Dean Woodin addresses last A&S Council meeting of 2022

January began with three female scientists in the spotlight.

Gwendolyn Eadie of the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Department of Statistical Sciences won the 2021 Polanyi Prize in Physics for her work in the emerging field of astrostatistics, providing new insights into dark matter and its impact on galaxies.

Chelsea Rochman, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; and Helen Tran, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, cross-appointed to the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, each received the 2021 Dorothy Shoichet Women Faculty in Science Award of Excellence for their pioneering work in the study of microplastics and organic polymer chemistry respectively.

It wasn't just faculty who shined. In February, Students Ashwini Selvakumaran and Jolie Gan received the Diana Award — a prestigious prize recognizing people from age 9 to 25 around the world who demonstrated a tangible impact in improving the lives of others. 

Also in February, the Department of History and U of T's Black Research Network hosted an important roundtable event, celebrating the launch of the book, Schooling the System: A History of Black Women Teachers written by Funké Aladejebi, an assistant professor in the Department of History.

In March, every student, staff and faculty member was invited to attend a Digital Hive, where they could provide their feedback on their experiences with digital teaching and learning. These hives allowed community members to let A&S know how to best support the community, and articulate what tools and resources can help them as they continue to avail themselves of digital opportunities in a post-pandemic setting.

In April, three A&S scholars received prestigious 2022 Guggenheim Fellowships.

Congratulations Yong-Baek Kim, a professor in the Department of Physics, as well as the director of the Centre for Quantum Materials, along with Yanqin Wu, a professor of theoretical astrophysics in the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, and John Zilcosky, a professor in the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures and the Centre for Comparative Literature.

In May we announced an incredibly generous $3.2-million gift from the Temerty Foundation, to bring to U of T more than 200 students from Ukraine whose studies have been disrupted by the ongoing war. This is an important partnership between the Faculty of Arts & Science and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, or KMA, Ukraine's oldest university. A number of faculty from KMA have also joined us as visiting professors.

In May we also watched in awe as A&S alum Mattea Roach became one of the greatest Jeopardy contestants of all time. Winning a remarkable 23 times, Mattea who graduated from the Faculty's Sexual Diversity Studies program in 2020, ranks in the top five for consecutive wins and highest winnings.

June was also a very important month for all of us because for the first time in over two years, convocation was in-person, giving the class of 2022 and their families the chance to hug, and take photos of gowns, sharing this important moment together.

Also in July, the Centre for Caribbean Studies was established as an EDU:B. The Centre will be the home of the only programs in Canada specifically dedicated to the study of the Caribbean and its people. The Centre will facilitate the strategic broadening and deepening of teaching and research in Caribbean Studies.

In August, Artificial Intelligence pioneer and University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton was honoured with the prestigious Royal Medal from the Royal Society — the U.K.'s national academy of sciences.

In September, I was really excited when more than 500 Arts & Science students joined our important talk on democracy with world-renowned author and A&S alum, Margaret Atwood, and English professor and author Randy Boyagoda.

In October, Schmidt Futures announced a $148 million investment in nine global universities, including U of T. The announcement launched the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship — a large-scale initiative that will support the work of early-career scholars in engineering and the natural sciences, such as mathematics, chemistry or physics.

November was a very busy month.

Iako Patton, a fourth-year Art History student from Victoria College, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. She intends to continue her Art History studies at Oxford, focusing on the imaging of North American Indigenous peoples in Northern European works.

And Ron Deibert, a professor of Political Science and Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, was named one the 50 most influential Torontonians of 2022 in Toronto Life for his work on cyber espionage, commercial spyware, internet censorship and human rights.

I should add, Margaret Atwood and Mattea Roach also made this list.

And here we are in December, a month in which I'll be welcoming back A&S grads from 2020 and 2021, because it's never too late to walk across that stage.

And I'm also looking forward to spending time with students at the ASSU Exam Jam on Friday — please do come out for the event, and perhaps snap a selfie with me at the photo booth at 1 pm.