INNIS COLLEGE NEWS HAROLD INNIS FAMILY VISIT Fall 2013
From Left: Innis College Advancement Officer, Ennis Blentic; Kazuko Cates; graduand Ken Cates; Innis College Vice Principal and Academic Coordinator, Roger Riendeau; Innis College Principal Janet Paterson; Innis College Assistant Principal and Registrar, Donald Boere; Mary Innis Cates, daughter of Harold Innis; Ellan Cates Smith, granddaughter of Harold Innis; Bruce Cates, grandson of Harold Innis; Kip Cates, grandson of Harold Innis.
It’s not every day that a student graduates from a college named after his great grandfather at the University of Toronto. On June 18, Innis College enjoyed a memorable visit from the family of the late Harold Innis, the influential scholar for whom the college is named, when Ken Cates entered Convocation Hall to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree. The family travelled from far and wide to attend the College’s convocation, meeting with President David Naylor, Chancellor Emeritus David Peterson and Chancellor Michael Wilson before the ceremony. Harold Innis’ legacy is deeply rooted in the University of Toronto, where he burnished his reputation as an influential professor of political economy and an internationally-renowned communications scholar. Considered to be one of Canada’s most original thinkers, his novel ideas formed the
basis of many of the works he authored on media, communication theory and Canadian economic history. Innis’ writings on communication explore the role of media in shaping the culture and development of civilizations – predating and influencing the work of his colleague, Marshall McLuhan. One of Innis’ greatest admirers was his daughter, Mary Innis Cates, who followed in her father’s footsteps by studying political science and economics and graduating from UofT in 1949. In fact, all four of the Innis children would go on to graduate from the University between 1943 and 1956. Mary’s connection to Innis College, and the wider U of T community, reaches far beyond the shared name and this visit was an occasion to reconnect with the College and its students, faculty and staff. “One comment my father often made was ‘The pursuit of truth is the persistence of doubt’,” said Cates. “For
me, seeing the vibrant young people and the huge success of Innis College was overwhelming. “Knowing his beginnings as a farm boy living with no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing, and the culmination of his life and work embodied in the College is truly inspiring and gratifying for the family. “ The College also welcomed her four children who had travelled from as far as Tottori, Japan to be in attendance. With Innis College preparing to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of its founding next year, Principal Janet Paterson reflected on the historic visit and its meaning. “It was a unique and truly special honour to welcome the Harold Innis family to the College,” said Paterson. “It was a very proud moment for us, as few Colleges can claim such a distinctive personal link to their history and their identity, particularly one that bridges past and present so fittingly.”
Innis Celebrates 50th Anniversary in 2014 Message from the Principal Janet M. Paterson
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here is great anticipation at Innis, as we are poised to celebrate the College’s fiftieth anniversary in 2012. We are planning exciting events to highlight the many reasons why Innis College is such an exceptional community for students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. Last June, a unique event took place which heralded our golden anniversary. On the occasion of the graduation of Ken Cates, the great grandson of Harold Innis, we were honoured by the visit of Harold Innis’ daughter, Mary Cates, his two grandsons and two granddaughters. It was a privilege to host the family of one of Canada’s most outstanding scholars and public intellectuals. Looking forward to the coming months, we are thrilled to welcome back to the College, the renowned film maker, Guy Maddin, who will teach a course and participate in cinematic events for our community. Later in the academic year, the Artistic Director of The Toronto International Film Festival, Cameron Bailey, will contribute his rare knowledge of film festivals to students in our Cinema Studies Institute. While celebrating film, we will also celebrate Art with the unveiling of a Light Box installation by Richard Kerr, one of Canada’s most distinguished visual artists. In this Newsletter, we feature our excellent academic programs, our students and some of our diverse alumni-- from doctors and filmmakers, to writers and diplomats. Finally, I wish to warmly thank everyone who has generously contributed to the exciting project of renovating a space that brings faculty, students and community members together for screenings, debates and learning—Innis College Town Hall.
On January 23, 1964, the University of Toronto’s Board of Governors (now known as Governing Council) approved the creation of a new college to be named after the distinguished Canadian scholar Harold Adams Innis. Innis College opened its doors to its first undergraduate class of about 250 students in September 1964. Accordingly, starting in January 2014, Innis College will be celebrating its 50th or golden anniversary with a series of events and feature stories that will run throughout the year. The evolution of Innis College from humble beginnings in search of a permanent home and an academic identity with limited resources to offer its students into one of the University’s most innovative and popular colleges is truly an inspiring story. We hope you will join us in celebrating this momentous milestone at one of our 50th Anniversary events planned for 2014. For the latest on anniversary events and features, please visit our website at www. utoronto.ca/innis/alumni or email us at alumni.innis@utoronto.ca to find out more. We look forward to seeing you back at Innis!
A New, Revitalized Student Space at Innis The second floor student lounge outside of the Innis College
Library is getting a facelift. The newly-renovated lobby will serve as a vital social space for students with new lighting, flooring, and furniture. Set to be officially unveiled this fall, the lobby’s centerpiece will be a “motion picture weaving” by Canadian artist and filmmaker, Richard Kerr. Titled t/social contract, Innis College is proud to serve as a home for one of Kerr’s masterpieces. Although this is the first of Kerr’s works to be housed at the University of Toronto, several of his films have been screened at the College since the 1980s. WHAT IS A MOTION PICTURE WEAVING? These dynamic installations consist of a light board backdrop onto which old bits of film strips are weaved into abstract designs; t/ social contract is woven from rare 65mm film strips. Depending on which film is used, the design offers a strikingly varied macro/micro viewing experience.
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ichard Kerr is a professor of film production at Concordia University and a filmmaker associated with Sheridan College’s “Escarpment School” in the 1970s. He has produced a series well-received 16mm films, including On Land over Water (Six Stories) and The Last Days of Contrition. Kerr began working more in video installations during the 1980s while teaching in Regina. Following a single unhappy sojourn into feature filmmaking, Willing Voyeur (1992), he began “weaving” found footage materials and mounting them on lightboxes. The series extended into Motion Picture Weaving Lightbox, with more than forty installations, many of them, like t/ social contract, incorporating 70mm and IMAX materials. Kerr’s motion picture weaves have toured through Canada and are in museum collections, including TIFF’s suite of six. This spring, Concordia’s Fine Arts Gallery mounted a retrospective of Kerr’s work. Simultaneously, Montreal’s Vox Populi gallery showed Kerr’s most recent digital video films, Action: Study and House Arrest, as well as installations featuring Kerr’s spinning camera technique.
“Canada’s Man in Myanmar” A profile of Innis graduate: Mark McDowell
It is a long journey from being an Innis College student to serving as Canada’s first-ever envoy in one of the most challenging parts of the world, but long-time diplomat Mark McDowell (BA INNIS 1988) is up to the task. Earlier this year, Mark was appointed as Canada’s first resident ambassador in the newlyopened embassy in Rangoon, Myanmar. After nearly three decades of very limited contact between Canada and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), an Innis alumnus will be leading the push toward warmer ties and a new era of engagement between the two countries.
“invaluable,” helping to spawn a burgeoning fascination with the rapidly evolving global landscape of the late Cold War era of the 1980s.
Taking a typically non-linear, circuitous (what he calls “crooked”) academic path, Mark never set out to work in diplomacy. Through his interests and passions, patterns quickly formed and the path became a bit clearer; he was driven by social justice issues, human rights, and the environment. A genuine and deep-rooted concern in these issues, coupled with his curiosity for China and Southeast Asia, eventually led him to serious considerations of a career The roots of Mark’s abiding interest in in diplomacy. The 1980s were a time of global affairs and social justice can be massive, unprecedented transformation in traced to his time as an undergraduate China, and Mark felt an urge to be in the student at Innis College. As someone who has been called an “unconventional middle of the action. diplomat,” he naturally chose Innis for “As someone who has been called what he described as its “off-beat and an “unconventional diplomat,” counter-culture” reputation. Innis and its he naturally chose Innis for what programs also provided fertile ground he described as its “off-beat and to cultivate his budding enthusiasm for film, urban studies, and the environment. counter-culture” reputation.” A fellow Innisian, his like-minded older brother Scott (BA Innis 1978) had also After completing his MA in East Asian urged Mark to attend Innis and take advantage of its progressive, free-thinking Studies at UofT, his diplomatic career was officially launched. He joined External milieu. Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1994 and quickly obtained a posting as Despite being on the other side of the a foreign service officer in New York City. world, Mark has always preserved an Then, it was off to Taipei where he served indelible connection to his alma mater: even after 30 odd years, he still maintains for another four years, before ending up in Bangkok. He eventually decided to friendships forged while a student at return to school, receiving his MPA from Innis College. He is in regular contact with fellow Innis grads, Daniel Garber (BA the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 2008. With an opportunity to 1990 INNIS) a writer, editor and film critic carry out research on contemporary in Toronto and Derek Archer (profiled in issues in Burma, Mark stayed on at “Alumni Q & A Spotlight”), a doctor at Harvard as a Research Fellow. Trillium Health Partners. Mark fondly recalls his time at Innis as one full of dynamic students and forwardthinking faculty, “epic” social events, punk and new-wave music parties, and the local student-gathering hub known affectionately as The Pit. As a commuter student in first year, he spent a lot of time at Innis, even working in the Innis College Library and moonlighting as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant close to campus. He took his time completing his undergraduate degree, making extended trips to Europe and Asia, where he immersed himself in the culture and language of both settings (he now speaks five languages fluently, including Chinese and Indonesian). Mark calls these international adventures
After three years of running the Embassy’s Public Diplomacy program in Beijing, Foreign Affairs came calling again. With such extensive experience in the region and an impressive record of service, Mark was named Canada’s firstever resident Ambassador to Myanmar in the spring of 2013. Known as a social media innovator and long-time advocate of better ties with Myanmar, Mark has been tasked with the challenging job of championing a nearly nonexistent economic relationship with the impoverished but resource-rich state. The former military dictatorship that has ruled Myanmar for nearly three decades has been rapidly evolving into a partial democracy since late in 2010 when it held its first elections in almost 20 years.
Mark calls the break-neck evolution of Myanmar “astonishing,” adding that the pace of the transformation has taken everyone off-guard. “It makes for a fascinating environment to work and live in. Imagine – I’m working with former Burmese political activists that have been in exile for 20 plus years and now they are serving in senior government positions.” He has called the accelerated pace of change in the emerging democracy “even faster and more comprehensive” than anything China has witnessed in the last 20 years. Despite obvious economic and political challenges in the years ahead, not to mention brewing communal and interethnic tensions, Mark is hopeful that Myanmar will prosper: “Five years ago, no one would think Burma would be at this stage. It’s quite an incredible transformation, but it’s by no means complete.” He hopes that through his work and this recent Western rapprochement with Myanmar, more attention will be paid to Southeast Asia, and in particular to this fascinating, quickly-evolving country. Mark McDowell relishes his role as one of the principal actors on this high-stakes, global stage: “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Alumni to Frosh, Frosh to Alumni
Innis College welcomes back four alumni to address first-year Innis students
How does a student evolve from a wide-eyed first-year to full-fledged Innis alumnus? On their first day on campus, Innis College frosh had the unique opportunity to hear from an impressive panel of graduates of the College as they embark on a new and challenging chapter in their lives. Each panelist stressed the importance of involvement and engagement, with particular attention placed on student clubs and athletics. “It’s critical to get involved at UofT but it’s also critical to get meaningfully involved and your home college, Innis, is the best place to start,” offered Dr. Derek Archer (MD 1986), Program Chief and Medical Director of Diagnostic Imaging of the Trillium Health Partners (THP). He urged students to forge new friendships, expand their academic and personal horizons and engage socially as much the school schedule will allow. Dermot Brennan (BA 2002 INNIS), Facility Manager at Hart House, and Jim Shedden (BA 1986 INNIS, MA 1990 Pol Sci), Manager of Publishing at the Art Gallery of Ontario, also reinforced the importance of a rounded academic experience to develop the critical skills necessary for further success. Backpack to Briefcase at Town Hall
Alumni on the Bookshelf
ALUMNI NEWS & EVENTS
(from left to right) Aman Chohan, Jim Shedden, Dr. Derek Archer, Dermot Brennan
Young Alumni Night: Blue Jays Baseball and Social
Cinema Studies alumnus, Paul Kapsos
(BA 1992, MBA 1999), returned to Innis College to speak to students and alumni on his wide ranging experiences at UofT. As part of the Backpack to Briefcase (b2B) series, co-hosted by the Cinema Studies Institute, Kapsos discussed his UofT education and his career path, offering valuable advice on how to remain engaged and involved in the University community. Kapsos, Director, Emerging Markets at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, stressed the importance of getting involved in extra- and co-curricular programs, placing particular emphasis on travel. He reminded students that the “world is getting smaller,” urging them to be curious and explore whenever possible. To find out more about the program, please contact the Innis Alumni Office at alumni.innis@utoronto.ca
This past summer, 60 young alumni
from Innis College, the Cinema Studies Institute, and the Urban Studies Program reconnected at a casual gathering at The Ballroom Bowl before heading off to a Blue Jays baseball game. It was an opportunity for alumni to catch up and meet some of their fellow Innis grads across all programs at the College. Alumni Relations Assistant, Vanessa Hoffmann, summed up the fun, laid-back atmosphere: “what better way to set the stage for engagement than a fun pre-game social with good food, games and prizes.” Despite the disappointing result of the game, for many grads it was their first Innis Alumni Network event, with plans in place to make it an annual get together.
JEREMY ADELMAN WORLDY PHILOSOPHER: THE ODYSSEY OF ALBERT O. HIRSCHMAN JEREMY ADELMAN (BA 1984 INNIS) is a professor in the Department of History at Princeton University. His work has focused on economic, legal, and political transformations in Latin America in comparative and world contexts. After graduating from the University of Toronto, he earned a master’s degree in economic history at the London School of Economics (1985) and completed a doctorate in modern history at Oxford University (1989). He has been teaching at Princeton since 1992. The author of five books, his latest work “Worldly Philosopher” chronicles the times and writings of Albert O. Hirschman, one of twentieth century’s most original and provocative thinkers. The book has enjoyed glowing reviews as the first major account of Hirschman’s remarkable life.
MICHELLE ORANGE THIS IS RUNNING FOR YOUR LIFE MICHELLE ORANGE, a graduate of the Cinema Studies Institute in 1998, moved to New York City to join the graduate film studies program at New York University. Michelle’s essays, features, fiction, and criticism have appeared in McSweeney’s, The Nation, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the New York Times, the Village Voice, Movieline and other publications. She is currently a contributing editor at The Rumpus and a regular contributor to Capital New York. Her latest book, This Is Running For Your Life, an essay collection published earlier this year, has received extensive praise ranging from The New Republic to Harper’s. . For more information on Michelle and her work, please check out www. michelleorange.com.
FIONA CLARKE BASODEE: AN ANTHOLOGY DEDICATED TO BLACK YOUTH FIONA CLARKE (HBA 2007 INNIS) completed a Philosophy Specialist degree at UofT and is currently in the final year of law school at the University of Southampton in England. Her recently published book entitled Basodee: An Anthology Dedicated to Black Youth is a youth-created and youth-centred anthology by 13 young writers expressing what it is to be young, black and Canadian. The book consists of photography, essays, short stories, and poetry by black Canadian writers, many of whom are immigrants to the country or first-generation Canadians.
CSI NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS Celebrated Filmmaker, Guy Maddin, & Film Programmer Extraordinaire, Cameron Bailey, join the Cinema Studies Institute in 2013/14
GUY MADDIN, the celebrated
Best Canadian Film (My Winnipeg, 2008). Canadian iconoclast, is the Distinguished He has also received numerous career honours, among them the Canada Filmmaker in Residence at the Cinema Studies Institute and Innis College for the Council for the Arts Bell Award in Video Art, the Telluride Medal, and the Order of 2013 fall term. Maddin, an installation Canada. artist, screenwriter, cinematographer, As Distinguished Filmmaker in and filmmaker, has made ten featureResidence, Maddin is teaching a course length films and many more shorts over for CSI this term that explains the aims the course of a career that has spanned of his most ambitious and audacious four decades. His films have amassed project, Séances, while leading students an array of international awards, including the US National Society of Film through a tour of the project’s cinematic and conceptual roots. The University Critics Award for Best Experimental Film community can look forward to public (Archangel, 1991), the Genie Award talks and screenings by Maddin, as he for Best Short (The Heart of the World, provides new insights into his visionary 2001), the International Emmy for Best work. CSI and Innis are honoured to host Performing Arts Show (Dracula- Pages this cinematic visionary and thank the from a Virgin’s Diary, 2002), and the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Faculty of Arts & Science for its support.
CSI PhD Launch The Cinema Studies Institute is proud
to announce that it welcomed its first cohort of doctoral students this September. With this cohort, CSI officially launches its PhD program, complementing its pre-existing MA program, which has been in operation since 2007. Cinema Studies has been taught at the University of Toronto since the mid-1970s, developing from a patchwork of courses offered through language departments to a coherent academic program based at Innis College. Throughout the last few decades, Cinema Studies experienced substantial growth in the
number of its program students, who responded positively to the rigorous core curriculum and the exciting range of courses offered. As CSI’s faculty ranks grew to keep pace with the increased enrolment, the possibility of expanding into graduate instruction became a reality. With an MA in place, a PhD was the logical final step. CSI’s graduate program features eight core faculty members, with approximately twenty more professors functioning as affiliated faculty, who will offer graduate courses as electives and/or serve as doctoral supervisors. The core PhD curriculum focuses on history and theory, in keeping with the emphasis of CSI’s undergraduate and MA programs. In particular, the PhD will
CAMERON BAILEY, the Artistic Director
of the Toronto International Film Festival, will be sharing his knowledge of global film festivals with Cinema Studies undergraduates this winter when he teaches a course entitled “Programming and Curation: The Films and Ideas that Define a Festival.” Bailey, who has been a programmer for TIFF since 1990, specializes in films from Western Europe, the Caribbean, South Asia, and the US. A graduate of UWO, Bailey began his career as a film critic, writing for NOW and hosting a radio show on CKLN. After joining TIFF, Bailey was responsible for many of the Festival’s most innovative spotlight series, including Planet Africa and City to City. He has also served on numerous juries for international film festivals. As one of the world’s pre-eminent film programmers, Bailey is well positioned to provide CSI students with an informed and current perspective on the important roles that festivals play in today’s global media market. address the changing role of moving image media within global culture and engage with debates and questions brought about by new formats, changing delivery systems, and the growing range of cultural and social uses of film and media. CSI will offer a range of guest speakers, special events, screenings, and colloquia to make the doctoral experience an exciting and challenging one for its students.
INNIS ALUMNI Q & A SPOTLIGHT SHARON LEWIS has had incredible
success as an award winning director, actor, producer and writer in tv/film and digital platforms. Sharon is the first woman of color in Canada to host a national prime time talk show, CBC’s counterSpin. She is a Leo and Gemini nominated television host for ZeD an interactive television and web CBC show. Sharon has directed over 200 hours of network television and won awards for her sci-fi short film, Chains. Sharon is developing The Burn an urban sci-fi ipad story. Sharon leads the way as a hybrid artist in this ever changing landscape. What do you find personally rewarding in your career? I work as an independent filmmaker and as a hired TV director and both are rewarding in different ways. When I work on my own projects I have full creative control and that’s rewarding in that I can tell the story exactly the way I see it. I can hire the talent in front of and behind the lens, so I work with people I respect and grow from. When I work as a hired hand as a TV director it’s rewarding in that I am working to a tight deadline and there to execute someone else’s vision which is challenging and inspring. On a personal level my career allows me to grow as an artist/ a storyteller and work with a wide range of people who always have something to teach me. What do you find personally rewarding in your career? I get to do what I love everyday – building strong relationships and facilitating with key government and commercial players around the world to advance the rapid deployment of clean renewable energy. How did your time at the University and Innis College influence your career path? Innis College and UofT enabled me to dream big and realise my full potential. I was surrounded by the brightest and most academically inclined people in Canada. Living and HANDO KANG is the Vice studying in Canada’s economic President, International Affairs and and financial centre set the foundation to reach for the top Communications at Skypower Services ULC. In his role, he directs and thought me never to give up. activities of corporate affairs What advice would you offer to and international relations and facilitates business and community current Innis College Students? Dream big and believe every day development opportunities. that you can be whoever you Previously an advisor to the Premier of Ontario, Minister of the want and accomplish whatever you want. Like Robert F Kennedy Environment, Minister of Natural said, “Only those who dare to fail Resources and Minister of Health & Long-Term Care, he has worked greatly can ever achieve greatly”. in the corporate renewable energy Never give up. sector for the past five years. What is your favorite memory of He has studied in Japan and your time at the University? Living Germany and recently received in residence and knowing I was the Solar Advocate Award by attending the best University in the Canadian Solar Industries Canada and that my classmates Association. were the top students from around the country.
How did your time at the University of Toronto and Innis College influence your career path? I studied political science at U of T and although I was at Innis College the irony is that I wasn’t involved in the film community at all but I chose Innis because I think deep down that’s where I wanted to be. Because of my background in political science and the analytical lens that I acquired during my study at U of T I was able to apply that to my play that got published and as a host for the political CBC debate show, counterSpin. What advice would you offer to current Innis College Students? My advice is the same advice I give myself on a daily basis, keep going, no means not now, no sometimes push harder, no never means you’re not good enough. What is your favorite memory of your time at the University? I was exactly what I should be in my 20s, angry, political, revolutionary and my favourite memory at university was as coordinator of the now defunct bastion of feminism, the women’s centre at U of T and storming the president’s office, which of course I would never advocate now!
What advice would you offer to current Innis College Students? I would advise that you keep your mind open to new career possibilities, as the career you end up in will likely be something you never dreamed of when you first entered this University. Don't peg yourself into a career path too early. Secondly, find and pursue your passion. I have seen too many people pick a career because it looked good on paper, only to be miserable, and Dr. DEREK ARCHER is I have seen a number of people the Program Chief and Medical travelling an orthodox path to a Director of Diagnostic Imaging of very successful career because the Trillium Health Partners(THP). they were so passionate about THP is a newly merged hospital of what they were doing. the former Credit Valley Hospital and the Trillium Health Centre. What is your favorite memory of This merger represents the your time at the University? My creation of one of the largest favorite memory at University that community-based academic I can put into print is the first year health networks in Canada. Halloween. I had dressed up in a Technically a former Innis black outfit, cape and headgear, student, Dr. Archer transferred to and scaled partway up the medical school after two years at outside of the Robarts Library Innis College. wall (only a few feet, really). I am What do you find personally rewarding in your career? I find the ability to have a vision of the department, and execute that vision and make it a reality, the most rewarding part of my position. On a day to day level, being involved with all the individuals, and the dozens of daily human interactions is very satisfying.
pretty sure I provided an exciting visual diversion to the students sitting in the study carols inside the library. On a more appropriate level, my favorite memory was playing inter mural ball hockey and hanging out in the "Innis Pit" during my free time.
"Midnight’s Children" A Screening with Dr. Deepa Mehta
Living Well & Leading Well Superlative Student Leader and Outgoing ICSS President - Aman Chohan - Reflects on Living Well and Leading Well
Aman with Tim Worgan, Dean of Residence and Students
On Friday, May 31st, Town Hall played host to a special event with celebrated director, screenwriter, and producer, Dr. Deepa Mehta. Her latest film, “Midnight’s Children,” was screened before a jampacked house in Town Hall and was followed by a riveting Q & A with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker. The crowd, comprised of alumni, students, community friends, UofT staff, and donors, set a new record for Town Hall numbering over 300 audience members in total. Dr. Mehta, who was recently appointed to the Order of Canada, holds an honorary degree from the University of Toronto (Hon. LL.D, 2011). She was elated to return to Innis College, announcing in her opening remarks that it was a special thrill to be back at Town Hall and even more so on the occasion of her latest film’s screening. Corinn Columpar, Associate Professor with the Cinema Studies Institute and the Department of English, led the Q &A, with audience questions on topics ranging from working with Salman Rushdie to the unique role of female filmmakers in advancing social change. Dr. Mehta closed the evening with a nod to her long-time support of Innis College and its community: “I look forward to coming back.
As a recent graduate of the
to join councils and committees such as Innis College Council, University of Toronto, and an alumnus of Innis College, I created InSight: Mentorship Program, Innis College Student Society and Innis my personal blog “Live Well Residence Council. It is important to Lead Well” in order to spread the note that the student voice at Innis knowledge that leadership is not solely based on money, power and is just as valuable as the faculty and staff voice. This allows students prestige. Rather, leadership is a trait that anyone can develop and to voice their concerns, and apply use to positively change their own what they have learned to reallife situations. By providing Innis life and the lives of others around students with leadership theory them. and an environment to apply those skills, Innis not only produces Ben Parker once said, “with great academically successful students, power comes great responsibility.” but world-changing leaders. Innis emulates this message with every interaction the College It was this amazing balance of has with its students and student theory and application-based leaders. The amazing part about learning that shaped my love Innis is that it places the same and passion for leadership. This amount of value on leadership passion was the main reason why as it does on academic success. I decided to pursue a Masters Students who graduate from Innis Degree at the Ontario Institute College graduate with more than just a degree. They graduate with a for Studies in Education (OISE) tool-box filled with experience, skills related to Leadership in Higher and knowledge that will allow them Education. It is this same type of teaching and application-based to not only be successful in the learning I want to bring to students real world, but noticeable gamechangers when it comes to social, at the University of Toronto and other Ontario universities. I want national and global issues. students to understand that leadership transcends all barriers The success of Innisians is and by learning these skills they are possible because Innis provides able to be a leader in a group of both theory and applicationdoctors, or in a group of engineers, based education on leadership. Workshops such as IN2U: Pathways teachers, or politicians. Innis taught to Leadership and IN2U: Backpack me that leadership is not just for a select few, but is for everyone. to Briefcase provide students with the confidence to become an active and contributing member of the Innis community. There is also the opportunity for students
Read Aman’s blog at livewellleadwell.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter @amanchohan
2013 Gordon Cressy Award Recipients for Student Leadership This year, Innis College enjoyed an outstanding crop of student leaders who were recognized with a Gordon Cressy Award for their notable contributions to the College, UofT, and the wider community. We congratulate this year’s recipients and wish them every success in future endeavors. (from left to right) Ennis Blentic, Advancement Officer; Jaclyn Hodsdon, 2013 Cressy Recipient; Siyou Ma, 2013 Cressy Recipient; Yanyuan Jing, 2013 Cressy Recipient; Aman Chohan, 2013 Cressy Recipient; Shaanzeh Ataullahjan, 2013 Cressy Recipient; Matthew Chapman, UTAA President; Brad Doner, 2013 Cressy Recipient; Tim Worgan, Dean of Residence and Students; Janet Paterson, Principal; and Donald Boere, Assistant Principal (Students) and Registrar; Evelyn Smith-Romero, 2013 Cressy Recipient; Not pictured: Serena Liu, 2013 Cressy Recipient
2013 Arbor Award Recipients
New Member of the Urban Studies Faculty
Recognized for Outstanding Contributions to Innis College and Its Students
Principal Janet Paterson with Jose Shapero, his daughter Tina and wife Eleanor
Innis College is proud to recognize the incredible dedication of alumni and friends whose contributions are making a significant impact on the College and our students. Thanks to the support of committed volunteers, Innis remains a dynamic, vibrant community made up of students, alumni, friends, faculty, and staff. On September 9th, the College celebrated Ian Shaw, Dan McClellan, Don McMurray, and Charlotte Mickie as they received an Arbor Award, the University’s most prestigious volunteer-recognition award. The entire Innis family is grateful for their immeasurable loyalty, dedication, and generosity. Sara Shapero, one of the founding members of Later Life Learning, was also honoured posthomously. Along with her late husband, Sara initiated the Later Life Learning Scholarship in 1983, which currently holds an endowment of over $1.2 million and will support over 40 annual undergraduate scholarships in perpetuity. Her enduring impact on the College and our students is truly admirable. Sara’s son, Jose Shapero attended the ceremony to graciously accept the award on his mother’s behalf. EDITOR Ennis Blentic
Roger Riendeau Bart Testa
CONTRIBUTORS Ennis Blentic Aman Chohan Charlie Keil Janet Paterson
SPECIAL THANKS TO Jeremy Adelman Derek Archer Fiona Clarke Hando Kang
The Urban Studies Program is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. David Roberts to its Faculty. Originally from Seattle, Dr. Roberts completed his undergraduate degrees in Business and Political Science at the University of Washington before moving to Toronto to pursue MA and PhD degrees in Geography at the University of Toronto.
KEEP IN TOUCH & STAY INVOLVED Connect with fellow alumni and get the latest on news and upcoming events at Innis College Visit our new and improved website at
www.utoronto.ca/innis/alumni Follow us Twitter @innisalumni
INNIS COLLEGE Advancement Office 416-978-3424 alumni.innis@utoronto.ca 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto ON M5S 1J5
Richard Kerr Sharon Lewis Mark McMillan Michelle Orange VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO Roger Riendeau
DESIGN Rolla Tahir (HBA 2009 INNIS) PRINT Maud Street Printing Services