new,” she says.

“I had always been interested in that missing piece of my heritage and I wanted to learn more,” she adds. “Maybe that’s the librarian in me – I’m curious.”

As an undergraduate student, Guay really enjoyed seeking out and pursuing a research topic. That love for research serves her well as a liaison librarian for psychology and biological sciences. In her role, Guay teaches students about the process of research projects, library tools that support research, and how to think critically about the use of information.

It’s with those skills that Guay started the process of learning more about her family’s Indigenous heritage. Guay’s lineage is traced through her Algonquin grandfather, who died before she was born. His death and a house fire saw most family documentation destroyed.

Still, growing up, and especially in recent years, Guay wanted to know about her grandfather and his culture despite reluctance among some family members – a reluctance she says was due to stigma and lack of awareness.

“I grew up very much from a place of white privilege, with no experiences or insight into the Indigenous piece of my history and culture,” she says.

Cousins helped connect the missing dots as Guay slowly, but surely, put together the pieces needed to register with the Bonnechere Algonquin First Nation – an official recognition of her family lines. Guay says being officially registered makes everything real and brings her closer to knowing more about her grandfather’s side of the family.

“It’s just the first step. I feel like I have a tangible connection and from here I can start gaining more knowledge, building those connections,” she says.

Guay says that even though on paper she’s Indigenous, she’s careful in navigating what that means, especially as someone who just recently began self-identifying as Indigenous.

“I don’t have the knowledge or insights that others who have experienced the hardships and persecution of being Indigenous go through,” she says.

“I’m hoping I discover what it means to be Indigenous as I start to learn about that history and engage in those relationships. I don’t know what that will look like yet, but it’s a journey.”

Guay, who holds a master’s degree in library and information science from Western University, is also a web librarian, meaning she maintains the library’s website through user experience research and observing best practices around writing for the web. It essentially combines Guay’s passion for technology and psychology. “It’s literally the perfect job for me,” she says.

As she continues on her journey, Guay says she looks forward to participating in more Indigenous programming at �鶹ֱ��app, and the �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough Library specifically.

Following the c alls to action by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in 2015, the university’s Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee released a final report that included 34 calls to action. They include more Indigenous spaces, faculty and staff, curriculum, research ethics and community relationships, students and co-curricular education, among others.

�鶹ֱ��app Libraries have embraced these calls to action. In recent months the �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough Library, for example, has partnered with Indigenous communities and initiatives through book showcases, art installations and student collaborative events such as the Indigenous film series.

“There are definitely things happening, and I look forward to seeing how I can learn and be involved,” says Guay.

How �鶹ֱ��app student Yasmin Rajabi combined community activism with a degree in public policy, city studies

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 04:00:00 +0000

How �鶹ֱ��app student Yasmin Rajabi combined community activism with a degree in public policy, city studies

noreen.rasbach Mon, 06/11/2018 - 00:00

Cutline

“I am someone who’s very invested in my community,” says Yasmin Rajabi, a �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough student who graduates on Monday (photo by Ken Jones)

Topic

Yasmin Rajabi's passion for community activism started early – and prompted a desire to learn more about how local government works.

Rajabi, who graduates Monday from the University of Toronto Scarborough with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and city studies, is the founder of a non-profit organization called Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN), which helps young women over the age of 14 build their leadership skills through civic engagement.

“I am someone who’s very invested in my community,” says Rajabi. “I’m a very action-oriented individual with a passion for change that leads me to fight for more equitable and fair environments for all.”

When Rajabi was eight years old, her family fled ethnic and religious persecution in Afghanistan and came to Canada. “We picked Scarborough because we had family here, and I know that’s a lot of the reason why so many immigrant families continue to settle in Scarborough,” she says.

Scarborough became home and Rajabi grew up in the Malvern neighbourhood, surrounded by people who inspired community involvement from an early age.

When she was 13 years old, a close friend invited her to get involved with the YWCA, which works with young women and girls in local communities and schools.

“During the time I was there, they had a lot of programs that focused on civic engagement, and I think that really sparked a passion,” she says.

Follow Yasmin Rajabi on Instagram as she graduates Monday

She learned about the importance of voting in elections, making it a point to take her parents to vote for the first time during the 2014 provincial election.

“The governments, and in turn the policies we vote for, have a large part in determining how we live our everyday lives,” she says.

With her non-profit organization, she continues to work closely with the YWCA. The first group of girls she brought to city council for a Young Women’s Leadership Network event were students from the YWCA Council.

“The students got to chat with a city councillor, sit in the mayor’s seat and the council chambers, and they felt an ownership of City Hall,” says Rajabi.

Over the past six months Rajabi has had the opportunity to get a look at the inner workings of City Hall through the Protégé Program. The mentorship program pairs young women who aspire to be involved in local politics with female city councillors and staff.

Rajabi said in an interview earlier this year that local politics is where work really gets done. “In municipal politics you actually see more immediate change happen, and because it’s local it has a much larger impact on the people around you,” she says.

Linking campus to nature: Work begins on one-of-a-kind, accessible trail at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 22 May 2018 14:13:20 +0000

Linking campus to nature: Work begins on one-of-a-kind, accessible trail at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough

noreen.rasbach Tue, 05/22/2018 - 10:13

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Rendering of how the path will look, with lookouts, lighting and other safety and security features.

Topic

The University of Toronto Scarborough has broken ground on a new path that will wind through trees and improve access to the wilderness and trails of the Highland Creek Valley.

“I’m so pleased that we are going to open a much more accessible, beautiful and enjoyable path to our remarkable Highland Creek Valley and connect the upstairs campus into the wilderness below for faculty, staff and students and members of the public,” said Bruce Kidd, vice-president and principal of �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough, at last week's groundbreaking ceremony.

The new four-season trail will be 500 metres long and will have a slope of no more than a five-per-cent grade – making it more enjoyable for those with mobility issues.

The trail will feature a seven-tier amphitheatre on one end (rendering is at left), and will be elevated in several places, allowing people to feel as though they are right in the treetop canopy.

Elder Wendy Phillips will consult on planting along the path, ensuring that new vegetation will be native to the region and will offer opportunities for foraging.

The Highland Creek Valley provides recreational spaces, campus views, naturalized areas and habitat at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough, as well as serving as the location for important teaching and research. For Kidd, the valley also serves as a place of many happy memories – he attended summer camp there with his younger brother, Ross, in the early 1950s and later trained for marathons on the trails.

The new path will feature resting areas, lookouts, seating, a continuous handrail, as well as lighting and other safety and security features. It has been designed to be universally accessible by meeting the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

“Accessibility has always been built into the DNA of this campus,” said David Onley, the former lieutenant-governor of Ontario who is an alumnus and senior lecturer and distinguished visitor in the department of political science at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough.

Onley said in 1970, he attended the campus, then known as Scarborough College, because of its accessibility.

“Since that time, with each new building, standards have improved – Scarborough has kept pace,” he said. “This is very important because it allows us as an institution to keep pace with the changes of society and, in fact, in Scarborough, �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough is a perfect example of the way the rest of the province and many other institutions should be proceeding in terms of accessibility.”

Onley recalled that when he began teaching at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough in 2015, Kidd was a strong supporter and contributed creative ideas to Onley’s proposal for a course on accessibility and politics of disability.

“It’s tremendously appropriate that this event is being held and that it’s coinciding with Bruce’s departure,” said Onley. “And so, to you Bruce, thank you very, very much for your support and I look forward to taking this scooter down the trail.”

Kidd is retiring at the end of July. At the groundbreaking, Onley, Phillips and �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Arifuzzaman presented Kidd with a framed print on behalf of the community. This Painting is a Mirror, by Indigenous artist Christi Belcourt, is described as reflecting beauty, compassionate acts, generosity and gentleness.

“Bruce, there could not have been a more appropriate piece for us to present to you today,” said Arifuzzaman. “Your generosity of spirit, kindness, compassion and boundless energy is now part of the UTSC fabric.”

Bruce Kidd (left) and David Onley at the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday (photo by Ken Jones)

'A true champion': Fond �鶹ֱ��app farewells for soon-to-retire Bruce Kidd

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 14 May 2018 16:31:24 +0000

'A true champion': Fond �鶹ֱ��app farewells for soon-to-retire Bruce Kidd

noreen.rasbach Mon, 05/14/2018 - 12:31

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"Bruce (Kidd) has been a true champion of our role as a city-building institution," said �鶹ֱ��app President Meric Gertler at Friday's farewell reception for the �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough principal and vice-president (photo by Ken Jones)

Topic

He may be retiring from his role as principal of University of Toronto Scarborough and vice-president of �鶹ֱ��app, but Professor Bruce Kidd isn't giving up public service or his long-time advocacy of equity and diversity.

At a farewell reception Friday, Kidd expressed his gratitude to friends, family and colleagues who gathered to honour his distinguished career.

He used the occasion to speak of the need for inclusive universities that promote critical thinking.

“We say that diversity fuels excellence, but it's not just enough to bring people of difference together,” Kidd said. “We must be intentional about how we eliminate barriers that are systemic and cause disadvantages for members of our community.

“If we do that, and I'm confident we can, UTSC will continue to grow and mature in ways that benefit all of our estates, partners, and surrounding community and continue to contribute in remarkable ways to Canada's best university."

Guests at Friday's reception spoke of Kidd's legacy of advocacy for diversity, equity and healthy living, and noted Kidd’s work in making education more accessible for everyone, especially for the most marginalized.

“Bruce has been a true champion of our role as a city-building institution, and he’s really used his time here to advance the status of the University of Toronto Scarborough as an anchor institution in the Eastern GTA,” said �鶹ֱ��app President Meric Gertler.

“As we were gearing up to celebrate this wonderful campus's 50^th anniversary, Bruce Kidd – a great, Scarborough-bred citizen of the University of Toronto – agreed to help lead this campus forward. I have to say as president, I was deeply deeply grateful, Bruce, when you said yes. Since then, he has built on its distinctive strengths, including its tradition of innovation in education and its commitment to the surrounding community.”

�鶹ֱ��app President Meric Gertler greets Bruce Kidd (photo by Ken Jones)

"Bruce is a stalwart champion of rights and responsibilities, both here at the university and in society at large,” said �鶹ֱ��app Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr.

“His advocacy and commitment are on the one hand very local, but on the other hand touches people across the world as he strives for justice in sport – as a societal and global equalizer."

In honour of Kidd, Regehr announced a �鶹ֱ��app contribution to the Principal’s Scholarship in Arts, Culture and Media – an undergraduate scholarship established in 2016 that is awarded to one or more undergraduate students each year on the basis of financial need.

During the reception, U of T Scarborough Traditional Elder Wendy Phillips presented Kidd with an Eagle feather (pictured left) - a rare, high honour that Phillips explained is given to individuals based on their character and leadership qualities. What an individual has done for their nation and community is considered, as well as “what they have done to preserve this Earth now and for future generations," said Phillips.

The presentation was followed with two honour songs, a marking of the occasion by the Red Hawk Singers – a group of Indigenous singers from Six Nations Grand River and Peterborough.

Kidd, a former Olympian and celebrated Canadian track and field athlete, began his relationship with �鶹ֱ��app on the university’s track team while still in high school back in the late 1950s. Since then, he has served as an academic leader in roles such as the founding dean of �鶹ֱ��app's Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, and the warden of Hart House.

Kidd became �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough’s interim principal in 2014. Integrating into a new and complex community like the Scarborough campus wasn’t expected to be an easy task, said Professor Bill Gough, �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough's vice-principal academic and dean. “However, almost overnight, Bruce embraced UTSC, and UTSC embraced him.”

Gough noted Kidd’s love for Scarborough, his constant exploring of local bicycle trails and the initiation of his now legendary campus walks into the beautiful Highland Creek Valley.

“[He] became our staunchest advocate, and his advocacy came with the gravitas of a deeply respected scholar and �鶹ֱ��app administrator.”

Sitharsana Srithas, a former students' union president at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough, praised Kidd for his work with student leadership.

“There’s this stigma that says students and university administration don't get along, that administration is dismissive – but working with Principal Kidd has proved time and time again that that is not the case.

“Your commitment to equity and inclusion has always been something that inspired me and several other student leaders,” she said.

Kidd will continue as co-chair for an advisory panel that recently created Ontario’s Action Plan on Advancing Opportunities for Women and Girls in Sport. He is also co-chair of the federal-provincial-territorial working group on women and sport – a group created by federal, provincial and territorial governments to examine the challenges facing girls and women.

He is also chair of the selection committee for Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

�鶹ֱ��app Chancellor Michael Wilson concluded the remarks by quoting an interview in which Kidd spoke about his recent work with a new working group on gender equity in sport.

“’Although there’s been tremendous progress regarding equity and inclusion, there’s still much to be done. More needs to be done on engaging the majority of girls and women in Canada who are not involved in sport at all,’” quoted Wilson.

“This is vintage Bruce Kidd,” said Wilson. “True to form he’s not stopping to rest on his laurels – he has another race to run.”

Read the full interview with Bruce Kidd

�鶹ֱ��app's Bruce Kidd named to new working group on gender equity in sports

ullahnor — Thu, 03 May 2018 19:49:38 +0000

�鶹ֱ��app's Bruce Kidd named to new working group on gender equity in sports

ullahnor Thu, 05/03/2018 - 15:49

Cutline

(photo by Ken Jones)

Topic

Former Olympian and University of Scarborough Principal Bruce Kidd has been named to a federal working group to advance gender equity in sports.

Last week, Minister of Science and Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities Kirsty Duncan, announced the 12-member working group to address the lack of equity in sports.

Earlier this year, the federal government earmarked an initial $30 million over three years to support research into initiatives to promote women's and girls' participation in sports, and to support national sports organizations in promoting greater inclusion of women and girls.

The members of the working group will share their experiences and insights on how to achieve equity in sport by 2035, looking at issues like at delivering programming for women and girls, increasing leadership positions for women, and gender-based violence and sexual harassment.

Kidd, a professor and vice-president at �鶹ֱ��app, is a celebrated Canadian track and field athlete who has been involved for years on sport policy and eradicating sexism and racism in sporting communities around the world.

�鶹ֱ��app's Raquel Russell spoke to Kidd about the new working group and why it’s an important step in addressing gender equity in sports.

Why is it necessary to have a working group on gender equity in sport?

Although there’s been tremendous progress regarding equity and inclusion, there’s still much to be done. More needs to be done on engaging the majority of girls and women in Canada who are not involved in sport at all. Work also needs to be done making leadership opportunities more available to women, and totally eliminating gender-based violence.

There also needs to be change in the way the media covers sport to provide more visibility, more appropriate and more inclusive coverage of the outstanding women who are part of Canadian sports teams.

What do you hope to bring to this role?

It’s a great honour that my input continues to be valued – I’ve been involved in this struggle for a very long time. I’m also currently involved in two efforts that will hopefully inform this process. First, at the instigation of Premier [Kathleen] Wynne, the Ontario government created an advisory panel to look at Ontario sport policy with a particular emphasis on including girls and women. The premier got me to co-chair that, and as a result of those efforts, we created the new Ontario’s Action Plan on Advancing Opportunities for Women and Girls in Sport.

Secondly, I’m involved in the federal provincial territorial working group on women and sport, an overarching body created by federal, provincial and territorial governments to examine the challenges facing girls and women, and they appointed me to be co-chair. So along with one or two others in the working group, hopefully I can connect the work that’s been done at a fairly intensive level in the last couple of years to this new initiative.

What do you hope to see accomplished by this working group?

I’m hoping that we can advise Minister Duncan on how to make sure the money is used really well and go to the priorities that the activists in the sports community have already identified. My involvement in this group is an extension of the work that colleagues and I at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough and other parts of �鶹ֱ��app have long done on issues of equity. Sport has always been my great love, and it’s great to have an opportunity to make it better.

Your time as �鶹ֱ��app Vice President and �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough Principal is soon coming to an end. Is this project a hint at the type of work you’ll be doing during retirement?

I’ve been involved in academic leadership, and I’ve been involved in the arts and other activities. I think if there’s one central thread, it’s being involved in various efforts to change and improve Canadian sport.

For the immediate time, I will be involved in the bodies I mentioned earlier as well as being the chair of the selection committee for Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. I’m also still deeply involved in the fight against the sex test in international sport. We won the first round in the case of [Indian sprinter] Dutee Chand, but now the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has initiated a new discriminatory policy targeted against the brilliant South African runner Caster Semenya.

In the last few days, between meetings, I've spent most of my day working on that because that is a battle that still has not been won.

�鶹ֱ��app mentorship program helps Black youth pursue post-secondary education

noreen.rasbach — Wed, 02 May 2018 04:00:00 +0000

�鶹ֱ��app mentorship program helps Black youth pursue post-secondary education

noreen.rasbach Wed, 05/02/2018 - 00:00

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Students in the Imani academic mentorship program work on homework (photo by Joseph Burrell)

Raquel A. Russell

Topic

City & Culture

Diversity

International Students

Student Life

�鶹ֱ��app Scarborough

Undergraduate Students

Since starting at Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute in fall 2017, Grade 9 student Leandra Allen has been researching which university she wants to attend in 2022.

“Even if I have a lot of time before I have to do something, you’ll still see me researching,” says Allen, who emigrated from Jamaica to Canada in 2015 and is interested in studying sociology and physiology.

“I really want to try the sciences because I love experimenting,” she says. "I really enjoy testing things to see how they really work.”

Because of her keen interest in university, one of her high school teachers suggested she check out Imani, an academic mentorship program run by the department of student life at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Now in its 12^th year, the program pairs Black �鶹ֱ��app student mentors with Black youth in the East Scarborough community.

Since 2005, more than 1,000 students between Grades 1 and 12 have taken part in the after-school program. In that same time, more than 500 �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough students have volunteered as mentors, facilitators and co-ordinators. This year alone, 91 students from six local schools have taken part – one of the largest cohorts since the program started – while 47 mentors and 13 student staff and leaders, all from �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough, have volunteered.

Imani is important because it’s a one-of-a-kind program that helps youth in racialized and underserved communities in Scarborough directly, says Dorian Grey, a fourth-year �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough student and volunteer in the program.

“There aren’t many programs that overwhelmingly show Black leaders in a university setting, so having this is important for Black youth in our community,” says Grey.

From October to April, �鶹ֱ��app student leaders meet with mentees once a week. During their meetings, mentees talk about their week in a group format before breaking out into smaller groups for homework sessions. Following the breakout sessions, there are workshops led by �鶹ֱ��app facilitators or guest speakers on topics ranging from options for post-secondary education to professional opportunities.

In recent years, the program has evolved to feature workshops that more pointedly focus on themes such as identity, critical thinking and civic engagement in the context and unique experiences of the Black community.

“We are trying to bring more opportunities to our Black student population here at [�鶹ֱ��app Scarborough] in the way of education and experiences,” says Elvis Ibrahimovic, Student Life’s community engagement co-ordinator.

�鶹ֱ��app Scarborough student volunteers also receive personal development through training opportunities, like a recent workshop held by Amorell Saunders N’Daw, �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough's director of governance, and An Evening with Black Professionals, where 20 professionals talked to students about their careers and handling complex work situations that connect to race.

Allen’s mentor Tele Kapkirwok, a third-year international student from Kenya, joined Imani two years ago. She initially expected to attend the weekly program to help students with homework, but her involvement quickly grew into something much more.

“A big moment for me was when I saw that Imani gets students excited about post-secondary education and they see for themselves that it’s attainable – they can do it and there’s space for them,” she says.

The Imani program continues to nurture community ties by inspiring youth in Scarborough (photo by Joseph Burrell)

Many of the mentors and mentees also relish the energy and passion that are emblematic of the program.

“The energy that you feel when you step into the environment every single Wednesday – you want to be there,” says Donocan Iwelomen, a Grade 12 student at St. John Paul II.

That energy was especially evident when those in the program went to a February screening of Black Panther, and also collaborated on creating a video series about the experiences of Black Canadians with Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre.

The Black Panther experience carried over into this year’s Imani academic mentorship recognition ceremony, the final event that marks the end of the program.

“Imani forever,” said Grey to applause while dressed as the titular character from the movie.

During the ceremony, students received laptops from NavaCup, an organization founded by Ganesh Navaratnarajah and dedicated to raising funds to buy computers for marginalized students. Graduating students in the program also received a small scholarship towards their post-secondary education from Toronto-area businesswoman Damiris Moro.

This year, kente cloth sashes – a traditional cloth from Ghana that is used to mark significant rites of passage – were awarded to Imani mentees and mentors of the year for the first time.

For Allen, this past year will especially stick out because of the many memorable experiences and friendships she made in the program.

“I can’t wait to come back next year,” she says.

Multidisciplinary artist Aisha Sasha John is �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough’s new writer-in-residence

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 16:16:38 +0000

Multidisciplinary artist Aisha Sasha John is �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough’s new writer-in-residence

noreen.rasbach Mon, 01/15/2018 - 11:16

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Aisha Sasha John, �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough’s new writer-in-residence, is a poet, dancer and choreographer (photo by Yuula Benivolski)

Topic

For Aisha Sasha John, this is the second time the University of Toronto Scarborough has been the location for a first.

“My very first gallery show was at UTSC’s Doris McCarthy Gallery, and this is my first academic writer-in-residency, so the fact that they both happened here, completely independently, makes me feel like I have a relationship to this campus,” she says.

John, �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough’s writer-in-residence for winter 2018, is a poet, dancer and choreographer. She has published three collections of poems: The Shining Material, THOU and most recently, I have to live. THOU was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and the ReLit Poetry Award.

Her solo dance performance, the aisha of oz, premièred at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York this past June. Renamed the aisha of is, the show will have its Canadian première in Montreal in April.

John graduated from �鶹ֱ��app with a bachelor's degree in African studies and semiotics, and then received a master's in creative writing from the University of Guelph. She has had her work exhibited at the Doris McCarthy Gallery and Oakville Galleries.

From 2015 to 2017, John choreographed, performed and curated as a member of WIVES, a feminist collective based in Montreal and Toronto. In early 2017 she was commissioned by Art Metropole to do a public art residency at Union Station. John invited four other artists to spend a week with her in Union Station’s west wing where each day they collaborated on a performance in response to the directive John designated as the project’s title: Let’s understand what it means to be here (together).

A self-proclaimed “singing dancer,” John describes her various practices as spaces in which she develops critical faculties – as well as undergoes healing. “In some way – in an important way – my work consists of the knowledge I produce through self-healing.”

John says her work as a poet and performer is inspired by the transformation she sees art produce in herself and others. “I’ll read something or I’ll see a show and afterward think to myself, 'I’m a different person now,’” she says.

The Montreal-born artist says she’s “excited about being part of a university community,” noting �鶹ֱ��app’s notable library collections and the university's emphasis on research. She’s also glad to be in Scarborough for the campus environment, especially being surrounded by nature.

On Jan. 24, John will deliver her first reading in the UTSC Library Makerspace. Back in the Makerspace on Jan. 25, she will facilitate a hand-on writers' workshop. In addition to hosting workshops and visiting classes, John will consult with students on manuscripts-in-progress while also working on a new collection of poems.

John’s office hours will be held Tuesdays from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in HW 324, where she welcomes anyone on campus to drop in and consult with her.

Science minister, Trudeau encourage young girls to pursue STEM studies at �鶹ֱ��app conference

rasbachn — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 17:09:34 +0000

Science minister, Trudeau encourage young girls to pursue STEM studies at �鶹ֱ��app conference

rasbachn Wed, 11/29/2017 - 12:09

Cutline

Science Minister Kirsty Duncan gave the keynote address at Tuesday's annual one-day conference aimed at encouraging girls to study mathematics in high school and pursue STEM studies (photo by Ken Jones)

Topic

Science Minister Kirsty Duncan gave the keynote address at a University of Toronto Scarborough conference Tuesday aimed at encouraging Grade 9 girls to continue studying mathematics in high school so they can pursue STEM-related programs in their post-secondary education.

"We are committed to strengthening science in Canada by improving the representation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines,” Duncan told the conference. “The young women participating in today’s event fill me with hope that the future of science in Canada will be open, diverse and welcoming to the talents and ambitions of all people.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also addressed via a recorded video the group of more than 100 female students gathered at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough as part of the Math in Motion … Girls in Gear! event.

“Everywhere in the world, women are changing the game in math and science, including as mentors who are here today. ... If they can do it, so can you,” he siad.

Two of the organizers and founders of the event are Judy Shanks, an alumna of �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough and a Durham Region high school math teacher, and her former instructor, Sophie Chrysostomou, an associate professor in the department of computer and mathematical sciences at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough. Several volunteers, many of whom are current and past �鶹ֱ��app students, also helped run the event.

“We try to shake the stigma attached to studying math that many young women experience in high school,” said Shanks. “The conference is a way to show girls that you can like math and be successful like the women here.”

Since the program began, almost 1,500 students have participated.

“We continue to organize and invite students to this program because there is still work to be done in changing the stereotyping surrounding scientists being involved in STEM programs,” said Chrysostomou.

Raquel A. Russell

Experts explore ‘power of place’ at Higher Education World Academic Summit co-hosted by �鶹ֱ��app

Addressing inequality and geographic division

Innovation, equity and attracting the best in the world

Universities in the community

The legacy of place

Why technology needs the humanities (and universities)

Remote learning and teaching

Collaboration and Communication during COVID-19

‘The epitome of power of place’

Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon' at �鶹ֱ��app helps fill online gaps in Canada's Black history

�鶹ֱ��app Scarborough librarian uses research skills to confirm Indigenous roots

How �鶹ֱ��app student Yasmin Rajabi combined community activism with a degree in public policy, city studies

Follow Yasmin Rajabi on Instagram as she graduates Monday

Read more about Convocation 2018

Linking campus to nature: Work begins on one-of-a-kind, accessible trail at �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough

'A true champion': Fond �鶹ֱ��app farewells for soon-to-retire Bruce Kidd

Read the full interview with Bruce Kidd

�鶹ֱ��app's Bruce Kidd named to new working group on gender equity in sports

�鶹ֱ��app mentorship program helps Black youth pursue post-secondary education

Multidisciplinary artist Aisha Sasha John is �鶹ֱ��app Scarborough’s new writer-in-residence

Science minister, Trudeau encourage young girls to pursue STEM studies at �鶹ֱ��app conference

Read the full story about the conference