Vic Report Summer 2016

summer 2016

Safe Passage: President’s Annual Report p. 8

Summer Reading List: Vickery Bowles p. 6 vic report summer 2016

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president ’s page

Betwixt and Between by william robins This May and June I’ve had the best seat in the house for the Emmanuel College and Victoria College graduation ceremonies. Front and centre, I see the faces of the students as they step on the stage to accept their degrees. These are joyous events, given solemn dignity by processions, academic gowns, and the requisite formalities. The faces of the graduands, by and large, reveal a mixture of pride in what they have achieved, exhilaration at the present moment, and nervousness about being on the cusp of something new.

These convocations mark turning points. We take time out of our busy schedules to gather as a group, we surround ourselves with symbols to affirm our common purposes, we honour individuals as they transition from one social role, that of student, to another, that of graduate.

The faces of the students coming up in their robes to shake hands with the chancellor reveal that for them this one-day ceremony is the culmination of a much longer rite of passage, a passage constituted by the entire multi-year process of their course of study.

Our students of anthropology will be familiar with ways to understand rites of passage: how individuals are distanced from their previous social identities, how they go through symbolic activities that align them with underlying foundations of their culture, and how they are then reintegrated into their society assuming new roles and status. They have, during the midst of the passage, given up their former identities but not yet taken on their new ones: they are betwixt and between, standing upon a threshold. In a modern world of fluid identities and diverse cultural expectations, traditional rituals may not always suffice as ways to affirm our individual and collective selves, but that does not make the significant transitions in our lives any less momentous.

Attaining a university degree is one of the modern world’s most highly regarded rites of passage. If a vision quest brings young adults in some North American indigenous traditions to a condition of spiritual self-discovery, an undergraduate or graduate course of study provides time and place for self-discoveries of a different sort. Students are invited to hold in suspense the social norms associated with their family upbringing, not to deny the relevance of them, but to lessen, if only for a moment, the pressure they exert. And while students rightly expect to come out of university with skills for the workplace, a liberal education is not determined by preparation for specific, pre-determined jobs. Neither defined by their particular pasts nor constrained by particular futures, our undergraduate students are betwixt and between. As students they are asked to grasp how different bodies of knowledge are related, and to engage with some of our culture’s essential questions. Having gone through this process, the students at graduation are ready to step off of that threshold in order to take on new roles in the world. The Vic motto Abeunt Studia in Mores, “Studies Pass into Character,” recognizes this process of transformation.

Rites of passage are acts of community. Individuals go through such transitions as a cohort; their experience is enabled by elders and teachers; their milestones are affirmed by family members and well-wishers. Victoria College and Emmanuel College have rich traditions of honouring both the individual and community aspects of higher education. At Vic we enliven the content of their courses of study (a major in history or physics, say, or a master’s degree in divinity), we highlight the movements of individual self-discovery that could be in play (which are inevitably different for each person), and we acknowledge that such self-discovery truly becomes transformative within a web of relationships. At graduation, our community assembles to witness the arrival of these students at a significant turning point.

This issue of Vic Report focuses on transitions. It draws attention to some of the changes underway as Victoria University continually adapts to new opportunities. The theme reminds us that institutions such as Vic find their purpose in helping persons of all stripes make successful transitions through this rite of passage that we call a university education.

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Summer 2016 Volume XLIV No. 3 Published under the authority of the Board of Regents of Victoria University in the University of Toronto.

Publisher: Larry Davies, Executive Director, Alumni Affairs and Advancement Executive Editor: Alison (Massie) Broadworth Vic 9T7, Director, Alumni Affairs and Advancement Editor: Jennifer Little Vic 9T5, Manager, Marketing and Communications Managing Editor: Liz Taylor, Communications Officer Copy Editor: Frank Collins Design: Randall Van Gerwen Contributor: Elaine Smith Cover: David Wang Vic 1T6, Lisa Sherlock, Lisa Khoo Vic 8T9

by Peg McCarthy on the steps of E.J. Pratt Library Vic Report is sent to all alumni, faculty, associates and friends of Victoria University.

Published three times a year; circulation 24,000; ISSN 0315-5072.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40741521 Send letters and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Vic Report c/o The Victoria Alumni Office 150 Charles Street West Toronto ON M5S 1K9 Tel: 416-585-4500 Toll-free: 1-888-262-9775 Fax: 416-585-4594 E-mail: vic.report@utoronto.ca Website: www.vicu.utoronto.ca Do we have your correct address?

Please send your updated address, phone number and e-mail address to the Victoria Alumni Office.

Please notify us if the graduate named in the address is deceased (enclose obituary or equivalent) and we will remove his/her name from the mailing list.

Victoria University respects your privacy and does not rent, trade or sell its mailing lists.

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Enjoying the View for 27 Years Registrar Susan McDonald Retires

Photographs: (Opposite page) Horst Herget; Vic Alumni Office

Susan McDonald, Victoria University’s registrar since 1989, retires on July 22, 2016. Before she arrived at Vic, she almost didn’t take the job. It was 1988, and as McDonald approached the edge of Vic’s campus, she contemplated another job offer she received from the private sector. Then she walked under the St. Mary Street arch, and had what she describes “an epiphany . . . a visceral reaction” to the Vic quad. “I looked around at Vic’s campus—I wasn’t even a member of staff at the time—I saw how beautiful the autumn colours were, the architecture of the buildings and I knew that I couldn’t leave the university setting.” Years later, she continues to reflect on that same view every autumn as the leaves fall from the beech trees just outside her office, overlooking the quad—a view she has enjoyed for 27 years.

In 1980, prior to joining Vic, McDonald worked at the University of Toronto’s Career Centre. Nine years later, she joined Vic as associate registrar, supporting then-registrar Kenneth Thompson. Over the course of McDonald’s career at Vic, immense change occurred as the administration attempted to go paperless. “Technology made the biggest impact on my job and to the student body,” McDonald says. “When I started, course enrolment had to be completed in person and there would be a line-up of students all the way up Queen’s Park past the Gardiner Museum. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case!”

Under McDonald’s leadership, registrarial processes at Vic have been streamlined, but the office is no less busy.

The registrar’s office is often the first point of contact for students. “Being able to meet with students and help them troubleshoot complicated enrolment issues or life decisions is tremendously important and is really the most gratifying

work,” says McDonald. With tremendous support from senior administration and her staff members, McDonald has helped make Victoria College one of the most popular choices for incoming students.

“During my tenure at Vic, the quality, calibre and enthusiasm of Vic students has only grown. Students, staff and faculty are all proud to be on this campus and call Vic their Susan McDonald in her office at Northrop Frye Hall home,” she says. The growth of in-course scholarships and awards for Vic students is also something she credits with boosting Victoria’s reputation and, in turn, Vic’s alumni support. “When we started the in-course guarantee in the early 1990s to reward students for their “A” averages, about 60 students earned the “A” and qualified for the award. In 2015, 793 students earned an “A” and were awarded an in-course scholarship. There is no doubt that Vic attracts some of the best and the brightest. It has been an honour to work with the Vic community.”

Yvette Ali, associate faculty registrar and director of records and enrolment at U of T’s Faculty of Arts and Science, was named McDonald’s successor as of July 4.

To make a gift in honour of Susan’s retirement, visit my.alumni.utoronto.ca/smcdonald. Please see page 19 for a special Registrar’s Forum by Susan.

The Power of the Pen

Where There’s a Will…

Carol Goar and Earle Toppings Awarded Honorary Degrees

Victoria University can be designated as a beneficiary in your will. Here’s an example of a suggested wording:

It has been said that that the pen is mightier than the sword. In the spirit of using the power of the written word for good, for justice and for change, Victoria University recognized the achievements of journalist Carol Goar and writer and broadcaster Earle Toppings at Victoria University’s May 12 convocation. Both have been named Doctors of Humane Letters, honoris causa, in recognition of their careers and dedication to journalism and the arts. Read more at www.vicu.utoronto.ca/ news.

Carol Goar Earle Toppings

I give and bequeath to the Board of Regents of Victoria University, Toronto, Ontario, the sum of $ or % of my estate.

If you wish to designate a specific bequest (a scholarship, the library, etc.), please contact: Sharon Gregory Telephone: 416-813-4050 Toll-free: 1-888-262-9775 E-mail: sharon.gregory@utoronto.ca

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newsline

Victoria College Emerging Leader Award 2015–2016 Winners Announced This Alumni of Victoria College award recognizes recent graduates, 35 years of age or under, who have excelled professionally or who have notable accomplishments in their volunteer service such as community work, humanitarianism and philanthropy. Vic congratulates this year’s winners.

L IN DA ( T U N G ) P R A NG LE Y V I C 0 T 6

CHRIST OP HE R T ID E Y V IC 0T 5

While a history and political science student at Vic, Linda Prangley immersed herself in the Vic community. In her final year, she served as VUSAC president. She was awarded a Gold V—an honour bestowed upon graduates who have exemplified student leadership, who have gone above and beyond their service to the Vic community. Prangley remained on campus after graduation working as an alumni affairs officer and as recruitment and outreach officer.

She excelled in both positions because she “loves Vic, loves higher education and loves community.” Following her maternity leave in 2012, Prangley became her own boss and launched Love Me Do Baby & Maternity, a retail store in Toronto’s Liberty Village, for parents and babies.

Importantly, she uses the space to foster a further sense of community among new parents and their friends. The store offers informational sessions and educational courses such as CPR; there are also weekly drop-in activities, such as music classes, for parents and caregivers. In so doing, Linda has established the store as an important community space as well as a resource for parents and families. In spite of being a busy entrepreneur and parent to two small children, she remains involved with community outreach.

She serves her local community as an executive board member with Interval House, a shelter for abused women and children, and as a loan-review team leader and editor for Kiva Microfunds, the world’s first online lending platform connecting online lenders to entrepreneurs in developing nations. Prangley visits the Vic campus frequently, returning as a mentor to current Vic students with both the Life After Vic and Forging Your Future programs.

An outstanding scholar and leader among his peers, Christopher Tidey’s passion for helping others was fostered at Vic. Serving as an orientation leader, student mentor, and later as VUSAC president, Tidey was known for his infectious enthusiasm, which fostered a sense of community in the student body. His passion for academia was refined as a master’s student while at the University of Guelph. He focused his research on the coca industry in Bolivia, particularly on how global economic policies can disproportionately affect marginalized populations. He has gone on to put his research to work in media and policy with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, which aims to build a sustainable public health care system. He also worked with the Ministry of Community and Social Services, which helps to build communities that are resilient, inclusive and sustained by the economic and civic contributions of Ontarians. Acting locally, but thinking globally, led Tidey to humanitarian work abroad. For the past five years, he has worked as an emergency communications specialist for UNICEF in Geneva, Switzerland. Christopher has travelled to disaster areas in Haiti and Pakistan, refugee camps in Kenya and Niger, and conflict zones such as South Sudan and Libya. His work leads him to gather stories about children and families seeking refuge in Europe after fleeing conflict and disaster zones. His work has been featured in national and international news networks. Tidey is known among his peers as a humanitarian, a leader, a scholar and as a loyal friend. “Being a student at Vic was one of the most special times in my life, and the wonderful experiences and friendships I found on campus have greatly shaped my life since,” says Tidey. “I am thrilled to be receiving the Emerging Leader Award and can’t wait to visit Vic soon.”

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newsline

BRUNCH IN BURWASH!

2016 VIC BOOK SALE

Remember brunch in Burwash Hall? Come back on September 25 and line up for the famous waffle bar and other treats with fellow guests and students.

25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION!

Sunday, September 25, 2016 Buffet brunch 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. $14 per person ($8 for kids 5–11, 4 and under are free).

Cash only, includes tax.

Same weekend as the Vic Book Sale, so be sure to stop by.

For groups of eight or larger, or if you need a booster/high chair, please call the Vic Alumni Office at 416-585-4500.

Need a great read? Don’t miss the silver anniversary of the Vic Book Sale and help support Friends of the Library. The sale is in Old Vic, 91 Charles Street West.

Proceeds go to Victoria University Library.

Thursday, Sept. 22 – Only day with admission fee: $4, students free with ID 4 p.m.– 9 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 23

10 a.m.– 8 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 24

11 a.m.– 6 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 25

11 a.m.– 6 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 26

10 a.m.– 8 p.m.

Blog: library.vicu.ca/friends/blog E-mail: vic.booksale@utoronto.ca Want to volunteer? 416-585-4585 or 416-585-4471 Want to donate? Books on all subjects and vinyl records are welcome.

Photographs: (Opposite page) Horst Herget, courtesy Christopher Tidey; Phil Weber

VICTORIA COLLEGE BOOK SALE CELEBRATES 25 YEARS! For one quarter of a century throngs of book lovers have queued up outside various Vic buildings, anticipating the chance to sift through the treasures of the book sale. Nancy (Adams) Ruhnke Vic 7T3 remembers the sale’s rather humble beginnings. “When Professor Emeritus F. David Hoeniger Vic 4T6 started the sale in 1992, the event was only two days long and was held in the student pub, the Cat’s Eye, in Wymilwood. It was very hot and stuffy in there with all of those books—particularly as the windows had been painted black by the students!” Since then, it has expanded to a five-day sale that takes over the A.B.B. Moore Foyer, Alumni Hall and the Vic Chapel. On opening day, a long line of customers and book dealers snakes around Old Vic, eagerly waiting for the doors to open.

Each week throughout most of the year, Friends of the Victoria University Library volunteers, alumni and current students comb through donations for the sale. There are more than 50 categories, ranging from classics and children’s literature to crafts and criticism. The sale also boasts a generous CD and DVD collection and, once again, includes a vinyl section. The entire effort is made possible through the meticulous work of sorters, packers and pricers, all volunteers. While a few treasures have been found over the years, including a rare, first-edition Agatha Christie novel which fetched $10,000, most books are priced around $4. The first book sale in 1992 netted the Friends about $9,000, and they have raised almost $2 million to date, all of which has been donated to Victoria University in support of library initiatives, student scholarships and bursaries. The Victoria College book sale is a long-standing tradition of intercollegiate competition, volunteerism, philanthropy and good fun. “Best of all,” says Ruhnke, “is that over the years, many of the volunteers have become really close friends. We work together, we laugh, and we really have done a tremendous amount of good for Vic.”

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alumni profile

Fostering Community Vickery Bowles Vic 8T0 is Toronto’s City Librarian Vickery Bowles Vic 8T0 will tell you that she has the best job in Toronto. She views the role of city librarian, a position she has held since January 2015, as “a wonderful opportunity to contribute and make a difference.” For Bowles, libraries hold the key to protecting democratic communities, “The public library is the people’s university.” Her sentiment echoes Vic’s former president, A.B.B. Moore, who believed that education must take place in a community. And libraries, whether public or academic, provide ideal environments for scholarship and research.

As a student Bowles had access to some of the best academic libraries in the city: E.J. Pratt and Emmanuel College libraries on Victoria’s campus; U of T’s Sigmund Samuel and the John P. Robarts Research Library; and, of course, Toronto Public Libraries. “I loved the process of discovering and learning that process; learning to do it well really deepened my appreciation of the role of libraries in everyday life,” says Bowles.

After graduating with a BA in 1980, she went on to pursue a master of library science at U of T, graduating in 1982. She began working in the public library system shortly after and, by 1987, was named public service manager at the North York

Ultimate Summer Reading List Recommended by Vickery Bowles Vic 8T0 1. Miracle on Monhegan Island by Elizabeth Kelly, Canadian fiction (Liveright Publishing Corporation) 2. Principles to Live By by David Adams Richards, Canadian fiction (Doubleday Canada) 3. A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny, Canadian mystery (St. Martin’s Press) 4. Sixty: The Beginning of the End, or the End of the Beginning? by Ian Brown, Canadian non-fiction, (Random House of Canada) 5. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg, fiction (Simon & Schuster) 6. Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, fiction (HarperCollins Publishers) 7. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, fiction (Random House) 8. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, non-fiction (Random House) 9. Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir by Padma Lakshmi, non-fiction (HarperCollins Publishers) 10. Only Street in Paris: Life on the Rue des Martyrs

by Elaine Sciolino, non-fiction (Norton & Company)

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Public Library. In 1995 she was named director, public service. Fast forward to 2006 and Bowles became director of collections management and city-wide services for Toronto Public Libraries (TPL). She oversaw all TPL collections and bibliographic services, e-collections, home and mobile library services, volunteers and adult literacy programming.

Less than 10 years later, she was named city librarian, CEO of the largest and busiest public library system in North America.

The TPL spans a 100-branch network, employs 2,300 staff and comprises a 10-million-piece reference and circulating collection. Lisa Sherlock, Victoria University’s chief librarian, says: “Public libraries serve communities by providing broader services to the general public at various levels of need—hosting language classes, résumé and job-search seminars. They also provide spaces for learning through and with technology with resources that might be beyond the financial means of some community members.”

Bowles’ strategic vision includes expanding access: “Equitable access to information and resources, intellectual freedom, protection of privacy, lifelong learning and preserving the past are all core values of the library.” In her role, Bowles must address the ‘digital divide.’ “The internet and the wealth and availability of information, in real time, have changed everything for the better,” she says. However, it also creates challenges in terms of equitable access because not everyone has the training or can afford computers and high-speed internet access, which “reinforces the important role of public libraries in that context.” In this spirit, all of TPL’s branches provide wireless and high-speed internet access, laptops and skill-enhancing courses and workshops.

Libraries have evolved over the years, becoming places in which people both consume and create content, and where technology is being used to maximize the power of information. For example, three TPL branches now offer digital innovation hubs with 3D printing and other emerging technologies. “I’m tremendously excited by these changes.

It’s going to make things better, more efficient and provide greater access. With change comes tremendous opportunity,” says Bowles. Libraries are a necessary piece of the cultural puzzle. “They provide everyone with an equal opportunity to enhance their learning and the skills they need for the 21st century,” says Bowles. Libraries are still about book lending and “fostering literacy and a love of reading,” but they are also places of innovation, community and welcoming public space.

For Bowles, these values are at the core of both the Toronto Public Library community and a great education.

2016 IN REVIEW CELEBRATING THE HONOURED YEARS 3T6, 4T1, 4T6, 5T1, 5T6, 6T1, 6T6, 7T1, 7T6, 8T1, 8T6, 9T1, 9T6, 0T1, 0T6 AND 1T1

Alumni enjoyed a weekend of beautiful weather for Spring Reunion 2016. There were so many great moments and here is a snapshot of just a few of them. For more photos, visit our Facebook page.

1. Judy (Caldecott) Fleming Vic 6T1, who gave a delightful toast at the Chancellor’s Lunch, receives her medal.

2. Young alumni celebrate Vic Beer Fest. Read more about the event, on the back cover.

3. Friends re-unite at the Class of Vic 5T6 lunch and celebrate 60 years since graduation.

4. Ted White Vic 6T6 and Peter Wyatt Vic 6T6, Emm 8T3 raise a glass to a golden anniversary.

5. Friends share a laugh and partake in the beer tasting activities of Vic Beer Fest.

Photographs: (Opposite page) Toronto Public Library; Peg McCarthy

6. Clive Veroni Vic 8T0 signs a copy of his book after delivering a Classes Without Quizzes talk.

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n hour’s drive from the Victoria University campus sits the Welland Canal, a 43-kilometre long channel

that provides ships with safe passage from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Its series of eight locks allows the ships safely to navigate the change in height from one lake to the other— a much better alternative than tumbling over the steep, treacherous drop at Niagara Falls.

The canal and its locks provide an apt

metaphor for the work done by the faculty and staff at Victoria University; they assist students in navigating the transition from youth to adulthood, guiding them through the changes required to become informed adults who embody Vic values such as curiosity, citizenship and compassion.

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PASSAGE Photograph: Diana Tyszko

TRANSITIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

President William Robins joins three generations of Vic graduates outside Convocation Hall on June 9. From left to right, Emma Dawkins Vic 1T6, Kay Dawkins Vic 8T4 and Thurza (Swinnerton) Dawkins Vic 4T6. Emma’s graduation coincides with Thurza’s 70th anniversary of graduation. vic report summer 2016

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Angela Esterhammer Vic 8T3, (right) principal of Victoria College, enjoys a casual conversation with Pamela Ng Vic 1T6 (left) and Theodora Bruun Vic 1T6 (middle). Bruun was named the winner of the prestigious John H. Moss Scholarship for 2016 and Ng was named a UTAA Scholar.

“University is a passage,” says Will Robins, Victoria University’s president.

“It’s an important moment of transition in life, and Vic provides a safe space for this life-changing passage. It offers a great, supportive community based on values that are appealing to me. I’d like to make sure that Vic is the best place in Canada to pursue a liberal education that has been adapted for the 21st century, and that Emmanuel College is the best place in Canada to obtain a theological education and to prepare graduates to take on leadership identities that are based on matters of conscience.”

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Robins understands transitions firsthand. A professor of English and Medieval studies, he assumed the University presidency in July 2015.

Vic, Robins says, has done a remarkable job of easing students’ transition from high school to university through small-group programs such as Vic One and Vic One Hundred seminars. Now, he believes, it’s time to focus equal attention on the transition from university to students’ next steps, whether that means graduate school or the work force. “We want to help students understand how to have some

kind of focus,” Robins says. “We’re more cognizant of the need students feel for greater support during this transition, and it’s a place where Vic can make a real contribution.”

Angela Esterhammer Vic 8T3, principal of Victoria College, points to the fourth-year capstone seminars as one step toward consolidating the experiences students have gained during their university careers. The seminars offer undergraduates the opportunity to do supervised research projects, practise leadership and mentoring skills or undertake advanced independent study.

COVERING THE CAMPUS Lisa Khoo Vic 8T9

Photographs: (Opposite page) Horst Herget; Peg McCarthy

Although Lisa Khoo’s career no longer requires her to travel the world, she brings her broad perspective to bear as a member of Victoria University’s Board of Regents, as an alumni volunteer and a Vic instructor.

Khoo has spent most of her career as a journalist and producer in the national newsroom at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), where she has worked in radio, television and online and travelled to all corners of the globe. She has been based in London, England and in Washington, D.C., and has covered many major stories ranging from the last federal election to wars and other disasters overseas.

However, Khoo first nurtured her love for current events, her writing and her leadership skills, closer to home. Her undergraduate studies in history and political science and her extracurricular activities at Vic provided Khoo with tools and knowledge that still stand her in good stead. “In journalism, the value of an arts and science degree is important because critical thinking is crucial, along with the ability to process information and explain it clearly,” Khoo says.

During her campus years, Khoo participated in the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council, served on various committees and was on the executive for Orientation.

She also wrote for The Varsity and The Newspaper, served as editor of The Strand and worked at CIUT Radio. She was awarded the Senior Stick for her involvement.

“Vic provided such a well-rounded experience,” Khoo says. “The academics were so strong, but there were also all these opportunities to exercise leadership and learn through practice and through the people you met. A lot of my closest friends to this day come from Vic. You form

a bond through shared interests and shared experiences,” adds the former resident of Annesley Hall.

When Khoo’s career brought her back to Toronto on a full-time basis, she wanted to give back to the Victoria community. In 2013 she became a member of the Board of Regent’s alumni affairs and advancement committee and was involved in the most recent presidential search.

“It’s great to get involved with Vic again and to meet such great people,” Khoo says. “Watching the institution plot its future is so exciting—it’s great to see it as a living, breathing institution.”

For the past 10 years, Khoo has also worked as a sessional instructor at U of T, first at U of T Scarborough and now at Vic. She teaches a course in creative nonfiction to upper-year students, sharing her passion for journalism and good writing. “It’s such a thrill,” says an enthusiastic Khoo, “to contribute this way. When I was a student, I could not have imagined that one day I would be the one standing at the front of the classroom.

Journalism has provided me with the sense of public service that I also learned about at Vic. Being an engaged citizen and going forth to make the world a better place are definitely Vic values. It’s a special place.”

Lisa Khoo at the E.J. Pratt Li Library

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OPEN TO LEARNING David Wang Vic 1T6 David Wang Vic 1T6 is passionate about exploring and understanding the Asia-Pacific region, and his experience as one of Victoria University’s 2015–16 Northrop Frye Undergraduate Fellows further fanned the flames of that passion.

Wang grew up in the Greater Toronto Area as the son of Taiwanese immigrants. He first came to Vic as a transfer student after discovering that an interior design program’s career-focused curriculum didn’t feed his hunger for broader knowledge. “Leaving my previous program, I wanted a more humanistic education, not just skills,” Wang says. “I wanted to learn more about the world.”

Vic offered him that opportunity, both in the classroom and experientially, and it fed his passion for Asia. He majored in Asian studies and took advantage of all the possible chances to study abroad that he could discover, participating in International Course Modules, the Dean’s Student Initiatives Fund and the Summer Abroad program. His travels took him to China, both urban and rural, Japan and South Korea.

Most recently, Wang spent his final year of university at Waseda University in downtown Tokyo, where he soaked up the information offered in classes about urban studies and anthropology that had a Japanese focus; he also put his two years of university Japanese language instruction to the test. While in Tokyo, he was selected as one of five Northrop Frye Undergraduate Fellows, a Vic program that

David Wang in Japan as part of his Ishinomaki 2.0 work

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funds students to carry out individual research projects in the humanities and social sciences.

Wang used the fellowship money to explore the rebuilding in Ishinomaki, Japan, in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, the same disaster that led to the nuclear meltdowns in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Complex. He worked with Ishinomaki 2.0, a community development organization committed to reimagining the city, not merely rebuilding it. Ishinomaki 2.0 and similar organizations are also seeking ways to address larger societal issues that were affected by the disaster: the aging population, the falling birthrate and the hollowing out of rural economies.

“I wanted to learn more about how the people and community bounced back,” Wang says. “Cities around the world that are destroyed by war or natural disasters have the opportunity to reinvent themselves because of these phenomena. They get a re-set that doesn’t happen in a lot of places. I was studying the potential these kinds of socially oriented initiatives have to reshape a community by contributing towards revitalization.”

Wang also wanted to see if Ishinomaki 2.0’s solutions could be replicated elsewhere, a goal that dovetails with his original reasons for pursuing Asian studies. “What we learn in North America is very Euro-American-centric and it shapes our imagination and references, whether to popular culture or to what cities can be,” he says. “I think we should be open to learning from other parts of the world, but [in North America] there’s always a bit of fear and an us-versus-them feeling. There’s a lot to learn from Asia and we need to be more open.”

He is appreciative of the part Vic played in shaping his perspective on the world. “Vic is special to me because it encourages students to pursue international learning, and it gave me the opportunity to learn for the sake of learning. It gave me a huge range of possibilities I can fathom as I go forward.”

Photographs: (Opposite page) courtesy of David Wang; Peg McCarthy

This past May, the newest addition to the offerings that focus on the transition to life after undergraduate studies is the Jackman Scholars-inResidence@Victoria College program.

This pilot project exposes students to humanities research and is being conducted in partnership with the University of Toronto’s Jackman Humanities Institute. Twenty upper-year scholars—chosen from more than 200 applicants live in Vic residence and work as teams of research assistants alongside four professors, pursuing research into such topics as literature and political censorship in the 18th century or fiction by the Scottish-Canadian writer John Galt. The program includes visits to museums, archives and libraries as well as workshops on research protocols and applications.

“The program is meant to help students reflect on the skills involved in knowledge creation in the humanities,” Esterhammer says. “It’s building upon what they learned in their courses to help them think about how they can use these skills when they go on to graduate school or to the working world. The enthusiastic student response to this summer’s pilot project suggests that this kind of enterprise fills a gap in their experience. We’ll evaluate it carefully, and we are certainly hoping to build on it in future years.”

The Office of the Dean of Students also supports the new Jackman Scholars-in-Residence program; helping students with the transitions to and from university is an essential part of the work. “We look at how we can help students build a tool box so that they have an easier transition to the world beyond the academy,” says Kelley Castle, dean of students. “Transitions and soft skills are areas where students want concrete guidance.”

For the past two years, Castle’s office has also brought in a career educator who works on site a couple of days a week to assist students with their next big transition. “The educator provides insights into careers that are available and identifies abilities and interests students have that they can combine into careers,” Castle says. “It helps them see what they’re suited to do and how they

can go from writing the current chapter in their lives to writing the next one.”

Castle and her staff have implemented numerous programs designed to ease the transition from the undergraduate years to the next steps in life, often working in partnership with the Office of the Registrar and the Office of Alumni Affairs and Advancement. One of their successful programs is called Forging Your Future.

It brings recent graduates back to speak with the students so the students can see the paths they have taken in building their careers. “Many of our alumni have distinguished and longestablished careers, but these are people with paths fresh enough that students can see themselves following them, too,” Castle says. “We intersperse these talks with training in the soft skills, such as résumé writing, interviewing and networking.”

Life After Vic, another successful initiative, is offered in partnership with the Office of Alumni Affairs. It consists of three sessions: one focused on how to market oneself successfully; one, a dinner, to practise networking; and a final dinner with the focus on proper etiquette. The dinners, says Larry Davies, executive director, alumni affairs and advancement, “are built on the speed-dating model. We have 12 alumni seated at different tables and they spend 15 minutes talking with each group of students. The program gives students a sense of the range and evolution of the alumni’s careers and the scope of their transitions.”

Davies says that alumni contributions allow Vic to offer additional programs that meet the needs of students, including those in transition to life after graduation.

The University’s recent campaign, Imagination Unbound, exceeded its $60-million goal, raising $71 million to date, with most of the support coming from alumni. This campaign created 13 endowed professorships for Victoria and Emmanuel College and increased the student awards endowment by $20 million. “The extraordinary level of alumni philanthropic support and volunteer commitment has been extremely

rewarding for me to see,” says Davies, who will be experiencing his own transition as he retires this summer after 31 years of service to Vic. The Office of the Registrar is involved in student transitions on an ongoing basis, says Susan McDonald, registrar, who is also involved in her own transition to life after Vic: she, also, is retiring this year after 27 years. Each year, Vic students book approximately 3,500 individual advising appointments with registrarial staff. “Students always ask about career transitions, even if they come in to talk about something else,” McDonald says. “Much of our work involves getting our students to reflect and think about where they are heading, whether it’s about their academic programs, looking toward graduation, a career or future education.”

McDonald’s office also works with the dean’s office to offer a graduation orientation program in the fall, as well as a program called Almost There.

It offers students information about upcoming job/graduate school fairs, the transition services Vic offers to graduating students and information about post-graduate education. “We recognize that we need to be doing more to help our students as they transition out of their undergraduate studies,” McDonald says. vic report summer 2016

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The E.J. Pratt and Emmanuel College libraries are masters of transition, says Lisa Sherlock, chief librarian, because they must keep pace with the needs of students and researchers as technology and research needs evolve. “There is a core group of humanities and social science students who still gravitate toward paper, but science users tend to gravitate toward e-reference books because they need very current information,” Sherlock says. “We’ve also seen a large increase in the use of archival documents and manuscripts. Our involvement with the Vic course Individuals and the Public Sphere: Cultural Memory, which has an archival element, provides just one example of students’ increasing need for primary source documents due to course requirements.”

E.J. Pratt and Emmanuel are also joining forces with other U of T libraries to make their archival documents easier to retrieve. As part of the Discover Archives project, staff has just finished making these documents more findable.

The next step is to enter the information into the overall database so it is available through a common search engine.

The libraries have company in their efforts to stay abreast of the latest technology. Ray deSouza, bursar, says that enabling the academic mission has meant providing students with the tools they need to get their work done (e.g., interactive information access on mobile platforms, efficient web portals, wireless access) as well as the infrastructure needed to support them.

This includes re-thinking and creating a new web presence with tools to support students, faculty, alumni, staff and Victoria’s ancillary operations.

As some of Vic’s undergraduates make the transition to graduate school and other undergraduate students arrive, there are also other demands on Vic’s resources, including more technology to support research and access to databases elsewhere. Victoria’s administration must plan for a quick transition to new service paradigms to meet the changing demands of the broader Victoria community. “We’re certainly prepared to deliver what our community needs when needed,” deSouza says.

At Emmanuel College, both Muslim studies and Buddhist studies have joined the growing master of pastoral

Lisa Sherlock, chief librarian, outside the E.J. Pratt Library

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vic report summer 2016

studies program. Mark Toulouse, principal of Emmanuel College, says he anticipates having a full-time Buddhist faculty member join the College this fall. “We’ve had a major transition during the past five or six years to the interreligious classroom,” says Toulouse. “We’re still working to create a very effective interreligious classroom experience.”

The College is putting forward grant proposals that will allow Emmanuel to connect to two American schools of theology that also offer interreligious education, with the possibility of collaborating on course creation.

“Emmanuel is on the cutting edge in theological education through its work with interreligious classes,” Toulouse says. “We’ve developed methods to do it well and schools moving in this direction in the future will benefit from our experience.”

Toulouse says he has seen a shift in student interest from the master’s degree in divinity, required for ordination, to the various streams of the master of pastoral studies degree, which can lead to chaplaincy or work with social justice organizations. He anticipates that the new Ontario College of Psychotherapists will approve a spiritual care and psychotherapy stream in the coming year.

With the new PhD in theological studies, offered in conjunction with U of T, the College has been phasing out its doctor of theology (ThD) degree.

“These transitions make for a vibrant student body and energize the faculty,” Toulouse says. “Our students develop abilities, in not just interreligious dialogue, but in how to live and work together as leaders representing different religious traditions, and our faculty are exercising their skills and abilities in new and exciting ways.”

All of this activity at Vic and Emmanuel simply confirms what President Robins believes: “The very nature of the post-secondary education passage isn’t the same as it was 10 years ago. That means that students are going through different kinds of passages. Vic is adapting so that students can thrive in these new circumstances.”

001110101010000101011111011111100101 00111010101000010101111101111110010100011010 young alumni profile 00011010101011100011000011110101111 0001101010101110001100 00011010101011100011 101011100011000011110101111010101101100110 101000010100101011011001010000101 0101011011001010000101010100111100 Looking Outward from Vic 0100101000111100111010101011101111100 Author, PhD0110101101010110000111 Student and Award-Winning Poet Andrew McEwan Vic 1T2 01101011010101100001110100101000111 011010110101011000 111011110110101101011010101110001111010111010

Photograph: Victoria Alumni Office

Andrew McEwan began writing poetry after he finished high 1011101101010110110110110101 school and while working at a small bookstore in Sarnia, Ontario. “Access to the ordering system and the stock at the 00011111010101 store expanded my world beyond a small, industrial city, and 0101001101110101111 allowed me to engage with poetry and ideas that I wouldn’t

have otherwise been exposed to,” he says. “I knew I wanted to get to Toronto to go to school so that I could be part of a larger literary, arts and academic community.”

Victoria College provided an ideal setting—a small, liberalarts college in the heart of a city—for McEwan to expand his literary horizons. “I chose Vic because of its beautiful quad, with Old Vic at its centre, and its reputation as a supportive community. I also knew that the College was associated with the arts through the affiliated English faculty and its historic connection to notable Vic alumni Northrop Frye, E.J. Pratt and Margaret Atwood.” As a student, he studied English, semiotics, psychology and even dabbled in physics. For his excellence in writing, he was awarded the E.J. Pratt Poetry Medal.

Off campus, McEwan learned about the importance of community through his involvement in extra-curricular activities; he served on the editorial board of Acta Victoriana every year, and was editor-in-chief from 2009–2010. He was also a part-time library assistant, poetry editor and editorial board member for the Hart House Review. “These publications allowed me to gain arts organizing experience that is truly unique among Canadian universities, as well as collaborate with many fantastic writers and organizers. This taught me the importance of collaboration within and among different communities in order to make contributions to cultural life, as well as the specifics of publication and project organizing, which have helped me in a wide range of jobs and pursuits.”

Shortly after graduating in 2012, McEwan published his first book of poetry: repeater, which he wrote during the four years he studied at Vic. It’s essentially a codebook; the book takes the now out-dated ASCII 8-bit binary code for each letter of the alphabet and writes poetry using this code as a constraint. Doing so, he says, it “poetically encodes an investigation of layered and digitized language into the code itself.” Not exactly straightforward, but McEwan enjoys playing and manipulating language: “I enjoy working with language to create aesthetic and textual objects that ask questions about the relationship between meaning and a variety of social, cultural and technological contexts.” The collection was met with favourable reviews and was a 2013 finalist for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.

McEwan’s background is neither in coding nor computer programming, but he sees this as a good thing: “I liked the idea of working with the structure of computer binary language as an outsider who only knows its façade on the screen, but not its workings. I think this freed me up to manipulate the code as a metaphor, and gave me enough distance to treat it as a poetic constraint system, abstracted from its usefulness.”

Currently, McEwan works as a writer and a PhD student at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. He has also written three chapbooks—smaller, 10–20 page collections. His second collection of poetry, If Pressed, is set to be published later this year. If Pressed is a poetic project that that works “with the language of pressure and depression economically and psychologically.” Along similar lines, McEwan is using a Twitter bot to “retweet any tweet from anyone on Twitter that contains a description of a book as “depressing.” In doing so, it composes “an automated crowd-sourced poem that speaks to the emotional labour of reading and engaging with texts. The results are often funny, but, I hope, also speak to our casual critical language and the effects of engaging with books.” A poem consisting of a number of these tweets will appear in If Pressed.

As a graduate student, McEwan researches and writes about mental disability in postmodern experimental North American poetry. “I look at a number of poets stigmatized by mental disability (what might conventionally be termed ‘mental illness’), and the relationship between this sociocultural identity and their poetic work.” Although he is still in the early stages of the program, he “appreciates that it affords [him] the time and space to focus on a specific topic of interest, which has many connections to the type of artistic explorations” he pursues in his poetry.

For McEwan, the Victoria College environment created connections and friendships that continue to inform him in his life and work. He cites Vic for giving him the opportunity to work with interesting people who pushed him to do thoughtful and engaging work with integrity and to “worry less about the many other pressures and anxieties that surround the literary and academic” scenes. It’s probably some of the best advice he’s ever received, says McEwan, and he hopes it might be relayed to others “looking outward from Vic in a similar direction.” vic report summer 2016

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milestones

CAREERS, AUTHORS, HONOURS Shiva Amiri Vic 0T3 is one of two authors of Oxformed: A Journey Through Oxford (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, September 2015). The book chronicles the journeys of the two authors who, as international graduate students, pursued doctoral degrees at Oxford.

Their individual experiences convey the psychological, social, political and emotional events which influenced who they are today and how and why Oxford changed their world.

Jennifer Anne Bates Vic 8T7 has been made a full professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. A member of the Department of Philosophy, Bates specializes in 19th-century German philosophy with an emphasis on Hegel.

Arlette Bax Vic 1T5 was named the 2016 IABC/Toronto Student of the Year.

This award recognizes a student from an accredited institution who demonstrates excellence in communications and the greatest potential to be the best all-round future professional.

Mid-market advisory firm Lincoln International has appointed Tomas Freyman Vic 9T9 as managing director in its London-based valuations and opinions group. Freyman joins the firm from BDO, where he spent four years and graduated to partner in that practice.

He will primarily work across Lincoln’s panEuropean energy and power group.

Episode Eight of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science Planet Artsci podcast features an interview with filmmaker Norman Jewison Vic 4T9 who discusses, at length, his love for Vic as a student and as its chancellor. Visit https://soundcloud.com/ planetartsci/episode-8-filmmakernorman-jewison.

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vic report summer 2016

send us your news: vic.report@utoronto.ca

HyeRan Kim-Cragg Emm 0T6 is the co-author of two new books including Hebrews, part of the Wisdom Commentary Series (Michael Glazier, November 2015). The book highlights the similarities between the New Testament’s book of Hebrews and the book of Wisdom/ Sophia, which share cosmological, ethical, historical and sapiential themes. Her other book, The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture in the United Church of Canada (Daejanggan Publisher, 2016), is an overview of how the United Church understands Scripture and has tended to interpret it, and a window on one aspect of the United Church’s history.

Sandra (King) Lewis Vic 6T0 has published her first novel, Just Where You Stand (General Store Publishing House, December 2014), about a trait of obsession which plagues three generations of her family. The novel begins in Victorian England and ends in late 20thcentury Toronto.

Three obsessive husbands undermine the lives of those around them. Alcohol beguiles one husband and a controversial religious sect pulls in the other two.

In his first novel, Diamond Men (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, March 2016), set against the backdrop of the Northwest Territory’s diamond boom, Doug Macdougall Vic 6T7 tells a story of international intrigue and the RCMP officer who must use every trick he knows, and an unlikely team of collaborators, to uncover the

Larry Davies Retires Larry Davies, executive director of alumni affairs and advancement, will be leaving Victoria University on June 30. Davies first served as director from 1983–2010. After a brief retirement, he returned as executive director in 2012.

Under his leadership Vic has completed three capital campaigns: the Renewing the Heritage campaign in 1986; the Campaign for the Dedicated Mind in the late 1990s; and, currently, Imagination Unbound (including funding for the Goldring Student Centre).

The most recent campaign has raised $71 million to date, surpassing its original $60-million goal.

“I have been fortunate to have had not just one, but two careers at Vic, with the opportunity to work with so many extraordinary colleagues and alumni volunteers, all of whom share the common bond of a deep love for Vic and its mission,” says Davies.

“Vic is truly a one-of-a-kind community and culture, with the power to change each of us for the better every day we come to campus. It’s humbling to think that I have followed in the footsteps of so many remarkable people, particularly my idol and mentor, A.B.B. Moore, who helped shape, and were shaped,

by Victoria University.”

send us your news: vic.report@utoronto.ca

truth. Macdougall has previously published a number of popular science books about various aspects of the geosciences.

A former professor of Earth sciences (now emeritus) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, he currently lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

John Mighton Vic 7T8 and instructor in the Education & Society Program at the University of Toronto, was featured on U of T’s Alumni Portrait video series.

In the video, Mighton speaks about the JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies) Program of which he is the founder, and shares “why all children can learn math.” Full video available at https://youtu.be/7BQ04jomY14.

Resource Publications has recently released a new book by Bradley Morrison Emm 9T1 entitled Already Missional: Congregations as Community Partners (Wipf and Stock, 2016) in which the author provides tools that can help parish leadership discern the shape of the mission God gives them to do in their local context.

Andreea Marin Vic 1T5 is the recipient of the 2015 F. David Hoeniger Book Collection Prize. Her collection of illustrated children’s classics includes well-known titles and a number of rare and unique books. A list of the titles in the collection is available at http://library.vicu.utoronto.ca/collections/ hoeniger_prize.

After 14 years in ministry and 21 years in the Manitoba Legislature, Doug Martindale Emm 7T6, came out of retirement and is in full-time ministry at Hamiota and Kenton Pastoral Charges in Manitoba. Contact Doug at dfmartindale@gmail.com.

Joni Sancken Emm 0T9 has published Stumbling Over the Cross: Preaching the Cross and Resurrection Today (Wipf and Stock, April 2016) in which she addresses the concerns of those who preach about the cross and resurrection of Jesus, showing how to approach this subject in a fresh and culturally relevant way. The book includes a Forward by Emmanuel College professor of homiletics, Paul Wilson Vic 7T2, Emm 7T9.

Photograph: (Opposite page) Peg McCarthy

John McTavish Vic 6T3, Emm 6T6 has published Myth and Gospel in the Fiction of John Updike (Wipf and Stock, May 2016), in which he examines the mythic and theological aspects of the Updike’s works.

milestones

Grad Year: Vic

Alumni are invited to send information for inclusion in Milestones. For marriages please indicate, if applicable, whether you prefer to be known by your married or birth name.

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milestones

Nick Saul Vic 9T0 is was granted an honorary doctoral degree by Ryerson University at its June convocation. This degree is in recognition of 14 years of dedicated and creative work as executive director of the Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto and his continuing engagement, now on a Canada-wide basis, as president and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC). Nick, with his co-author (and wife) Andrea Curtis, has also chronicled the inspiring story of the Stop in their bestselling book The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement (Random House, 2014).

Nick’s father John Saul Vic 5T9, a retired professor at York University, and a holder of an honorary doctorate from Victoria University (2010), has this year been granted a further such degree by the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. In fact, he and Nick, together with John’s wife, Patricia (Chalmers) Saul Vic 5T9 and daughter (Nick’s sister) Joanne Saul, a University of Toronto Ph.D, all travelled to South Africa in April for the UJ convocation at which this honorary doctorate was presented.

There John was recognized both for the more than 20 books he has written or edited over the years on southern

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milestones

Africa and on more general issues of development and also for his long history of activism in helping to build support in Canada and elsewhere for the movement for southern Africa’s liberation from both white rule and from the continuing inequities of global capitalism. Indeed, John’s own most recent book, published just this year by Africa World Press and, in Canada, by Fernwood Books, is entitled On Building a Social Movement: The North American Campaign for Southern Africa Liberation Revisited.

MARRIAGES Shoaib Alli Vic 1T3, married Savannah Sloat Vic 1T3, on June 3, 2016, in Toronto.

Sara-Jane Figliano Vic 0T6, married Joshua Craig Vic 0T7, on July 27, 2013.

BIRTHS To Jennifer Buktaw Vic 0T1 and Osman Anwer Vic 0T1, a daughter, Zahra Hanifa, December 11, 2015, in Toronto.

To Sara-Jane Figliano Vic 0T6 and Joshua Craig Vic 0T7, a daughter, Chloe Victoria, December 10, 2015, in Toronto.

To Anita (Gower) Kapustin Vic 9T5 and Richard Kapustin, a son, Cruz, April 24, 2016, in Toronto.

To Heather McLean Vic 0T5 and Darren Kinash, a son, Miles Cameron, in Toronto on May 1, 2016.

voluntary subscription appeal We hope you enjoy receiving Vic Report and keeping up to date with alumni and college news. It’s one way for you to keep in touch.

But it costs money to produce and mail this magazine three times a year. Each issue goes to about 24,000 grads and costs about $30,000.

Please consider becoming a voluntary subscriber. By sending a subscription, just as you would for any other magazine, you can ensure that Vic Report maintains its present quality and content, while freeing valuable funds for other alumni concerns.

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vic report summer 2016

To Linda (Tung) Prangley Vic 0T6 and Darren Prangley, a daughter, Claire Barbara, on June 10, 2016, in Toronto, a sister for Charlotte Kayan.

E. Anne (Allen) Litherland Vic 4T9, in Toronto, May 9, 2016.

IN MEMORIAM

Barbara (Hilliard) McEwen Vic 5T0, in Toronto, February 8, 2016.

John F. Anderson Vic 4T9, in Meaford, Ont., June 2, 2016.

David A.L. Britnell Vic 5T3, in Toronto, January 30, 2016.

Cecil H. Carnochan Emm 6T8, in Guelph, Ont., January 7, 2016.

James A. Carscallen Vic 5T6, in Toronto, March 14, 2016.

Thomas A. Corner Vic 5T2, in Kitchener, Ont., October 25, 2015.

Donald A. Deas Emm 5T9, in Hamilton, Ont., November 14, 2015.

Mark W. Ferrier Emm 8T9, in London, Ont., May 20, 2016.

A. Elisabeth “Betsie” (Ewing) Gerber Vic 4T7, in Newmarket, Ont., January 31, 2016.

Lorne K. Lodge Vic 5T2, in Richmond Hill, Ont., May 24, 2016.

John F.G. Morris Vic 4T0, Emm 4T3, in Mississauga, Ont., April 2016.

John W. O’Neill Vic 5T4, Emm 5T7, in North Vancouver, B.C., December 24, 2015.

Barbara Ann (McCracken) Parry Vic 5T2, in Toronto, April 21, 2016.

C. Anne Pepper Vic 6T6, in Pugwash, N.S., September 2, 2006.

Jean M. (Nethercott) Reeve Vic 4T7, in London, Ont., October 31, 2015.

Robert Rumball Vic 5T2, Emm 6T9, in Toronto, June 1, 2016.

A. Douglas Small Vic 4T7, in Ottawa, October 31, 2015.

Graham W. Taylor Vic 6T1, in Newmarket, Ont., April 10, 2013.

Alexander K. Gigeroff Vic 5T2, in Yarmouth, N.S., May 2, 2016.

Donald Topping Vic 4T9, in Burlington, Ont., February 8, 2015.

David H. Hay Vic 4T9, in Pointe-Claire, P.Q., August 21, 2015.

Kevin E. Johnston Emm 0T5, in Medicine Hat, Alta., April 13, 2016.

Edward A. Tossell Vic 5T4, in Toronto, December 29, 2015.

William B. Waugh Vic 4T3, in Toronto, April 8, 2016.

Marian (Nelson) Kaliski Vic 5T3, in Kingston, Ont., March 18, 2016.

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registrar’s forum

Farewell to Vic

Photograph: Babak

by susan mcdonald When I came to Victoria in 1989 as the associate registrar, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I was grateful to have been hired, certainly, but I must confess that I was somewhat surprised, too. I didn’t understand how Victoria College fit into the greater whole of the University of Toronto and I really didn’t understand what a ‘college’ was!

But I figured I might as well try it—I loved the campus and it was close enough to my home that I could bike to work.

I learned very quickly, however, that there was something different—something unique and something special— about ‘Vic.’ My first day on the job, then-registrar Kenneth Thompson (1978–1995) took me around on a tour and I met people from each and every part of the community. I recall feeling amazed at how friendly and helpful everyone was.

Even more distinct in my memory is how proud everyone was to be part of the Victoria community.

Twenty-seven years later and not only am I still here (although about to retire), but I now understand just exactly what it is about Victoria. I now understand Victoria’s somewhat complicated relationship with the University of Toronto.

Importantly, I figured out how to be collegial while protecting our independence; I learned to feel protective and proud of Victoria College. And, I don’t know exactly when I crossed over but somewhere along the way I realized I had adopted the “Vic way of doing things.”

I’m proud of what we have accomplished at Vic. Over the last three decades, the college has made a concerted effort to establish a learning environment that attracts and engages some of the world’s best and brightest students.

I have witnessed and participated in the renewal of the undergraduate experience at Vic. With a focus on renewal, former principal, William J. Callahan, and former registrar, Thompson, encouraged the creation of new scholarships which were supported by alumni contributions. Not long after, Paul Gooch and David Cook, president emeritus and past principal respectively, put Vic on the map with the transformative Vic One program. More recently, William Robins, president of Victoria University, has furthered student engagement on campus with the development of new undergraduate research opportunities, and Angela Esterhammer Vic 8T3, principal of Victoria College, has implemented new academic programs and fourth-year capstone courses. Kelley Castle, dean of students, has complemented all of this with the development of co-curricular programs. These initiatives—combined with the support of the senior administration and the support from great faculty and staff—have created an undergraduate college that is the envy of the larger university.

We all take enormous pride in our first-rate undergraduate programs and services; pride in the achievements of our students; pride in the accomplishments and generosity of our alumni; pride in our talented faculty and staff and pride in the physical beauty of this lovely place.

Without a doubt the most gratifying part of my time as registrar has been the interactions I have had with students.

Being a university student is complicated and challenging, and I feel strongly that we need to do everything we can to help students in every facet of their lives—personal and academic.

I hope and trust that, in the end, we helped make a difference in the lives of five generations of Vic students.

I didn’t come to Victoria for my own undergraduate degree.

But I do agree with Paul Gooch when he said that it was an error that he didn’t choose Vic. I wish I had known about Victoria all those years ago because I can see the long-lasting effect the College has had on generations of Vic students.

I’ve met so many alumni—whether they are graduates from 40 years ago or one year ago—who all express gratitude for the experiences they had here. Many alumni visit to reconnect with a place they once called home, and many remember Vic through generous donations, including bequests. Vic is clearly a place of transformation for many of its community members.

It has been a deep privilege to spend 27 years working at such a special place. As I said, I wasn’t a student here, I’m not a graduate from here, but I feel similarly transformed by my experience here. I will miss the students; I will miss the faculty and the staff. I will really, really miss the view of our beautiful quad and especially my bike rides home across the campus.

Susan McDonald was Victoria’s registrar from 1989 to the summer of 2016. vic report summer 2016

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on campus

Cheers to Beer Fest!

Photographs: Peg McCarthy

The activities of May 28 included Vic Beer Fest, the signature event of Spring Reunion and a party at which all grads and friends were welcome. The weather was incredibly hot but the beer was on ice. Grads from Vic 5T6 all the way to Vic 1T6 joined in an unofficial kick-off to summer and were charged with the duty of voting for Vic’s future, official brew.

Three local breweries were represented: Black Oak, with its Pale Ale and Nut Brown Ale; Left Field, with its Maris and Eephus labels; and Liberty Village, with its 504 Pale Ale. To accompany the beverages, there was an elaborate choice of Vic-themed nibbles, including “Northrop fries,” “venison Cobourgers,” “Jessie Mac ‘n cheese” and “A.B.B. s’Moores.”

To add to the afternoon’s fun, the Jazz Money Trio entertained guests with its upbeat and modern interpretation of jazz.

If you missed Vic Beer Fest, don’t worry—you can still vote.

You have until Labour Day to contact the Vic Alumni Office and state your preference. Who says only the U.S. should be caught up in election fever this summer?