A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

The theme of this year’s magazine is “reimagining”; the idea seemed apt, as COVID-19 has forced us to rethink the basis of everything we do at Innis, from orientation to classroom teaching to alumni events.

As a (small-scale) example, we even had to reconceive the layout of these two pages—given current physicaldistancing rules, we couldn’t take a photo of me with students. Instead, we chose to highlight three inspiring young Innisians.

One, Francisca Wiafe-Amoako, graduated last June, and is one of the inaugural recipients of the Lesra Martin Student Changemaker Award (p. 45).

Another, Didier Ha, now in his fourth year, leads the Innis College Ambassadors, a group of students dedicated to promoting the benefits of the College’s proposed Renewal and Expansion project. Didier is also the author of a story tying into the centenary of insulin’s discovery (p. 34).

Finally, former student Dianthi Fernando is now Innis’s student life coordinator, a new position in which she is reimagining how to deliver effective student-life programming in a largely virtual environment.

Should you walk by the College, you can see Francisca, Didier, and Dianthi, larger than life, on one of the two new banners at the southeast corner of the building (and in the photo on the facing page), reminding us that “We’re Innis Together” (p. 22).

Elsewhere in the magazine, the capacity of alumni and students to reimagine our world manifests itself in diverse ways:

Alumni in the spotlight, Andrea Johnston, Michael Lewis, and Kofi Hope challenge blinkered perspectives and institutional barriers (p. 10).

Another trio—Glenn Morrison, Samuel Rabkin, and Nick Shah—pushes the frontiers of science to bring us new treatments for cancer and dementia (p. 32).

Our students are also showing the way. As Andrew Yin, a student in a remodelled Urban Studies course that paired students and seniors in unique research projects, says in his story (p.26), “I have reimagined my abilities and grown as a person.”

Vivian Xie, a recent Innis alumna (p. 36), who, at 16, is the youngest U of T graduate in at least 40 years, proves that this generation doesn’t lack the ability to rewrite the rule book: “I chose my path by myself from the beginning,” she proclaims.

Nearly all the stories in this issue were written and/or illustrated by path-charting current students or recent alumni, and I find them an inspiration for envisioning new ways to move forward. I hope these stories also underscore how Innis fosters the tremendous potential of its students, and how that potential is realized in a multitude of ways in the years following graduation. Our support of our students lays the groundwork for a reimagined society that will benefit us all.