The academic year coming to a close has been another banner year for the Arts & Science community with an abundance of awards, honours, milestones and achievements.
The year saw the reappointment of Melanie Woodin as dean of the faculty. And while a cohort of remarkable new faculty joined the Arts & Science community, we ended the year celebrating the more than 5,000 outstanding students who graduated, as well as a colourful #DisplayYourPride installation in Sidney Smith Hall’s atrium.
The following is just a snapshot.
Awards & Honours
In September, four A&S faculty were named to Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists including Jo Bovy of the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Jessica Green of the Department of Political Science, Nicholas Rule of the Department of Psychology, and Debra Wunch of the Department of Physics. Three faculty members were named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada: Ryan Balot of the Department of Political Science, Paul Bloom of the Department of Psychology and R. Paul Thompson of the Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology.
In November, four U of T students were selected for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, including A&S political science student Tierrai Tull, who recently graduated as a member of Woodsworth College.
Accolades continued in the new year, with the Department of Computer Science’s Raquel Urtasun being appointed to the Order of Ontario. Urtasun, the founder of the autonomous truck start-up, Waabi, was honoured for her contributions to machine learning and computer vision, along with her pioneering work on autonomous vehicles.
Ian Burton of the Department of Geography & Planning and the School of the Environment, and Bill Buxton, of the Department of Computer Science, were appointed to the Order of Canada. And, the Department of Anthropology’s Tania Li was awarded the 2024 Killam Prize in the Social Sciences for her research into culture, economy, environment and development in Indonesia.
Student Experiences
During the past year, students continued to take advantage of remarkable opportunities to study and conduct research both at home and abroad through the faculty’s many experiential learning programs.
In February, students in the Indigenous Realities in Latin America course visited Peru for a life-changing look at the history, literature and present-day concerns of diverse Indigenous societies. In March, more than 140 students from 38 different academic units presented their research at the Arts & Science Undergraduate Research Poster Fair. The fair showcased the work of undergraduate students engaged in faculty-led research projects. And in May, students took part in the Munk School’s Transnational America International & Indigenous Course Module (IICM), traveling to southern California to learn about the significant role the state plays in issues like immigration, defense and the global supply chain.
Alumni
Alumni continued to make the Arts & Science community proud.
In February, the announcement was made of an historic donation of $5 million to the African Studies Centre and the Centre for Caribbean Studies — a gift that will help attract world-leading scholars to the university. The generous gift was made by A&S alum Richard Rooney — who earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1977 as a member of New College.
In March, it was announced that A&S alum Robert Davis — who earned his bachelor of commerce degree in 1989 as a member of New College — had created the Robert Davis Black Excellence Award for students with financial need.
And in April, A&S alum Christina Wong’s Denison Avenue made the shortlist in CBC’s Canada Reads literary competition. The novel explores themes of gentrification, loss and aging through the story of an elderly Chinese-Canadian woman living in Toronto’s Chinatown.
Special Talks and Events
The academic year was filled with special talks and events that reflected the breadth and depth of the faculty.
In September, hundreds gathered in Convocation Hall to hear Nobel Peace Prize winner, honorary U of T doctorate holder and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi give an inspiring talk about the women’s uprising in Iran. We also commemorated Orange Shirt Day and Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with a special talk by guest speaker, Professor Kisha Supernant (Métis/Papaschase/British), director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology and professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta.
World-renowned conservationist, Dr. Jane Goodall, enthralled an audience of students in Desautels Hall as she described her remarkable career in environmentalism and conservation. The event was hosted by the faculty, the School of the Environment and the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada (JGI).
University Professor Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer in the development of artificial intelligence, shared his concerns about the future of AI on two different occasions in Convocation Hall and in the MARS Discovery District. As Dean Melanie Woodin said in introducing Hinton at the former event, “At this pivotal moment when we consider the opportunities and risks of AI, who better to guide us in this conversation than Dr. Hinton himself?”
And spring saw the unveiling of a highly anticipated exhibit in the Lash Miller Building, home of the Department of Chemistry, honouring University Professor Emeritus John Polanyi for his Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough in reaction dynamics.
Institutional Strategic Initiatives
The year’s highlights included examples of how U of T’s Institutional Strategic Initiatives are continuing to support large-scale, high-impact interdisciplinary research.
It was a banner year for the Acceleration Consortium (AC) that included, in November 2023, a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of its future home. In March came the announcement of $1.2M in funding for projects that accelerate scientific discovery — including those involving self-driving labs. And in April, a visit to U of T from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland showcasing the AC’s cutting-edge research and training.
In addition, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology & Society announced that a leading expert in cybersecurity and two renowned AI safety researchers were joining the institute to help achieve its goal of steering AI development to prioritize safety and human welfare.
In mid-August, experts in machine learning participated in the inaugural Schmidt AI in Science Conference, co-hosted by Schmidt Futures. The conference is part of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowships program co-led at U of T by Professor Lisa Strug, Director of the Data Sciences Institute and Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Director of the Acceleration Consortium. The Vector Institute also supports the program.
Science, Humanities & Social Sciences
A number of achievements reflected the incredible diversity of A&S research, scholarly work and teaching in the sciences, humanities and social sciences.
In September came the announcement of the acquisition of an ancient manuscript widely regarded as one of “medieval Europe’s biggest bestsellers”: a partial copy of Sir John Mandeville’s Travels that scholars believed was penned in the mid-1300s.
In early 2024, the GRASAC Knowledge Sharing Platform was launched, housing digital records of 5,000 Great Lakes heritage items, two online dictionaries with 17,000 Anishinaabemowin and Cayuga words and records of a variety of artifacts including moccasins and headdresses, historic photographs and more.
In the spring of 2024, undergraduates students and seniors — some in their 90s — came together in the innovative health studies course Aging & Health to examine issues faced by Canada’s senior population. Students also enjoyed the Munk School’s Ambassador series in which they heard from and spoke with five international diplomats, including the Honourable Bob Rae, Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations and Munk School Distinguished Fellow.
And, Earth Science’s Melissa Anderson was profiled in a story and video describing her search for hot geothermal vents lying thousands of metres beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean onboard the scientific research vessel Falkor.
If you are interesting in reading about other achievements — too numerous to mention — please browse A&S News.