The journey that brought Tamara Trojanowska to the place she considers to be “like home” began over 30 years ago when she arrived at U of T to start her doctorate degree.
Now she sees donating to Polish studies at the Faculty of Arts & Science as a way of acknowledging that she gets back more than she gives.
“My donations not only go directly to bringing the best specialists in Polish studies to U of T; I can also see how much we are doing with student scholarships,” says Trojanowska, director of the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies and associate professor in the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures.
"The impact of donations is immediate. We don't have to wait long to see it. The money is turned into concrete actions, initiatives, ways of helping students. For me, that's a huge incentive to give."
After earning her PhD in drama at U of T in 1994 she joined the Faculty of Arts & Science in 1998. Her research focuses on the transgressive intersections of drama and theatre with history, philosophy, religious imagination and recent technologies, with an emphasis on issues of identity.
She vividly remembers arriving on campus to begin her doctorate with “two suitcases and a few bucks in my pocket,” and says she can relate to students who are not native to Toronto or Canada, especially those fleeing oppressive political regimes.
“I deeply share the core values that the University espouses, like academic freedom, the exchange of innovative ideas, the quest for excellence,” says Trojanowska.
“It is a massive public institution with global aspirations, but it is eager to engage with the communities that support it.”
Trojanowska says her donations to Arts & Science are now more important than ever.
“COVID made all of us so deeply aware of how fragile we are as individuals, how fragile our institutions can be, how fragile the whole social system can be. It has made us so aware of so many things that we took for granted before,” she says.
“It's best to do good right away, rather than wait.”