Vice-Dean, Undergraduate

Randy Boyagoda.

Randy Boyagoda

Vice-Dean, Undergraduate
Provostial Advisor on Civil Discourse
Professor, Department of English

Contact

Email: vicedeanundergrad.artsci@utoronto.ca
Tel: 416-978-3453
Executive Assistant: Alison Terpstra
Office: SS2005, Office of the Dean, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street

Portfolio

The Vice-Dean, Undergraduate is responsible for undergraduate education in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Areas of Responsibility

  • Undergraduate degree requirements
  • Undergraduate courses and programs
  • Academic integrity
  • Academic continuity
  • Opportunities for undergraduates
  • Writing instruction (WIT) and English Language Learning (ELL)

Biography

Randy Boyagoda is a professor in the Department of English, and began a five-year term as Vice-Dean, Undergraduate in 2020. Before taking on this position, he served as principal and vice-president of the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, where he held the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts and Letters. He joined U of T in 2016 after spending 10 years at Ryerson University where he was a professor of English, chair of the Department of English, and founding director of Zone Learning.

Professor Boyagoda is a writer, critic and essayist. He has published six books, including the novels Governor of the Northern Province, Beggar’s Feast, Original Prin, and Dante’s Indiana. His work has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize, and selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choices and Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year. He is also author of an SSHRC-supported critical biography and a scholarly monograph. He is a regular contributor of essays, reviews and opinions to a wide variety of publications and to CBC Radio. Currently, he serves on the Educational Review Committee of The Walrus Foundation, the Board of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, the Board of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, and the PEN Canada Advisory Board. As a teacher and researcher, his interests include American literature; American studies; religion and literature; U.S. intellectual history; as well as South Asian and post-colonial literature.

As Vice-Dean, Professor Boyagoda is responsible for working with academic leaders to advance the Faculty’s overall priorities and strategies for undergraduate education and experience, both within and outside of the classroom, and to ensure academic continuity for the Faculty’s undergraduate programs and courses. His responsibilities include supporting and coordinating Faculty-wide curricular and co-curricular offerings, including: degree requirements, academic integrity, online learning, experiential learning and international and research opportunities.

Professor Boyagoda also works with the Faculty Registrar to advance recruitment and enrolment goals, and to order and integrate local, sectoral and Faculty-wide undergraduate studies and student experience with University-level priorities and opportunities. He will also be responsible for supporting the implementation of technological platforms that support undergraduate teaching and learning, as well as advancing, in collaboration with others, the Faculty’s progress in achieving undergraduate-related provincial performance-based indicators.