Women and Gender Studies

Malia Robinson had to overcome an array of challenges to become a ��Ƶ graduate. Arriving as a mature student amid a period of uncertainty and self-doubt, Robinson went on to complete an honours bachelor of arts degree in women and gender studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science, with minors in Buddhism, psychology and mental health, and contemporary Asian studies.

Along the way, she traveled to Central America for an experiential learning opportunity that altered the trajectory of her studies, volunteered at Women's College Hospital – having previously undergone surgery to treat cancer there – and won Woodsworth College's prestigious Brookfield Bronfman Gold Scholarship.

Now starting graduate studies in U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, Robinson recently spoke about her journey.

You came to U of T through the Transitional Year Programme as a mature student – what made you want to study here?

I learned about U of T’s Transitional Year Programme at a difficult point in my life where I felt like I had hit rock-bottom and had zero prospects for the future. Seeing post-secondary as an opportunity to start over and build a brighter future, I swallowed my fear and made the decision to apply. Looking back, I can honestly say it was the best decision I’ve ever made.

Why did you choose women and gender studies?

I wanted to learn as much as I could about the histories, systems and policies that contributed to the pain and dysfunction I was seeing in the world.

As I studied about the social determinants of health, gendered biases in medicine, colonialism in the Canadian context, systemic violence, and the social, cultural, physiological and mental impacts of intergenerational trauma, I felt overwhelmed by the depth of suffering in the world and was compelled to use my lived experiences and education to alleviate that suffering in some way.

I also realized that I needed to broaden my understanding of the world to be able to meet people where they are at. To do so, I enrolled in contemporary Asian studies and took courses in Latin American studies, which helped me understand colonialism and neoliberalism in different regional contexts. This introduced me to the different ways diverse cultures have reclaimed their languages and spaces, and decolonized their food systems, educational systems and healing practices.

In turn, these courses compelled me to deepen my understanding of healing trauma on an individual and societal level. To facilitate this, I enrolled in Buddhism, psychology & mental health, which gave me the skills needed to care for my own embodied trauma and inspired me to train in somatic therapies.

What personal challenges have you overcome during your studies?

The biggest challenge I faced was my limiting beliefs about what I was capable of achieving. With the immense support I received from the Transitional Year Programme, Woodsworth College, Accessibility Services, First Nations House, my professors, peers and partner, I was able to step outside of my comfort zone, make mistakes, learn from my failures and challenge myself in new and exciting ways.

Looking back, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow. And I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to make my Uncle Yogi proud and honour my Métis roots.

How did your studies take you to Central America?

In the summer of 2019, I participated in an experiential learning opportunity via the Dean's International & Indigenous Initiatives Fund, where I studied issues pertaining to Indigeneity and food sovereignty in Belize. This experience was one of the highlights of my undergraduate experience and was so impactful it changed the trajectory of my studies.

During this trip, I was inspired by the painstaking work that Indigenous Belizians undertook to revitalize the physical, emotional and generational health of their communities, and I came to the realization that I wanted to spend my life working in a similar capacity.

I really appreciated the guided tour of a local farm and getting the chance to learn about Mayan land rights, food systems and development initiatives. I believe that food is a powerful medicine and remember feeling inspired and humbled by the efforts locals undertook to protect their lands and traditional crops, and transmit their knowledge to the younger generations.

How did you become connected with Women’s College Hospital?

At the beginning of the pandemic, I underwent surgery at Women’s College Hospital to stop cervical cancer in its tracks. When I was in recovery, I was looking for a virtual opportunity to support folks during the crisis when I stumbled across New College’s Community Engaged Learning Program, which was looking for volunteers to help the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health draft a proposal to build a medicine garden at Women’s College Hospital.

At the time, I was struggling with the existential crisis that comes with anything cancer-related and felt like this was an incredible opportunity to channel my energy into building something meaningful that would support others who are at different stages of their healing journeys. I learned a lot during my placement and was excited to see the efforts of everyone involved give rise to a rooftop garden which officially opened this summer.

You started a master of social work at U of T – what would you like to do in the future?

Once I’m qualified to offer counseling and work with trauma, I want to help people resolve their complex trauma issues and reconnect to their body’s inherent capacity for restorative sleep, health and wellness.

Given my incredibly positive personal experiences with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE), I wholeheartedly believe that somatic therapies – therapy that aims to treat PTSD and other mental and emotional health issues through the connection of mind and body – are the future of trauma therapy.

Because these therapies are still prohibitively expensive, I strive to provide accessible and affordable therapy to the people who need it most – and want to dedicate my life to supporting people on their healing journeys.

Twin activists and filmmakers – soon to be U of T grads – champion education for girls

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 30 May 2023 17:07:53 +0000

Twin activists and filmmakers – soon to be U of T grads – champion education for girls

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 05/30/2023 - 13:07

Cutline

Nivaal, left, and Maryam Rehman, right, speak at the U of T Sustainability Film Festival, which they organized (photo by Nicole In)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Our Community

Convocation 2023

Diversity and Inclusion

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

New College

Sustainability

Women and Gender Studies

Subheadline

Nivaal and Maryam Rehman founded a non-profit dedicated to gender equality, climate justice and inclusivity

Nivaal and Maryam Rehman were just eight years old when they began spreading awareness about the importance of education to girls in their home village near Lahore, Pakistan.

“We were speaking to them about their dreams and aspirations, and we found out that they were going to quit school when they reached Grade 5,” says Nivaal.

“That’s when our activism journey began.”

That journey included founding the MNR Foundation in 2016 – a non-profit dedicated to gender equality, climate justice and inclusivity through storytelling and advocacy – and conducting workshops on gender-based violence prevention and environmental stewardship and sustainability.

The twins have also worked with global advocacy organizations, interviewed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, and have directed and produced for Dream Big, Princess, a collaboration between Disney and the UN Girl Up Campaign.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Maryam & Nivaal • Activism | Storytelling | Travel 🇵🇰🇨🇦 (@theworldwithmnr)

Now, the Rehmans are both set to graduate from the ��Ƶ – with the same degree: a double major in peace, conflict and justice and international relations and a minor in women and gender studies from the Faculty of Arts & Science.

After they cross the stage at Convocation Hall on June 15, with their parents in the crowd, the sisters will start preparing for a move to England, where they are both set to attend Oxford University for a master’s degree in historical studies.

“We came into university thinking we’d be done school after four years, but I want to continue learning,” says Maryam. “If anything, we’ve been taught is that there’s so much more to learn. So, it’s really encouraged us to keep going.”

They say their time at U of T has strengthened their knowledge of global issues and that their education has informed their advocacy work.

One course stood out.

“It was through critical equity and solidarity studies that we not only were able to critique what we were learning in our program, but also our own knowledge about the world,” says Nivaal.

They credit Assistant Professor Stanley Doyle Wood, who teaches critical studies in equity and solidarity at New College, for facilitating a supportive and fun learning environment.

“He’s super inspiring to us,” says Nivaal. “[The class] helped us enhance our activism so we weren’t reinforcing systems of oppression.”

Maryam, left, and Nivaal, right, run a workshop for school children in their home village in Pakistan (supplied)

Growing up, Maryam and Nivaal say their parents were honest with them about the problems they’d see in the world. When they’d ask about homelessness or poverty in their village, their parents wouldn’t try to hide what was going on.

“We were given the opportunity to learn about issues,” says Maryam. “Our parents encouraged us and said, ‘If girls’ education is something you’re concerned about, what are you going to do about it?’”

After moving to Canada at age five, the sisters would travel home regularly to see their extended family. On their first trip back, they learned about a school which had been built on land donated by their grandmother.

“There was a school for boys, but she wanted to have the same opportunities given to the girls there,” says Nivaal. “We were so inspired by her work and wanted to ensure that those girls continue their education.”

That’s when they discovered that girls in the village often quit school in fifth grade so they could work to support their families. In an effort to break the cycle, Maryam and Nivaal began to host workshops and seminars in their family home to inform the girls about the value of education. They worked alongside teachers to advocate waiving of school fees on behalf of families who could not afford to pay. They collected stationery and books to donate to the school.

Nivaal, left, and Maryam, right, speak about education access at the UN General Assembly (supplied)

“We were kids at the time, too, so we were just trying to find different ways to support [these girls],” says Nivaal. “Very simply, we wanted them to continue schooling beyond Grade 5.”

They say some of the girls they’ve helped have gone on to study in high school – and that the school’s teaching staff grew to four teachers, from one previously, as more students stayed on.

“We pushed for an understanding that [education] is what’s going to break the cycle of poverty,” Maryam says.

“It makes people aware about how they can make their personal circumstances better and how they can make things better for their communities.

“It’s a solution to so many other problems.”

Watch an interview with Nivaal and Maryam Rehman on CTV

U of T hosts global scholars for NAISA conference on Indigenous Studies

siddiq22 — Thu, 11 May 2023 20:57:30 +0000

U of T hosts global scholars for NAISA conference on Indigenous Studies

siddiq22 Thu, 05/11/2023 - 16:57

Cutline

The 14th-annual Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) conference, which is expected to draw 1,000 attendees from around the world, kicks off in Convocation Hall on U of T's St. George campus (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Indigenous Initiatives

Centre for Indigenous Studies

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

Research

Women and Gender Studies

The ��Ƶ will welcome Indigenous scholars and researchers from around the world this week for the 14th annual Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) conference.

The conference, which is expected to draw 1,000 attendees, will be held on U of T’s St. George campus from May 11 to 13.

Susan Hill and Karyn Recollet (photos supplied)

NAISA is an interdisciplinary professional organization that brings together faculty and students from post-secondary institutions (including several U of T scholars); community-based scholars, artists and Elders; and independent professionals working in the field of Indigenous Studies.

“NAISA came about in order to create a place where Indigenous Studies scholars could meet and work on the broad themes that tie us together, and to advance a broader understanding of the importance of Indigenous Studies to academia. Strengthening Indigenous Studies positions us to better support Indigenous communities and Nations,” said conference co-chair Susan Hill, director of U of T’s Centre for Indigenous Studies and an associate professor of Indigenous Studies and history in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

With sessions planned on everything from food sovereignty to language revitalization and contemporary Indigenous cinema, the 2023 event is the first in-person NAISA conference since 2019, when it was hosted by the University of Waikato in New Zealand. U of T had planned to host the 2020 conference, which was cancelled due to the pandemic and rescheduled for this year.

The conference will highlight how Toronto – which originates from the Mohawk word “Tkaronto,” meaning “where the trees stand in the water” – has been home to the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe Peoples and part of the original homelands of the Wendat People.

U of T News spoke with Hill and fellow conference co-chair Karyn Recollet, assistant professor in the Women & Gender Studies Institute in the Faculty of Arts & Science, about what to expect at NAISA 2023 – which will include panel and roundtable discussions, presentations of research papers, film screenings, performances and more.

Hundreds of attendees are coming from around the world – what will they experience at this year’s NAISA conference?

Hill: One of the things that we committed to as the local host committee was to take the lead in terms of our own cultural values that we bring from our specific communities – and also honouring the practices that are common in the Toronto Indigenous community.

One of those key pieces was about ethical care and doing our best to provide spaces that would meet people’s needs – so we were very purposeful in choosing locations that were close together.

It was also important for us to feed our guests – that’s a key value that’s embodied in the communities all around us. When you come to somebody’s home, they will offer you a meal or a beverage. That’s such an important part of hospitality, and in inviting our friends and colleagues from around the world, we want to make sure we’re treating them as if they were coming into our home.

We’re particularly excited about the fact that we've partnered with local Indigenous chefs to help make that happen and to provide our guests with the foods that come from the land and the waters of the territory.

In academia, sometimes we take food for granted and think, “Oh, it's just fuel for the body.” But in Indigenous cultures, we're taught that it's food for our mind, our body and our souls. And so we've tried to make that as fruitful as possible in this gathering, and also in everything we do in nourishing people’s minds, bodies and spirits in the work we’re doing together.

Through NAISA’s call for papers and in your planning, did any themes for the conference emerge?

(photo by Tabassum Siddiqui)

Recollet: In reaching out to our various partners – including U of T Mississauga – when we were starting to imagine what this conference would look like, some very interesting interconnections and webs started to develop, which helped the planning process quite a bit.

We knew that to determine the shape of our gathering, we wanted to focus on Black and Indigenous relationships, on queer and Two-Spirit thought and thinking, and to acknowledge that Toronto is a very special place that has a unique relationship to water. That helped us to think through some of the main ideas and offerings we might be able to have. Drawing on our relationships with the land – and with each other – helped in mapping things out.

What will be some of the highlights at this year’s conference?

Hill: One of the goals that NAISA has always tried to embody with their conferences is recognizing that the papers that get proposed and accepted are going to come from all over the place, but also making sure that there's time and space for both the people coming from other places, as well as the people from the local area, to have the opportunity to learn more about the host area.

Here in in Toronto, we've tried to be really thoughtful about the ways that we curate those particular opportunities – for example, we’ll have walking tours of our campus, OCAD University, Toronto Metropolitan University, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum. So, the folks who are coming to our campus from all over the world have a chance to learn about some of the things that are happening here on the ground in our city, at our universities and arts organizations.

Recollet: Another special moment we’ve envisioned is offering opportunities for graduate-student mentorship, where the students can sit and share a meal together and talk to each other about their work and knowledge transmission.

We’ve also curated spaces called “CARE Hubs” in both the buildings that are hosting the sessions, because sometimes conferences can be draining – you might need a quiet space to centre and just enjoy solitude. So those will have cots, medicines, soothing music, some magazines – spaces to relax and enjoy.

The welcome ceremony at Convocation Hall will feature singers and drummers, and we encourage everyone to visit the book fair and market hall at the Howard Ferguson Dining Hall, where more than 30 publishers and academic institutions will be set up.

What do you hope attendees take away from the conference?

Hill: We hope that all our visitors will have the opportunity to engage with some amazing people who are connected within this global network and are able to walk away with a deeper understanding about the vitality and rigour of Indigenous studies.

A lot of times people think it’s just about culture, but it’s important to understand the deep knowledge that goes into the revitalization and the celebration of the cultures from which we come – and the hard work being put into creating vibrant futures for the generations to come.

Experts say $200-million grant awarded to U of T will drive ‘big science’ via the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 20:19:03 +0000

Experts say $200-million grant awarded to U of T will drive ‘big science’ via the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 04/28/2023 - 16:19

Cutline

A researcher removes a vial of pre-dispensed reagent from an automated solid dispensing robot (photo by James Morley © The Matter Lab / Acceleration Consortium, ��Ƶ)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Our Community

Acceleration Consortium

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Leah Cowen

self-driving labs

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Chemistry

Computer Science

Creative Destruction Lab

Faculty of Arts & Science

History

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

University Health Network

��Ƶ Mississauga

Vector Institute

Women and Gender Studies

The $200-million Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) grant awarded to the ��Ƶ’s Acceleration Consortium will help build a world-leading centre for accelerated materials discovery and innovation.

The funding will support the consortium’s work on “self-driving labs” that realize the game-changing potential of AI by combining it with robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials and molecules in a fraction of the usual time and cost – from life-saving medications and biodegradable plastics to low-carbon cement and renewable energy.

With equity, diversity and inclusion guiding project implementation and research design, the Acceleration Consortium – a U of T institutional strategic initiative – will use the funding to commercialize ethically designed technologies and materials to benefit society and train today’s scientists with the skills they need to advance the emerging field of accelerated materials discovery. It will also examine critical issues regarding the application of the technology, including from environmental and Indigenous perspectives.

“We realized we need to take a cue from self-driving cars and extended that concept to a self-driving lab, which uses AI and automation to carry out more experiments in a smarter way,” says Acceleration Consortium Director Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor in the departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science who is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

In particular, the funding will help the consortium rapidly create high-quality datasets to better train AI models and help validate the model’s predictions in real time.

Leaders and researchers from U of T and Acceleration Consortium spoke with U of T News about the impact the CFREF funding – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – will have on the consortium’s game-changing work and unique model of cross-sector collaboration.

Leah Cowen

U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives

Materials and molecules are central to solving many of the world's pressing challenges, such as climate change, plastics, pollution and cancer. But it typically takes a very long time to develop new materials with new properties that can address those big problems.

By contrast, Acceleration Consortium’s approach combines AI, robotics and advanced computing to radically reduce the time and cost of bringing materials to market. Their autonomous labs predict, synthesize and test materials for key characteristics and can repeat and refine the process, which dramatically accelerates the timeline.

This transformative capability has the potential to affect so many different parts of our lives and our planet. So, the consortium’s focus on equity, diversity and inclusion in program delivery and research design, as well as its emphasis on environmental and Indigenous perspectives, is crucial. The CFREF grant allows us to do big science – through an interdisciplinary team-based approach with an incredible scope and potential for impact – in a way that’s critical for Canada to remain competitive on the international stage.

Melanie Woodin

Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science; professor, department of cell and systems biology

The Acceleration Consortium is already having an impact. Its second annual Accelerate Conference this summer will showcase the latest methods, applications and research in accelerated materials and molecular discovery. But this funding will enable even greater breakthroughs. It will have a transformative impact on our researchers' ability to develop the cost-effective, high-performance, sustainable materials that are needed to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Director, Acceleration Consortium; professor, departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science; Canada 150 Research Chair in Theoretical and Quantum Chemistry; CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence

Our goal is to accelerate science – that’s where our name comes from. To do that, we realized we need to take a cue from self-driving cars and extended that concept to a self-driving lab, which uses AI and automation to carry out more experiments in a smarter way. We’ve essentially supercharged the process of scientific discovery – and this grant will help us to take that even further.

We are already emerging leaders in the world of research excellence and we have a plan to keep building on that excellence. We’ve also shown that we’re integrated with communities – including working closely with Indigenous communities – and have innovative plans to teach this technology to future generations.

Acceleration Consortium Researchers

Cheryl Arrowsmith

Senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network; professor of medical biophysics at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine; director of the Toronto node of the Structural Genomics Consortium

The CFREF funds will advance our self-driving lab (SDL) to tackle the early stages of drug discovery by taking an initial compound and developing it into a more drug-like molecule that modulates a protein of interest in a disease. This is a design-make-test cycle that is currently done in a very iterative, slow manner. The Acceleration Consortium approach can speed the process up to try to get to the biologically active reagent much more quickly.

It has broad implications in a whole number of areas. Our SDL will complement another self-driving lab that is making engineered tissues that mimic human tissue or a disease state like a tumour – allowing one to test drugs or early-stage compounds in disease-relevant assays.

The self-driving lab concept condenses the time it takes to get to the answer you need – and does so more efficiently.

Avi Goldfarb

Professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management and Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare; chief data scientist at Creative Destruction Lab

This grant will allow us the freedom to invest in long-term planning for more – and more ambitious – projects. You learn more when you talk to people who have expertise that's different from your own. And the consortium has been an opportunity for me to learn from a different set of people with different knowledge than I’m typically exposed to as an economist in the business school.

It allows us to work with people to make new kinds of connections – and, hopefully over the course of the grant, develop entirely new, exciting ideas.

Michelle Murphy

Professor in the department of history and the Women and Gender Studies Institute in the Faculty of Arts & Science; co-director of the Indigenous-led Environmental Data Justice Lab at the Technoscience Research Unit; Canada Research Chair in Science and Technology Studies and Environmental Data Justice

No one person has all the skills to address the sustainability of new substances – we truly need much greater collaboration and a willingness to really think across difference. Insisting on Indigenous collaboration in defining sustainable substances is what marks the innovation of this work.

This is a moment of the emergence of a new branch of chemistry – and, at the same time, its industrial application has been implicated in major environmental problems we’re facing. Part of what is appealing about this project is that it’s putting questions of sustainability and environmental justice as one of its crucial dimensions – and the decision to invest in Indigenous science and technology studies as part of science at U of T is vital.

Florian Shkurti

Assistant professor in the department of mathematical and computational sciences, U of T Mississauga; UTM Robotics faculty adviser; director of the Robot Vision and Learning Lab; and Vector Institute faculty affiliate

What is unique about the AC is that over the last five years it has built a tightly knit and vibrant community that includes academic and industry researchers, as well as a global team of active and supportive partners in government, industry and entrepreneurial circles. Despite the seemingly disparate areas of expertise, they all work towards a common goal: to accelerate the science of advanced materials discovery in order to benefit society and our planet at large.

Together with my collaborators, Professors Alán Aspuru-Guzik and Animesh Garg, we are working on enabling general-purpose robots to perform as well as chemists in a typical chemistry lab. Having additional funding from the CFREF will help us to pursue more research efforts in enabling robots to visually perceive and autonomously manipulate granular materials, powders, liquids and transparent objects, which traditionally have been extremely challenging. It opens up so many opportunities for robots to be helpful in chemistry labs and work alongside human chemists to augment their capabilities.

Ilya Yakavets

Bioengineering post-doctoral researcher in the Kumacheva Group

The CFREF grant is a game-changer for researchers like me at the Acceleration Consortium.

It's not just about the funding, but also about the opportunities it creates. Collaborating with the consortium has been incredibly valuable for my research project – working to create a microchip that can simulate the growth of cancer cells and test different drug combinations to see which are the most effective, using artificial intelligence.

I'm fortunate to be collaborating with Alán Aspuru-Guzik and the Acceleration Consortium to accelerate the translation of promising multidrug anticancer therapies from the laboratory to clinics. It has been an excellent opportunity to learn from and work with a team of experts who share a common goal.

Laura Matz

Chief science and technology officer, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Breakthroughs in AI-driven experimentation will revolutionize the process of discovering new molecules and materials for health care, life sciences and electronics. We see the Acceleration Consortium as uniquely positioned to bring the ecosystem together to drive cutting-edge

advancement in the field of accelerated materials and drug discovery through self-driving labs.

Because of this, we have become a founding member of the Acceleration Consortium. Through this collaboration, we look forward to developing and defining best practices in the area of AI algorithms and automation for materials and molecule discovery.

With files from Erin Warner

Behind the scenes with the Black Research Network: Groundbreakers S2 Ep.2

mattimar — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 16:06:30 +0000

Behind the scenes with the Black Research Network: Groundbreakers S2 Ep.2 mattimar Wed, 10/12/2022 - 12:06

Topic

Our Community

Anti-Black Racism

Black Research Network

Groundbreakers

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Faculty of Information

New College

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

Women and Gender Studies

How is the ��Ƶ promoting Black research excellence and enhancing the research capacity of Black scholars across its tri-campus community?

Those are just some of the questions explored in season two, episode two of the Groundbreakers video series as host Ainka Jess goes behind the scenes with the founders of U of T’s Black Research Network.

“To push forward requires taking the risk and having enough people who are willing to listen and put resources behind the risk,” says Rhonda McEwen, president and vice-chancellor of Victoria University in the ��Ƶ. “And that’s what universities are good at, aren’t we? This is what we do. We find those cracks and those fissures and we take things forward.

“So, here’s just another way we’re doing that.”

McEwen is joined in the episode by Maydianne Andrade, an evolutionary ecologist and University Professor in U of T Scarborough’s department of biological sciences who is founder and co-chair of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence, Alissa Trotz, a professor of Caribbean studies at New College and the director of the Women and Gender Studies Institute, and Beth Coleman, director of the Black Research Network and associate professor of data and cities at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and the Faculty of Information.

Together, the group discusses the origins of the Black Research Network, which Trotz traces to a long history of exclusion and resistance at the university, including a student group called the Black Liberation Collective that formed in 2015. They also discuss opportunities for collaboration and policy change – and their hopes for the future.

Groundbreakers is a multimedia series that includes articles at U of T News and features research leaders involved with U of T’s Institutional Strategic Initiatives, whose work will transform lives.

Watch S2 Ep.2 of Groundbreakers

With smiles and stoles, student-run event celebrates U of T's Black graduates

geoff.vendeville — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 14:15:29 +0000

With smiles and stoles, student-run event celebrates U of T's Black graduates

geoff.vendeville Mon, 07/04/2022 - 10:15

Cutline

Black graduates recognized one another's achievements at a student-led event held at Hart House following U of T's spring convocation ceremonies (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Hart House

St. George

St. Michael's College

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

Undergraduate Students

Victoria University

Women and Gender Studies

“Understand that your presence here, and what you achieved here, is monumental and that cannot be denied.”

The words of Adriana Williams, president of the ��Ƶ's Black Students' Association (BSA), echoed through Hart House’s Great Hall, where dozens of Black U of T students who graduated earlier this spring gathered recently to celebrate their achievements.

Students at U of T began organizing Black Grad celebrations in 2017 and over the years the events have been held on the St. George and U of T Mississauga campuses, as well as virtually during the pandemic.

The theme of this year's student-run celebration was “trials and tribulations.” It was meant to underscore challenges each student overcame to earn their degree – both as Black students and as students navigating university during a pandemic.

The event itself marked a triumph over difficulties since it was the first in-person celebration in two years due to COVID-19. “I feel the biggest thing about this entire ceremony is it's a really good example of overcoming adversity, which is something our community does all the time,” Williams told U of T News.

“Post-secondary was never created with people of colour – let alone Black people – at all,” said Williams, who graduated this spring with a degree in linguistics, history and African studies as a member of St. Michael's College. “I feel like the Black student experience in general is just very unique, so I think it's imperative that we highlight what we've done here.”

U of T News senior reporter and associate editor Geoffrey Vendeville captured the following images of this year’s event: