MICROGRAVITY: In space, your bones get weaker p4
NEW ELDER: Wendy Phillips is the first Indigenous Elder based at U of T Scarborough p30
FALL 2017
News
Insights
Research
Culture
Community
What inspires UTSC
CALLED TO SERVE: Alum helps refugees from embassy in Beirut p32
KEYNOTE
A magazine for the alumni, friends and community of the University of Toronto Scarborough Fall 2017 Volume 7, Issue 2 Produced by the Department of Communications & Public Affairs 416-287-7089, utsccommons@utsc.utoronto.ca
UTSC COMMONS
CONTENTS
Editor Chris Garbutt
At the risk of sounding trite, I am awed and amazed by how much there is in the world to be inspired by. What would life be without it? Inspiration lifts us up from routine, helps us meet life’s challenges, and pushes us towards our potential. There have been exemplars in my midst—people who thrilled me about human
capacities and excited my ambitions in every decade of my life. Both of my parents, accomplished educators devoted to social justice and community service, set a powerful example for me. They showed me how to pursue my ambitions wholeheartedly and ethically, just as they did. Here on our own campus, I am inspired daily by the diverse accomplishments of students, faculty, staff, as well as alumni. In these pages, you will see a number of examples. Mary Makarious, an undergraduate psychology student, came to U of T Scarborough in the wake of Egypt’s 2011 revolution. Entering her fourth year, she has embarked on an ambitious research project to document the resiliency of Egyptians since the events of that life-changing spring. (See page 17.) I’m also moved by the work of Marlene Goldman, a long-time professor in our English department. Marlene recently produced and directed a short film based on a story by literary legend Alice Munro. The film is told from the point of view of a woman with Alzheimer’s and will be on the festival circuit this fall. It is a touching story, but more than that, Marlene plans to use the film to help caregivers better understand the subjective experience of those they are tending to. (See page 26.) There is so much in our community to cheer about. We can be inspired by events, by people, by our environment, by literature, visual art and by music. In this issue, we’ll introduce you to some of the people in the U of T Scarborough community and to what makes each of them excited to get up and get going every day.
FALL 2017
Principal Photographer Ken Jones
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Inspired Scarborough
Communications Interns Alexa Battler, Elizabeth Oloidi, Nicole Royle, Raquel Russell Art Direction, Design & Production Hambly & Woolley Inc. Editorial Advisory Group Pankaj Aggarwal Associate Professor, Department of Management Andrew Arifuzzaman Chief Administrative Officer Vina Goghari Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Graduate Department of Psychological Clinical Science Joe Hermer Associate Professor, Department of Sociology Alice Maurice Associate Professor, Department of English Shelley Romoff Director, Communications & Public Affairs Georgette Zinaty Executive Director, Development & Alumni Relations To contact us, please visit UTSCCommons.ca, email utsccommons@utsc.utoronto.ca or write us at UTSC Commons, Communications & Public Affairs, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 UTSC Commons has a circulation of 34,000 and is published twice a year by UTSC’s Department of Communications & Public Affairs. All material is copyright © 2017 University of Toronto Scarborough and may be reprinted with written permission. Alumni receive the magazine free of charge.
feature
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mosaic
INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
We spoke with more than a dozen inspiring members of the U of T Scarborough community and asked what inspires them.
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For information about how you can support University of Toronto Scarborough, please contact Development & Alumni Relations at 416-287-7115, advancement@utsc.utoronto.ca or at the postal address above. Visit us online UTSCCommons.ca Facebook UofTScarborough Instagram & Twitter @UTSC
Cover: Taylor Kristan
BEHIND THE SCENES OF PUBLISHING
Clayton Childress follows the process of creating a book. p2 NO BONES ABOUT IT
Research in orbit can tell us about our own bodies. p4 FORGET IT!
To improve memory, it helps to not remember some things. p5
campus news
Management celebrates 25 years on campus. p28 Prof finishes award-winning essay on his cell phone. p29 Campus gets its own Indigenous Elder. p30
The University of Toronto Scarborough respects your privacy. We do not rent, trade or sell our mailing lists. If you do not wish to receive the magazine, please contact us at 416-978-2139 or 1-800-463-6048 or address.update@utsc.utoronto.ca
meeting place
Alum finds his calling at Canadian Embassy in Lebanon. p32
annotation Bruce Kidd, OC, PhD, LLD Vice-President, University of Toronto, and Principal, UTSC
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Who is Dan Lang and why was a baseball field named after him? p36 Aly-Khan Rajani
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MOSAIC
MOSAIC
take home
BECOME A PERSON OF HOPE–AND CHANGE
Ideas & Observations
BEHIND THE SCENES IN BOOK PUBLISHING
In the world of publishing, “good work” doesn’t always mean “inclusive.” Clayton Childress’s new book, Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel, looks behind the scenes in the life of one particular novel, Cornelia Nixon’s Jarrettsville. Childress, a sociology professor at U of T Scarborough, says his research included “learning what was typical and atypical in the writing, publishing and reading of novels.” He followed the journey of Jarrettsville—a work of historical fiction published in 2009— through all three of these phases. 2
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Through interviews, ethnographic field work and survey data, Childress offers insights into how marginalized voices struggle to be heard in publishing houses. He also looks at author communities and at many other topics involved in the production and reception of culture. Each chapter in Childress’s book “highlights a turning point in the life of Jarrettsville,” he says, “which is then used to illuminate the broader picture of how books come to be.” In the complex world of publishing—where agents pitch books to publishing houses; acquisition editors read and select them; and marketers and distributors make significant, often-hidden
contributions—Childress points to the role of the acquisition editor. It is there that what he calls “the paradox of ‘good work’” comes into play. “Part of doing ‘good work’ in this industry, as an acquisition editor, is publishing things that you can personally relate to and root for,” he says. “The manuscript adheres to your own tastes and experiences.” But Childress adds that doing “good work” can have the dramatic effect of shutting out marginalized voices. In Nixon’s initial draft of Jarrettsville, the story centred on a female character’s point of view. It got no attention from publishers. Then Nixon took the story apart and created a new version that gave equal weight to a male character’s point of view. “Eventually the acquisition editor decided this book should be published—all he initially spoke about was the male main character,” says Childress. “He says he felt like the character was a friend he could relate to.” In this, the editor was actually doing “good work,” Childress explains. And this is why it’s important to have diverse people, culturally and regionally, in such positions. “There are serious consequences to the massive underrepresentation of authors and stories by people who don’t look, sound or think like typical acquisition editors.” In the last third of his book, Childress elaborates on these consequences as he follows Jarrettsville into the world of reviewers, retailers and readers.
IT’S BEEN A TUMULTUOUS TIME IN THE WORLD AND IT CAN BE EASY TO DESPAIR. SO WE ASKED TWO OF OUR ESTEEMED FACULTY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE TO GIVE US REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC FOR THE FUTURE. ON CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL It’s difficult to educate naysayers because there is such a degree of nonsense that it’s hard to see what evidence would change those positions. So I think a better attack is to not necessarily talk about climate change, but to talk about building communities, to talk about what living the good life is, to talk about what livable cities, livable communities, livable neighborhoods look like. I think that there is some hope to be found in sustainability and a real rally around local efforts. You bring hope if you work on fostering social capital, local and personal networks. – Professor Matthew Hoffmann, author of Climate Governance at the Crossroads: Experimenting with a Global Response after Kyoto, Oxford University Press, 2011
ON WORLDWIDE INSTABILITY At some level, we are all trained to believe that racism and injustice is something “out there,” not something that we carry in our own bodies. When we finally realize we are not looking at a system from the outside criticizing it, but that we’re in it, and we are each a data point in the statistics, that is the moment when we can truly see ourselves and the other. That is a hopeful, profound moment of change. If we could all collectively do that, then we can stop the madness around us. Hope is something internal. If you become a person of hope, you become a person of change immediately. – Assistant Professor Aisha Ahmad, author of Jihad & Co.: Black Markets and Islamist Power, Oxford University Press, 2017
NEW MASTER’S PROGRAM A FIRST IN NORTH AMERICA
U of T Scarborough is introducing the MAccFin—a new Master’s degree in Accounting and Finance that will be the first of its kind in North America. Commencing in May 2018, the 16-month full-time program will cater to those who seek careers in account management, wealth management, consultancy, entrepreneurship and project management. David Zweig, Chair of the Department of Management, says, “Not only will the program emphasize the integration between accounting and finance—it incorporates other management disciplines, as well as the latest research on big data and data analytics, all of which are critical to solving multi-faceted issues in today’s business world.” The MAccFin will resemble the current Management Co-op program at UTSC by offering students an internship to incorporate work experience into their academic studies. Once the program receives final approval from the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance and the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development, admission will be offered to 30 students. But the numbers are expected to grow. “We are looking for individuals who want to balance their passion for accounting and finance with a deep understanding of management and leadership,” Zweig says.
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MOSAIC
breakthrough thinking
DID YOU KNOW? A ’swale of a feature
Thousands of people—and more than 675 buses—pass
through the bus loop and Scarborough Circle every week. What these students and visitors may fail to notice is the sloping terrain and diverse, overflowing plant life at the centre of these loops. These areas are actually called bioswales—purposefully designed pieces of landscape architecture for flood prevention. Bioswales have special vegetation on the ground, formed to slope downwards to usher rainwater into a storm drain. There are two of them in the bus loop and
SPACE RESEARCH CAN TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT OUR BONES HERE ON EARTH travel? This has been on the mind of one cellular biologist and her graduate student. And the pair are making gigantic leaps in understanding osteoporosis—here on Earth. Biology Professor Rene Harrison started researching osteoporosis in astronauts in 2009 with an experiment in space, conducted in partnership with a European satellite. The focus: the impact of space travel on certain cells inside the bone. There are three cell types in the bone, says Harrison. “We were looking at the two cells that influence bone mass—the ones that make it and the ones that break it down.” The success of this project led to Harrison’s graduate student Roxanne Fournier studying the impact of space travel on the third cell type—the cell within the bone that can detect gravity and send signals to the other cells, which then change the bone accordingly. This time, no partnership with a satellite is required. “The Canadian 4
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space agency put out a call for proposals using simulated micro gravity [weightlessness],” says Harrison. “Something that you could actually do in a lab with a machine.” Harrison and Fournier hope to understand osteoporosis not only in astronauts—who suffer a severe form called “disuse osteoporosis,” due to microgravity—but to help everyone who suffers from this common, bone-degenerative disease. Harrison notes that they will look for molecules called biomarkers, which change in disease, to track the cause of osteoporosis. She says that if you can detect this biomarker, you can use antibodies or CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) techniques to change it. “So—a way to treat osteoporosis on Earth.” Harrison says the project goes beyond her comfort zone and has turned into “a bit of an engineering project.” Still, she hopes to finish creating an artificial bone for the cells
and move on to working with the microgravity simulator. Simulated “is pretty good,” she says. “But it’s not true microgravity.” So she’d like to send the project back into space. This might prove difficult as space flights are rare these days. On the other hand, space agencies are interested in projects like this because they want to send astronauts to Mars, but missions of such long duration raise concerns about bone-mass loss. “It’s about one to two per cent per month, so it’s a huge amount,” Harrison says. On Earth, a woman with post-menopausal osteoporosis would lose that amount in a year. Fournier and Harrison hope to finish creating the artificial bone and begin testing with simulated microgravity by the end of the year. It’s a long journey, but they look forward to the challenge. “It’s all a learning process for both of us,” says Harrison, “which is fun, which is science. Science always changes.”
MEMORIZE? FORGET IT
Memories are built by remembering. Makes sense, right?
REUTERS/NASA/Handout via Reuters
What happens to astronauts after space
Not so fast. Researchers from the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children have found that forgetting matters just as much. “The real goal of memory is to optimize decisionmaking,” says U of T Scarborough Assistant Professor Blake Richards, author of a new review study focusing on the role forgetting information plays in memory. “It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.” Richards notes that in a constantly changing world, old information becomes outdated and not as important to remember. Plus, remembering large amounts of data inhibits your ability to prioritize core information that’s necessary to make decisions. “If you’re trying to navigate the world and your brain is constantly bringing up multiple conflicting memories, that makes it harder for you to make an informed decision.”
one in Scarborough Circle. All three are designed by Janet Rosenberg & Studio, a landscape architecture firm renowned for innovative design. When selecting plants for a bioswale, landscape architects consider a plant’s ability to soak up rainwater—and also to absorb toxins and pollutants. Less water will flow into the drain, and the water will be cleaner. The slope of the land must be carefully calculated. Several of the plants in these three bioswales are native to Scarborough. And, for another environmental plus, many are pollinator friendly.
So you might be the trivia champion of your local pub, says Richards, but that kind of memory won’t take you far. “The point of memory is to make you an intelligent person who can make decisions given the circumstances and an important aspect in helping you do that is being able to forget some information.”
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Inspired Scarborough
INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
ONCE A MARKETER, NOW A WORLD-LEADING SCHOLAR
F
There are people you look at and wonder how they got to where they are now. At U of T Scarborough, you get to meet a lot of those people. Inspirational people. We asked just a few inspirational people− students, alumni and faculty−about what inspired them. Here’s what we learned.
Pankaj Aggarwal
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or 14 years, Pankaj Aggarwal created advertising campaigns for high-profile brands from Nestlé to Whirlpool. It was a position he thrived in and a career he loved. But, says Aggarwal, “I wanted to do something more meaningful. You want to leave behind the world with a little bit of your stamp on it.” In a high-pressure environment, he rarely had time to thoroughly research a product and the consumer’s relationship to it. Academia, he felt, would afford this opportu- “I wanted to do something nity. He left India to complete more meaningful. You want to his second MBA and his PhD at the University of Chicago, leave behind the world with a and in 2001 began teaching at U of T Scarborough. little bit of your stamp on it.” A professor in the Department of Management, Aggarwal still focuses on his love of marketing. But in addition to a legacy of successful advertising campaigns, he will now leave behind a better understanding of what propels people to buy things. In 2014, Aggarwal was ranked as one of the world’s top 25 marketing scholars in consumer behaviour based on his research impact. “We almost humanize products and brands. We give them a name and we have feelings for them—whether it’s our car or laptop. We form relationships with them.” Aggarwal asks questions that are anchored, he says, “in real world issues. I try to answer them not through selling more products, but through understanding why people behave how they behave.” — Jessica Wynne Lockhart UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH SCARBOROUGH INSPIRED
GLOBAL LEARNERS, GLOBAL WORKERS
“When I think back, I have no idea how I made it through and I wish I had the same level of energy now.”
Barbara Forbes
– Tamana Zamir
I
f you’re wondering what students in International Development Studies (IDS) will actually do, just ask these two. Barbara Forbes and Tamana Zamir, two recent graduates, are already working hard on programs to aid refugees. They’re so busy that we had trouble even getting in touch. Work schedules, time differences and unreliable internet access all conspired to make a connection nearly impossible. At last, we were able to connect by email. Here are some highlights of that electronic conversation. — Chris Garbutt
TZ: I am working with the Danish Refugee Council, an international NGO, where I monitor and evaluate all Iraqi displaced persons and Syrian refugee response programs. My current role as monitoring and evaluation co-ordinator has required me to frequently travel within Iraq and to neighbouring countries. I lead a team of 12 staff across Iraq. BF: I’m in Cleveland through a year-long volunteer service program called the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I help newly arrived refugees get to the doctor. In August, I started a new job with an American NGO where I’ll be working in their country office in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. TZ: My family immigrated to Canada when I was young, from Azerbaijan, where my parents were international students at Baku State University. At 17, I had the opportunity to visit Afghanistan and I was excited to learn more about where I came from [Tamana is a Canadian of Afghan origin with a mixed cultural background]. The trip quickly became one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. It made me realize how lucky I was to be Canadian and for the opportunities this country has given me and my family. 8
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Tamana Zamir
BF: My mother is a proponent of education outside the classroom. When I expressed a desire to visit relatives in England, she responded that when I was older I would be able to travel there—and elsewhere— by myself. The support my parents provided has inspired me because their acceptance of my travel and study choices (and willingness to pick me up from the airport) makes it easy for me to go where peers from my hometown might not consider. TZ: The biggest challenge of undergrad was being an independent student and having to financially support myself. I had multiple jobs and a full course load. When I think back, I have no idea how I made it through and I wish I had the same level of energy now as I did then.
BF: My Co-op placement was to be project management advisor at the country office of VSO Tanzania: editing reports, planning an international board meeting visit and leading the orientation for new volunteers. However, only a few weeks into my placement I was struggling to adapt to the office environment, as I knew the perspective of a foreigner in the big city of Dar es Salaam was much different than day-to-day life is for other Tanzanians. When I heard of an opportunity to be a livestock development advisor, I presented myself as a candidate—emphasizing my childhood on an Alberta beef feedlot and summer job as an agronomist assistant. Talking with and learning from these farmers formed the basis of research for my IDS thesis. TZ: I found my IDS professors extremely inspiring. Their passion for their research and their wealth of knowledge shone through in their lectures. It had a great impact on the young Tamana who had so much thirst for knowledge. I still keep in regular contact with some of the faculty members. I was also very involved with the World University Service of Canada local committee. Our major responsibility was the Student Refugee Program, in which we sponsored refugee students from Kenya to pursue their studies at U of T.
BF: It’s been a treat to meet up with other IDS students in far-flung places (they may or may not have been in my year). It’s made for brilliant meetings whether it’s when I need a room for the night in London or am hosting an IDSer for Halloween in Dar es Salaam. I’d love to hear if there are any UTSC grads in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so I might meet up with them! TZ: Seeing our hard work actually having an impact is rewarding. It could be anything from providing drinking water, food or shelter in a camp. It can also be getting a water pump station to work again in a village after it was damaged by conflict. It is especially rewarding when I see individuals of different religious and ethnic backgrounds develop lasting friendships beyond our project interventions.
To read more about Forbes and Zamir, visit utsccommons.ca.
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INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
THERE FOR EACH OTHER A
few weeks ago, Nicole Chen (Hons BSc, 1997, BEd, MEd) and Sasha Khan (BA, 2000) hopped on a plane for a romantic weekend getaway. “We have three kids, so we don’t do it often,” says Nicole. “It’s something we used to do when we were dating,” Sasha adds. “We really liked going to watch plays.” The two have a marriage that seems greater than the sum of its parts. They inspire each other in many ways, including two that resonate with the values of U of T Scarborough—entrepreneurship and further education. Nicole started teaching in 1998. When she told Sasha she wanted to take a year off work to get her Master’s, he said, “That’s a great idea!” Support like that, Nicole says, “gives you courage.” She now heads the ESL department at Francis Libermann Catholic High School. Sasha describes Nicole as being “so focused and passionate. She started a mindfulness program for the kids at the school, funding some of it with her own money. That’s inspiring.” And it goes both ways. Sasha, who is executive VP of product development and channel strategy for a tech company called Jolera, had always helped out at his parents’ restaurant, Mona’s Roti. One day he told Nicole he wanted to start his own restaurant—and she had no doubts. She backed him up 100 per cent on opening Cravins Caribbean Grill. 10
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Nicole Chen & Sasha Khan
“Nicole is the counterbalance to my chaos,” he says. “She grounds me and always reminds me to take a breath.” So maybe it was serendipity when the couple first met as undergraduates at UTSC’s Meeting Place. They shared a few English courses, so they were familiar with each other, and when Nicole looked at Sasha and said, “Hey,” Sasha said it back. Then he figured out that Nicole would be leaving H-Wing after a 9:30 class, at the same time he would be arriving. “I started timing it perfectly, just so I could see her in the hall.” Next, he helped her with a computer course and they became friends. Nicole already had the focus and passion that Sasha admires in her today. “I found that really attractive,” he says. “We’re different now than when we were 19, but we gravitate towards doing the things we loved to do together when we first met. I think that’s important.” In Nicole’s words: “Nothing stays the same. Between Sasha and me, there’s a lot of patience and understanding and letting each other grow.” — Donna Paris UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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Hong Kong Connection By Elaine Smith
A
lumni KC Sin, Gigi Pang and Derrick Yip were at U of T Scarborough together in the 1980s and belonged to the Chinese Students Association. They now live in Hong Kong and still keep in touch. We asked them what inspired them to become who they are today.
INSPIRED BY SPORT SIN IS a human resources executive with JP Morgan Chase. He says that sport inspired him to become the person he is; that he is motivated by learning and challenges; and that his family inspires him to continue doing what he loves, to be a role model for his children. “I was very involved with the U of T Scarborough volleyball team and played every single sport on campus,” Sin says. “I developed friendships through sport that still continue now, even though we are scattered all over the world. The bond that pulled us together was the hard work of sports. “The effort you put in on the court is something you take with you, and the competition is good because you need to be competitive to survive.” UTSC gave Sin a chance to pursue his passion for sports, along with a degree in business and French. He sends a donation every year in thanks. “I was fortunate to benefit from a scholarship,” he says, “and I want to pay it forward.” 12
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KC Sin
INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
A GENERATIONAL ROLE MODEL AFTER GRADUATING FROM UTSC, Yip returned home to help run the family business, which currently provides real estate advisory services. “I had a pretty clear mission when I went to university,” he says. “Since fathers traditionally pass their businesses to their sons, my father wanted me to get an accounting degree. It gave me useful exposure to top-tier investment banks and firms. “UTSC taught me to think critically, and that is very valuable in this era of increasing globalization and new challenges. University wasn’t just about textbook learning, but about handling problems.” Yip looks to his father as a major source of inspiration. From him, he learned “how to be a good gentleman and how to do business.” His father, he says, came to North America with no money and didn’t speak English. “But he learned and earned his way through university. I want to be a role model and want my son to understand his father and grandfather.”
Derrick Yip
Gigi Pang
WORLD CITIZEN PANG SERVES ON BOARDS of many charities (her family helped found the Evergreen Education Foundation, which won the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Access to Learning Award in 2004). Pang is Chair of the charitable foundation of the Golden Bauhinia Women Entrepreneur Association, which raises university scholarship funds for economically disadvantaged Hong Kong girls. She wants them to have the same opportunities that she had at UTSC. “My family immigrated to Vancouver in 1986 and I attended high school there,” she says. “U of T was my only choice for university because it is the best in Canada.” Pang draws inspiration “U of T from her parents, who were among the first athletes to Scarborough represent Hong Kong in the Olympics when it began to participate as a distinct entity. has given me But she also credits UTSC with giving her the confidence the platform and to pursue her goals. trained me to be “Every bit of the Scarborough campus made a responsible me who I am: the natural sunlight that shone through world citizen.” the glass when we studied in S Wing; the smell of the woods; and the friends I made from different cultural backgrounds,” says Pang, who studied management and geography. “U of T Scarborough has given me the platform and trained me to be a responsible world citizen.” UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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“I wanted to do something more meaningful. You want to leave behind the world with a little bit of your stamp on it.”
– Pankaj Aggarwal
INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH SCARBOROUGH INSPIRED
BOOKS CREATE SPARKS FOR PERFORMANCE ARTIST I
t was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” According to performance and video artist Tanya Mars, we are now living in those times. When Mars created Crone, a six-hour performance, she wanted to examine the role of truth in the age of “alternative facts.” It was this year, but no words were more resonant for Mars than those of Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities. “I’ll be reading a book and there will be one sentence that just lights my fire and I’ll go, ‘That’s such an interesting idea,’” says Mars, an associate professor in Studio at Tanya U of T Scarborough. Mars Mars has always been a bookworm, but wasn’t always a performer (although she was once a cheerleader). She says she became a performance artist almost by accident. “When you go to art school and find out you’re a really bad painter, you have to “I’ll be reading a book and there find alternatives.” After moving to Montreal will be one sentence that just from Michigan in the late ’60s, Mars fell in with a lights my fire and I’ll go, ‘That’s theatre crowd. Acting wasn’t her forté either, but such an interesting idea.’” the experience ignited her love of the performative and led to a career that has spanned over 40 years. Mars is always reading something new—after finishing several novels about China’s Cultural Revolution, she’s now “on a Don DeLillo kick”—and her sources of inspiration shift “from lifetime to lifetime.” But certain themes remain consistent. An examination of power politics and feminism—this underpins most of her work and is also the anchor of her teaching career. “I’m now 50 years older than most of my first-year students and see that those young women are often struggling with the same anxieties and glass ceilings that I was dealing with at that age,” says Mars. “Whenever I think I might hang up my hat, I’m compelled to be ever vigilant.” — Jessica Wynne Lockhart 16
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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF POST-REVOLUTION
Mary Makarious
E
veryone thought Mary Makarious was a spy. In the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution of 2011— which was part of what’s called the Arab Spring— Makarious wanted to get a sense of how people were doing. The fourth-year Psychology student had already written a 100-page paper based on the frustrations of six Cairo residents. Then in 2016, she went back to Egypt to do research on resiliency. When she approached people with her questionnaire, she was greeted with suspicion. They thought she might be a spy for the Egyptian government. By being careful, though, she was able to make progress, even though many didn’t understand what she was getting at. “Talking about resiliency was hard because people don’t talk about their feelings a lot,” Makarious says. Still, she ended up with notes from more than 50 interviews and 150 completed questionnaires.
For an undergrad, that’s some impressive research. And Makarious also volunteers at both the Toronto Distress Centre and the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, and is a research assistant in Professor Marc Fournier’s Social Ecology Lab. “I love psychology, and I love listening to people,” she says. An Egyptian herself, she plans to work towards a PhD and dreams of returning to her homeland to open a centre for psychotherapy and resiliency. “We could easily do it,” says Makarious. “The people there have inspired me so much. They’re very strong and have a lot of courage.” — Chris Garbutt UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
A PASSION FOR JUSTICE
Photography by
Photography by
W
Thembela Kepe
hen it comes to obstacles, Thembela Kepe has known his share. Example: writing his high school exams under armed guard. Kepe, a Human Geography professor at U of T Scarborough, grew up as a Black South African under apartheid. Those soldiers with the R5 rifles, he says. “They were not guarding us for our protection. We were ‘the bad people.’ They were making sure that you write the exam and then you go home.” It’s no wonder Kepe is inspired by others who have faced challenges. “People who overcome challenges are stronger and have a lot to teach us.” His parents have always inspired him. “I could see my mother suffering, trying to make a living for us.” She encouraged him to pursue an education, despite not being educated herself. Kepe attended three different high schools, which were so dysfunctional that he used to read ahead in his textbooks, since the teacher might or might not show up to teach the chapter. He then went to the University of Fort Hare, at a time when only three per cent of Black South Africans made it to university. Some days he would fear being shot by police. But, he says, “seeing my parents suffer inspired me to continue.” Kepe’s passion for geography stemmed from his passion for land, which began at an early age, since “land was always an issue” in South Africa. He also likes the “multidisciplinarity” of the field. “Geography is a unique discipline because it is not a discipline. It allows one to draw from different disciplines. And so human geography is the best.” Kepe likes to show students what they already know, and then help them build a deeper understanding from that foundation. “I show them that they actually know more than they think they know.” Inspired by justice and politics, Kepe says he “infuses” these into his courses. He draws from personal experience, as well as other examples, “to make theory alive when I teach. And students like that.” — Elizabeth Oloidi UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
WITH AN EDUCATION COMES AN OBLIGATION
hen Mike DeGagné was a BSc student at U of T Scarborough, he didn’t know that he would lead a life of service, contribute to the Indigenous community and inspire thousands of students. He is now president and vice-chancellor of Nipissing University—the first Indigenous university president in Canada. Years ago, after graduating in Biology, DeGagné worked in a field that didn’t involve Indigenous people much at all. Then he was approached by Maggie Hodgson, founder of the Nechi Institute on Alcohol and Drug Education, who has been a mentor to him. “With an education comes an obligation,” she told him. She said the community needed more people working in important areas such as health and wellness, and he should put his talents there. “She set up a meeting,” he recalls, “for me to meet some people to facilitate this. And then I started working on health programs with the government.” He eventually became director of First Nations and Inuit Health Programs for Health Canada. A few years later, Hodgson tapped DeGagné on the shoulder again, and he soon began managing Indigenous programs. He became the founding executive director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, a national organization that addressed the legacy of residential schools. Through the years, DeGagné has served on boards and committees in the health sector and worked with governments in roles such as senior negotiator with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. He is also a lecturer, nationally and internationally, on Indigenous governance and reconciliation. 20
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Along the way, the UTSC alumnus has added new credentials, including a Master’s degree in Administration, a PhD in Education—focusing on Aboriginal post-secondary success— and a Master of Laws. DeGagné has received honours including the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. When asked, he says his proudest accomplishment is his work with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. “I was fortunate to work with wonderful people who were so committed. We were working together as friends and colleagues, helping people, helping residential school survivors. It was very gratifying,” he says quietly. Where does his sense of community stem from? He refers to Hodgson. “She was someone I trusted. She gave me guidance.” DeGagné, who comes from Fort Frances in northwestern Ontario, adds that his mother was a nurse and his father a teacher. “I was always a joiner, growing up.” Then he smiles at an old joke in public service circles. “I guess I’m a member of that special group, STP (same 10 people).” At Nipissing, he says, “We tell young people, ‘It’s great that you’re working, but don’t forget about community.’” He adds that boards, committees and volunteerism “are for everyone.” Personally, DeGagné feels things have come full circle—that he’s the one being inspired now, by the Nipissing students. “Every September that energy is part of a cycle and a renewal for them,” he says, “and for me.” — Donna Paris
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Photo courtesy of Nipissing University
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Mike DeGagné
FOR SCSU PRES, MOM’S GIFT IS CONFIDENCE AND COMMITMENT o rise in student politics means seeking guidance from lots of people. But no one has inspired Sitharsana Srithas more than her own mother. “When we came to Canada it was just my mom and the three of us, and she raised us all on her own,” says Srithas, president of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU). “She didn’t know the language. She didn’t have any kind of support system.” Srithas focused on her studies when she first came to U of T Scarborough, but didn’t feel that she was getting the full university experience. A friend who was involved in the Tamil Students’ Association (TSA) convinced her to attend a panel discussion on the Sri Lankan civil war. Srithas went. And she’s never looked back. “I listened to everything that was being said on the importance of continuing the fight for Tamil Eelam [a proposed independent state in Sri Lanka], and thought, ‘wow this is awesome,’” she recalls. “That’s something I missed a lot in high school, because I was the only Tamil person in the school.” Srithas went on to become president of the TSA. And through that she got a sense of what was happening in the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union. Initially, she says, “I thought all SCSU did was orientation and boat cruises. I didn’t know about the advocacy aspect, and that’s what really drives me.”
Sitharsana Srithas
Srithas remembers what her mother always told her when she was growing up: “Don’t doubt yourself. And if you feel strongly for something, go for it.” These words helped encourage Srithas to work her way up to president of the TSA and, now, to “Everything I do, I president of the SCSU. She says that for girls in the Tamil community, always ask myself, self-doubt is often ‘would my mom be “embedded into your upbringing.” For proud?’ And that example, “because you’re a woman you have has kind of defined to be humble, don’t speak against elders and where I’m going.” don’t speak against authorities.” But her mother, she says, has always encouraged her to fight against that. “She has always been, like, if you think something is right, just do it.” Ultimately, Srithas hopes that all she does will be a tribute to her mother’s love and commitment. “Everything I do, I always ask myself, would my mom be proud? And that has kind of defined where I’m going.” — Elizabeth Oloidi UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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“People who overcome challenges are stronger and have a lot to teach us.” – Thembela Kepe
INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
NATURAL CURIOSITY T
o hear David Fleet talk about his latest research— including the use of computational processing in molecular biology—makes it hard to believe he wasn’t always drawn to computer science. But Fleet, who is now Chair of Computer and Mathematical Sciences at U of T Scarborough, once imagined a much different career trajectory. In 1979, as a saxophonist, he enrolled at Queen’s University to study music. There was just one problem. “I found out that I was terrible,” says Fleet. That realization marked the start of many trips to the registrar’s office. David He tried economics, but it wasn’t the right fit either. A foray into business lasted only two weeks. Directionless, Fleet he landed back in arts and science. It was outside the classroom that Fleet and his bandmate, Rick Gurnsey, with whom Fleet played in a group called Dick Tracy, devoted long hours to discussing cognitive science and artificial intelligence. “It got me thinking about “Seeing students develop, how amazing the brain is and what an interesting learn and become mature subject of study it is,” says Fleet. Partly due to these researchers and scientists conversations, he began to explore computer science in their own right is both and mathematics. In the end, it was Allan Jepson, his inspiring and a source of PhD supervisor at U of T, who really inspired him. satisfaction.” Jepson, says Fleet, “was fundamentally interested in the science. He used to tell me that he did what amused him for its own sake.” Today Fleet’s own natural curiosity propels his research and teaching. He still spends long hours discussing ideas, but now it’s with his students. “It’s a tremendous amount of fun,” he says. “Seeing them develop, learn and become mature researchers and scientists in their own right is both inspiring and a source of satisfaction.” As for Fleet’s bandmate? Rick Gurnsey is now a professor of psychology at Concordia University. — Jessica Wynne Lockhart 24
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IT’S ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION–AND THE ONE AFTER THAT
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fter high school, Steve Joordens avoided university. He travelled, worked on farms and was an assistant manager at Kmart. School was not for him. He wouldn’t know how wrong he was until he finally began studying psychology and computer science at the University of Waterloo. He found a passion for psychology and started researching human memory and consciousness. Joordens knew his research was getting to only a small audience and he wanted to reach more people and “to make some kind of difference.” So he fell into teaching and is now a psychology professor at U of T Scarborough. He finds the school is a good fit. “It’s always been hugely multicultural, and I love to sit and talk to a student and see the world through a different lens. It’s them teaching me.” When Joordens became a grandfather, he immersed himself in research and practices to improve learning. His real goal is that his grandchildren won’t go to class and be bored. “I want to make education fun and engaging for them.”
Steve Joordens In the past few years, Joordens has married his interests in learning and technology with his work on the development team of peerScholar—a learning program geared at using technology in the classroom while building learning communities for students. “When we started peerScholar, we were all just researchers,” he says, “but the program pushed us to apply our research and create something useful.” If students get multiple choice exams, as they did when Joordens first started teaching, they learn to memorize. But an online learning community where they’re forced to think critically, present arguments, be open to opposing arguments, and reflect back on their own work after learning the thoughts and “It’s always been opinions of classmates—this allows hugely multicultural, them to strengthen skills outside the and I love to sit and course curriculum. When Joordens sees people addicted talk to a student and to anything in technology, it makes see the world through him wonder: Maybe a different lens. It’s it’s possible to “take some of those them teaching me.” principles and somehow make them as interesting in an education experience as they are in a social experience,” he says. “Can we make education addictive?” — Nicole Royle UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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INSPIRED SCARBOROUGH
AGING AND DEMENTIA: GETTING BEYOND THE GOTHIC
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Marlene Goldman
hen we think of getting older, one of our biggest fears is dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Marlene Goldman, a professor of English and expert in contemporary Canadian literature and the gothic, writes and researches how we tell stories of aging and dementia. “Nowadays, the spectre of aging, and dementia in particular, has acquired a gothic dimension,” she says. Yet we don’t often hear from people with dementia. “Most of the gothic stories of dementia are told by middleaged caregivers or children who are frightened of getting older,” Goldman says. “This fear colours how we think of dementia. In the U.K., for example, sociologists describe ‘deep dementia’ as ‘a black hole.’” Goldman worked with neurologists and clinicians to understand the current gothic perspective and, equally critical, alternative perspectives and finished her book, Forgotten: Narratives of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease in Canada. But when she was done, something didn’t feel right. “Usually, I’m very pleased when I finish a book. But when I finished Forgotten, I felt sad,” says Goldman. “I realized that people with dementia who had been so helpful would have a hard time reading a scholarly work.” That’s when she added “filmmaker” to her resume. She decided she’d like to adapt Nobel-winner Alice Munro’s short story, “In Sight of the Lake” for the screen because it offers an alternative to the gothic approach to dementia. She approached the author’s family, who were enthusiastic, on one condition—it had to be a non-profit undertaking. 26
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And that condition fit well with Goldman’s vision of the project as something that could help caregivers and clinicians working with people who have dementia. The short film she co-wrote, directed, and produced, entitled Piano Lessons, has been submitted to festivals, but more importantly, it will be screened for families, health care workers and researchers. “The purpose is to use it as a pedagogical tool so that anyone can get it,” says Goldman. Working in film was a contrast to the solitary scholarly writing experience. “It was amazing to move from an individual process to co-writer, co-director and producer.” She worked with experienced writer and director Philip McKee, whom she credits with making her work better. “I have a lot of confidence in doing things badly,” Goldman says. “Fifteen drafts later, we had a gorgeous screenplay.” The story is told from the perspective of the person with dementia, which was one of the key reasons she chose to adapt it. “How we understand and respond to cognitive decline is based on our culture,” says Goldman. “In our culture, people with dementia often become invisible. They are hidden within institutions and they are often treated like objects rather than subjects. But everyone is worthy of dignity and respect. People with dementia don’t always share our sense of ‘reality,’ but when we take the trouble to forge connections, everyone benefits because we gain access to a fascinating, alternative and imaginative view of the world.” — Chris Garbutt
STARTING OVER
Lana Mikhaylichenko
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s a child in the U.S.S.R., Lana Mikhaylichenko dreamed of becoming a teacher. The large apartment block where she lived was home to many children, who were the perfect pupils in her regular games of “school.” She became an assistant professor. But then, when she immigrated to Canada in 2003, she thought she was leaving her childhood dream and teaching days behind. Mikhaylichenko says her move to Canada was a “familiar” immigration story. When she arrived in Toronto with her husband and three teenage children, she didn’t speak English fluently. She held a PhD in chemistry and had been an academic researcher for 10 years, but lacked international experience. This was the first time she’d set foot in another country.
“It was a huge cultural and language shock,” says Mikhaylichenko. As her savings began to run dry, she spent months searching for work, and finally landed a lab technician job at U of T Scarborough. There she met Janet Potter, a senior lecturer “My students are my at the time, who offered her a job as big inspiration—they a teaching assistant. Mikhaylichenko calls move me forward, Potter her guardian angel. “I realized that push me to learn I was missing teaching so much.” and to find new Now an associate professor of chemisthings to teach.” try, Mikhaylichenko was awarded the UTSC Faculty Teaching Award in 2014. She says her experience as an immigrant has helped her form relationships with students—particularly those who are first-generation Canadians or immigrants themselves. And the relationships go both ways. “My students are my big inspiration,” she says. “They move me forward, push me to learn and to find new things to teach.” — Jessica Wynne Lockhart UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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CAMPUS NEWS
CAMPUS NEWS MANAGEMENT CELEBRATES 25 YEARS
DOCUMENTING THE INDIGENOUS GAMES
Scarborough’s biggest department a “hidden gem.” But it’s an apt description. The Department of Management, the largest on campus by number of faculty, is now celebrating its 25th anniversary. The department is a major success story in the highly competitive world of academic business programs. Its 2,400 students are the kind who could gain entry anywhere—the average acceptance grade is 90 per cent—and faculty come from top schools around the world. Its innovative Co-op program is the envy of universities across Canada. And its more than 12,000 alumni commonly work at top companies in Canada and globally. Yet in its quarter century of existence, the department has flown a little under the radar. “We really are a hidden gem on the UTSC campus and in U of T as a whole,” says Department Chair David Zweig. “But we’re starting to talk more about how successful we’ve been and the success we have to come.” On the immediate horizon are the first graduate programs for the department—Master’s degrees in accounting and finance (see page 3) and in behavioural management research. Even more exciting for leaders is the prospect of Management becoming its own faculty or school, a first for UTSC. That restructuring could come within two or three years. In 2017, the department received the highest number of applications ever—6,500 from 118 countries for only 500 spots. A little over half of students are drawn by the popular
photographer for this year’s North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) in Toronto. “I liked the fact that they were hosting some events out at UTSC,” he says. “These kids were so happy to be there and it was a huge opportunity.” Proulx has been interested in photography most of his life—he got his first camera when he was 10 years old—and still takes photos of events around his community between his day job working with the city. When Proulx heard the North American Indigenous Games were coming to Toronto for the first time, specifically his alma mater, he immediately applied to be a volunteer photographer. “As soon as I found out the Games were looking for volunteer photographers, I applied and sent them some pictures. I do some paid photography, but for NAIG I had absolutely no problem doing this for free.” Although he has Ojibwe/Métis roots on his father’s side, Proulx was never taught his family’s Indigenous history, nor did he have the chance to learn about the culture and traditions in which his family would have taken part. The Games gave him that chance. The training sessions for volunteers were aimed at informing them about Indigenous history, culture and issues. “This was a way for me to reconnect and learn some stuff about my own heritage,” Proulx says.
It might seem odd to call U of T
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Kevin Proulx (BA 1992) was thrilled to be a volunteer
Principal Bruce Kidd speaks at a celebration of the Department of Management’s 25th anniversary.
Co-op program—people like Scarborough-raised Precia Darshan (BBA, 2014), a leadership award winner who has recently completed an MBA and a law degree simultaneously at Queen’s University. “The technical background I received at UTSC was second to none,” she says, “and Co-op was fantastic. I don’t think I’d be where I am if not for Co-op.” From the start, the department tried to be different from other business schools—catering especially to people from the local area and providing a holistic education with courses in all aspects of management. “We were the disruptive element,” says Strategic Management Professor Sandford Borins with a chuckle. Borins served as founding chair from 1991 to 2003. Zweig notes that the department has long sought to “level the playing field,” giving a boost in the Canadian
business world to students from Scarborough, who often come from immigrant families and may be the first to attend university. In recent years, too, the foreign student component has risen to 45 per cent, with about four-fifths of those coming from China. Prominent alumnus Satish Kanwar (BBA, 2008) says, “The school has shown continuous improvement throughout its history.” Kanwar became vice-president of product for the global e-commerce firm Shopify when Shopify bought a company that he and two other UTSC Management grads had started. Watching new developments at the Department of Management, Kanwar sees “a commitment to strengthening the program, expanding its reputation and reinvesting in its alumni.” The 25th anniversary, he says, “is a proud moment for all of us.”
FINISHED ON PHONE, ESSAY WINS TOP INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
Three years of work, teaching a full course load, raising a young child, finishing an academic book, and finishing an essay on his phone. All that thumb typing paid off for William Nelson: the essay earned him the Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize. Nelson, a professor of history who specializes in the Enlightenment and French Revolution, worked on finishing his essay “Five Ways of Being a Painting” once he heard of the Notting Hill award, which had a first-place prize of £20,000 ($33,000 CDN). “I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with this idea that took shape when I started three years ago. I kept returning to it, refining it, and set a goal to do a small section each night on my phone,” he says. His inspiration for the essay came from different sources including a photograph of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin, works by Chinese artist Liu Bolin and art criticism written by French Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot. “I wanted to weave them together, to create a resonance and range of meaning that would engage readers and slowly draw them in,” he says.
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MOVED TO LEARN
Take advantage of your alumni privileges.
NEW ELDER IS A NATURAL HELPER
This spring, Wendy Phillips became
the Indigenous elder at U of T Scarborough—the first-ever U of T elder dedicated specifically to the Scarborough campus. She says one role of a university elder is to support students who require any services. “Students need to feel welcome and have a sense of belonging. This is something I feel is a challenge for any institution.” She sees anxiety as a constant hurdle for students. “The work I’ve done has helped them get through their year a little less stressed and more able to focus and relax.” Phillips is a ceremonial leader, Indigenous spiritual educator, traditional Indigenous healer, an Ahwidokazit (One Who Helps) and a Bezhagobe (One Who Stands Alone). A member of the Bald Eagle Clan, she is Ojibwa and Potawatomi from Wasauksing First Nation in the heart of the Muskokas. At U of T Scarborough her services
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The Fit-Breaks initiative has garnered national attention. This June, Koulanova and Maharaj presented their research findings in Halifax, at the annual conference of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, whose members collaborate and share knowledge about pedagogical tools. “This goes to show,” says Maharaj, “that good work comes from believing in undergrads and believing in their ideas.”
to students, faculty and staff include teaching and training in Indigenous traditions; organizing and conducting traditional ceremonies and biannual retreats to Indigenous grounds; and providing spiritual counselling and guidance. Phillips has also given native seeds to U of T Scarborough’s rooftop garden, marking the first time the campus will grow tobacco and ceremonial herbs. When harvested, they will be presented to elders when a request is being made of them, which is Ojibwa tradition, and used in traditional ceremonies on campus. U of T has taken on 94 calls to action in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Phillips believes this is a spark of change. “The fact that I’m here and we’re able to provide these services definitely is a change, and the hope is that it will continue.” She always believes that educational institutions can evolve. “To me, that’s the point of education.”
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SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US Send your updates to: utsc.utoronto.ca/alumni
Called to serve
Aly-Khan Rajani BA, 2002
Aly-Khan Rajani, counsellor/head of (development) co-operation at the Canadian Embassy in Lebanon, says he was fortunate to have been born in Canada. As Muslims in a predominantly Hindu society, his ancestors fled from India to Africa. Then his parents were expelled from Uganda in 1972 because they were Asian. “I knew from a young age that serving humanity was my calling,” says Rajani. He says the International Development Studies program at U of T Scarborough kick-started his career in development and diplomacy by exposing him to international experts and academics—and to real work experience. Since his first Co-op placement at UTSC, he has been a first responder in numerous international crises. “I’ve been able to use my education to assist people when they need it the
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most,” says Rajani, “be it working for the UN, an NGO or the Government of Canada.” Through these experiences he feels he has learned, first-hand, the value of maintaining people’s dignity. Rajani says it’s an honour for him to work on the humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis and the reopening of Canada’s assistance program office in Lebanon. “Beirut is an amazing city with diversity and pluralism at the heart of what keeps the country united, which is similar to (cities in) Canada. “The projects we’re supporting are helping refugees and host communities by providing them with basics, such as food, shelter and water, but also ensuring access to
education and learning skills for women and youth.” He explains that this, in turn, will help contribute to growth in Lebanon and enhance people’s livelihoods in the hope that they can return to rebuild their country when the situation allows. Rajani wants people to know his story because he considers it a great example of what Canada is all about. He says his parents often remark that the best thing to happen to their family was getting kicked out of Uganda and becoming Canadian. They see Canada as a country that leads by example and is a model for pluralism; that supports human rights, gender equality and environmental stewardship; and that practises what it preaches. “I was a Muslim, born in Vancouver to immigrants who came with nothing. I grew up in Edmonton amongst a small group of visible minority kids, yet I was president of my student union in my elementary, junior high and high schools. I got a first-class education at the best university in the country, which enabled me to follow my passion.” What’s next for Rajani? “I still don’t have a master plan, but I’m guided by my principles and my heart,” he says. “Working hard, believing in what I do every day, and innovating have opened many doors for me. I can’t wait to see what the world has in store for me next.”
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Life has come full circle for Nicole Cajucom (BA, 2012) who says she grew up disassociated from her Filipino heritage. But after completing the specialist program in Arts and Culture, she landed an internship at the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture, where she is now executive director. “It was transformative for me to enter a space with other Filipino youth who wanted to explore their cultural identity through the arts,” she says. “I had never seen this creative and vibrant side of the Filipino community in Toronto. It wasn’t present when I was growing up.” And she says it’s also “more than arts. It’s a holistic experience and Kapisanan focuses on fostering the next generation of young Filipino leaders.”
1 Nicole Cajucom 2 Estherlita Griffiths
Cajucom is proud of how far she’s come so quickly. “It’s been very empowering for me to have earned these leadership opportunities by the age of 23.” She is humbled, too. “Working in the arts may not be the most lucrative field financially, but I remind myself that success is measured in many different ways and to have this privilege is really awesome.” What’s up for her future? “I’ve been dipping my toes into creative consulting,” she says. “My current job forces me to wear different hats, so it’s been fun to explore them all.” If Estherlita Griffiths (BSc, 1992) had gone to university right after high school, she wouldn’t be where she is today—Divisional Vice President, Enterprise Architecture & IT Governance at Sears Canada. “I wanted to do something in biological science,” says Griffiths, “but I didn’t have money to go to university. So I took night courses, including a computer course, which I really liked.” Then, when she did apply to university, it was to do computer science. It makes sense that Griffiths is leading and developing IT strategy and solutions, because she likes to make things better. “It comes from my faith and my family. We tend to make a difference by helping others.” A few
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years ago, when Griffiths was living in Calgary, she developed a program for the Mental Health Commission of Canada to empower youth affected by mental health issues. What’s coming down the pipeline for Griffiths? “The goal I’ve had is to become a CIO or CTO. But I continue to want to move into roles where I can make a significant impact on others.” Griffiths says she would love to combine her background in technology with the ability to help others, especially to erase the stigma of mental illness. Aleem Israel (BCom, 2001) says he
knows one thing: the Co-op program is fantastic. “It opened my eyes to different areas of finance. I wish every program offered the opportunity to help students choose the right path when they graduate.” The program showed Israel, right away, that he would not be happy working for a large company. “I knew I wanted to work in a smaller one.” UTSC Commons | Fall 2017
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learn.utoronto.ca After graduation, he was hired as an equity research associate at Cormark Securities, a small, employee-owned investment dealer. He was promoted to equity analyst a year later and became a director in 2003. Then his entrepreneurial spirit surfaced, and he established Cormark’s income trust business, which grew to be the largest independent income trust research coverage on Bay Street. “At my core, I am an entrepreneur,” says Israel, who is now president and portfolio manager at AFINA Capital Management. “It was scary,” he admits. “I left a secure, well-paying job in 2009 to start my own company. But it worked out.” In the future, Israel hopes to grow AFINA and has his eye on Vancouver. He hopes to add portfolio managers there, as well as more of them here in Ontario. Israel has community spirit, too. He serves as vice-chair of the advisory board for the Flato Markham Theatre and led a plan to create the first foundation for the theatre.
3 Aleem Israel 4 Michael Nearing
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If you love your job, then you’re a lucky person. This is true of Michael Nearing (BSc, 2000), head of Solution Architecture Americas at Giesecke & Devrient. He says his love affair with his work began in school. “I thank UTSC for being a stepping stone.” As a student, Nearing worked in the computer labs providing support, eventually becoming responsible for the computer labs and support team. Nearing graduated just before the dot-com bubble burst. He worked for companies such as Research In Motion and BMO, as well as smaller
tech firms, before taking his present position. “It’s so satisfying, all that we can do with technology. We’re on the bleeding edge,” he says, “and you really only get a chance to do something like this once in a lifetime.” Nearing likes to compare technological advances with the way we view electricity. “When you plug something into the wall, you just expect the power to be there,” he says. “That’s the way people will view Wi-Fi and cellular services in the future. It will just be there, no one will even think about it.” 4
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ANNOTATION
Anyone who goes to the valley can’t help but
notice Dan Lang Field, home of U of T’s Varsity Blues baseball team.
“The littlest thing tripped me up in more ways than one.”
Whatever life brings your way, small or big, take advantage of a range of insurance options at preferential group rates.
Who is Dan Lang? Not only
is he a professor emeritus in higher education, he is a lifelong baseball fanatic and was coach of the Blues for 13 seasons.
Lang may no longer be coach, but
he’s still involved. Mike Didier, current Blues coach, says, “Every now and then, if you’re lucky, you may see Dan Lang himself driving the tractor around the infield.”
Getting coverage for life-changing events may seem like a given to some of us. But small things can mean big changes too. Like an unexpected interruption to your income. Alumni insurance plans can have you covered at every stage of life, every step of the way. You’ll enjoy affordable rates on Term Life Insurance, Major Accident Protection, Income Protection Disability, Health & Dental Insurance and others. The protection you need. The competitive rates you want.
Get a quote today. Call 1-888-913-6333 or visit us at manulife.com/utoronto. This past summer, the field
Lang led the team to two provincial championships and two silver medals. He also spearheaded the fundraising drive to build the permanent facility, a full high-performance diamond that opened in 2006.
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served as the venue for baseball teams during the North American Indigenous Games. In 2015, it was the pre-game training site for the Pan Am/ Parapan Am Games. It’s also home of the Ontario Blue Jays, an amateur development program for youth baseball.
Underwritten by
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University of Toronto Scarborough 1265 Military Trail Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4
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