International

"He’s one of the world’s great storytellers, but woven within those stories are some pretty important political lessons about focusing on the long term and taking on big challenges"

As Canadians prepare for former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s state funeral on March 23, the University of Toronto is remembering his legacy and will lower flags on all three campuses for the event.

Mulroney, the Conservative leader who served as the country’s 18th prime minister from 1984 to 1993, visited �鶹��Ƶ on numerous occasions over the years. That includes the G7 summit in 1988, when he met with U.S. president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher at Hart House alongside other world leaders.

(courtesy of Hart House)

He also made several public appearances at �鶹��Ƶ after retiring from politics, including taking part in a conference on antisemitism in 2003 and a conference on diplomacy in the digital age in 2011. More recently, in September 2022, Mulroney visited the Rotman School of Management for an event celebrating the legacy of Michael Wilson, �鶹��Ƶ’s 33^rd chancellor, who served as finance minister in Mulroney’s government.

A week after the Rotman event, Mulroney visited the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy for a conversation with Professor Peter Loewen, director of the Munk School, during which he reflected on his prime ministerial tenure and discussed Canada’s role in the world and the future of democratic societies.

�鶹��Ƶ News spoke with Loewen about Mulroney’s achievements and the legacy of his leadership.

Sen. Pamela Wallin and Brian Mulroney at the Rotman School of Management (photo by Johnny Guatto)

You recently wrote an article in The Conversation in which you described Brian Mulroney’s stance against apartheid in South Africa as one of his biggest achievements. Why?

This was, in Mulroney’s telling, and the telling of many others, one of the greatest achievements of his prime ministership. Brian Mulroney, in concert with Canadian mainstream opinion, was deeply opposed to apartheid. He thought it was an unacceptable form of racial separation within South Africa and was unbecoming of a democracy. That opposition, by the way, went all the way back – several governments – to John Diefenbaker’s Conservative government which opposed the imposition of apartheid when he was prime minister.

Mr. Mulroney became prime minister at a time when the issue was really coming to a head. It was deeply dividing South African society. The imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners was, by that point, widely recognized internationally as unacceptable. So for Mulroney, it was an opportunity in foreign policy for Canada to play a role in trying to right one of the great wrongs of the world.

He was opposed in that effort, though, by two of his otherwise closest allies and, indeed, closest political friends: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who opposed opposing apartheid ostensibly for anti-communist reasons. They felt that the ANC [African National Congress] was an ally of communists and they still saw themselves locked deeply in the Cold War. So, this made it difficult for Mulroney – and yet he took up the challenge of opposing it. He was joined in that opposition by most Canadians indeed and by other Commonwealth leaders, including Bob Hawke in Australia.

How did Mulroney enlist global organizations in the fight against apartheid?

South African anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela arrives in Ottawa for an official visit June 17, 1990 (photo by Renaud Giroux/AFP via Getty Images)

Mulroney’s international leadership was key. In 1987-1988, Mulroney had positioned himself to hold the chairmanship of three different organizations: the Commonwealth, the Francophonie (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie) and the G7. When you hold the chairmanship of those organizations, you’re in a position to set the agenda for the things to be talked about.

It was at that point that he brought the Commonwealth nations together as well as G7 countries – minus the United Kingdom and the United States – to really bring the full pressure of a sanctions regime on the South African government. And this eventually led to much economic difficulty and really squeezed the South Africans so that they had to release Mandela.

[Then-president of South Africa] F.W. De Klerk announced in February 1990 that he would unilaterally release Mandela without conditions. Mandela was released seven days later and one of the first phone calls he made internationally was to Brian Mulroney; indeed, the first parliament he visited after his freedom outside of South Africa was the Canadian Parliament, where he thanked not only Mulroney but all Canadians.

This was a moment of great international leadership by Mr. Mulroney. It’s one in which he marshaled all the support of Canadian public opinion. He often ran against public opinion – in this case he was on the right side of it and he marshaled all that support to this great international action.

What are some other examples of how Mulroney operated on the world stage?

The North American Free Trade Agreement was initialled in San Antonio on Oct. 7, 1992, with U.S. president George H.W. Bush (centre), Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (left) and Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney (right) in attendance. Michael Wilson, Canada's minister of international trade, is seen seated in front of Mr. Mulroney (photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

During the first Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm, the American-led mission to push back Saddam Hussein’s Iraq out of Kuwait – Mulroney was very influential in using multilateral relationships to set the terms of engagement for that war. He made it largely possible for other countries like Canada and Australia to have conditions under which they could join that alliance.

Then there’s the other sets of things which weren’t multilateral initially, but bilateral – that is, his agreements with the United States over free trade in 1987 and 1988 that then led to the multilateral NAFTA, which has set the framework for North American trade across all of the Americas. It’s taken a longer time for that vision to be realized, but that template of bilateral and then trilateral trade agreements has really formed the basis for a lot of the trade agreements that Canada now holds throughout the Americas.

How do you reflect on your conversation with Mulroney at the Munk School in 2022?

It was a thrill to have spent the time with him. He’s one of the world’s great storytellers. But woven within those stories are some pretty important political lessons about focusing on the long term and taking on big challenges.

I reflected with [TVO journalist] Steve Paikin – we were chatting after Mulroney’s passing – that I think I may have been the only person to have ever asked Mulroney a question in a public interview that stumped him. I asked him essentially whether there were things he wished he had spent more time on. He couldn’t answer the question.

I don’t know if it was an unfair question, but I think the answer was very telling in that Mr. Mulroney didn’t waste a minute when he was in office. And I think he left with no regrets over all the things that he got done. And that’s a lesson to political leaders today: that you have to really grasp that unfailing minute, and if you don’t make use of all 60 seconds of it, that you will have regrets in your career – but I think Brian Mulroney had none.

After a harrowing escape from Sudan, �鶹��Ƶ scholar Nisrin Elamin calls on the world to pay attention

siddiq22 — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 18:07:17 +0000

After a harrowing escape from Sudan, �鶹��Ƶ scholar Nisrin Elamin calls on the world to pay attention

siddiq22 Wed, 06/14/2023 - 14:07

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Nisrin Elamin, an assistant professor of archeology and African Studies in �鶹��Ƶ's Faculty of Arts & Science, recently fled Sudan, which is in the midst of an armed conflict between rival factions of the military government (photo courtesy of Nisrin Elamin)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

International

New College

Subheadline

Elamin, an assistant professor of archeology and African Studies, says more needs to be done to support the country's pro-democracy movement

Why aren’t there more eyes on Sudan – the site of a humanitarian crisis which has seen more than one million people driven from their homes in the space of two months, with many others killed or injured?

Nisrin Elamin asks herself that question every day. The assistant professor in the department of anthropology and the African Studies program in the Faculty of Arts & Science recently escaped from Sudan, where she had been visiting family.

After a dangerous, difficult journey from the capital city of Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, Elamin was evacuated at the end of April, along with her parents and three-year-old daughter.

Now, she thinks about her many close relatives who remain sheltering in place in and around Khartoum – and about the millions of other Sudanese people still living there and in other parts of the country in desperate conditions.

Entire villages have been burned to the ground, with many citizens deprived of access to food, water, medicine and fuel during the ongoing conflict between rival factions of the military government.

“It’s a terrible situation,” Elamin says. “And the international humanitarian response has been ‘too little, too late’ in the sense that when we evacuated, the aid community evacuated with us.”

During a temporary ceasefire, several international aid organizations have been able to resume assistance to Sudan. But aid agency operations often report obstructions, and Elamin says the Sudanese people themselves have sometimes proven most effective at helping their fellow citizens.

“People have been relying on resistance committees and civilian volunteer networks,” she says.

“These are grassroots democratic forces that have been the backbone of Sudan’s popular uprising against the current regime since 2018. They’ve been the ones distributing food and water – and they have actually been arrested for doing this work.”

Women carrying belongings walk down a street in Omdurman, Sudan, the twin city of the country's capital, Khartoum (photo by AFP via Getty Images)

Since Sudan gained independence from colonial rule in 1956, the country has spent the majority of those years riven by internal conflict. In 2021, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s army, and Lt. General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), paramilitary chief of the Rapid Support Forces, collaborated to topple the regime of Omar al-Bashir – a leader who had been indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 for directing a campaign of mass killing in the Darfur region and was subsequently imprisoned on corruption charges.

Yet the generals are themselves steadfast enemies of democracy – together, they have been responsible for human rights violations, including al-Burhan’s direction of the Khartoum Massacre of 2019 and Hemedti’s brutal leadership of the Janjaweed militia in Darfur beginning in 2003. And now they are at war with each other.

“The Rapid Support Forces were supposed to be integrated into the armed forces based on a political agreement that would eventually lead to democratic elections,” Elamin says.

“But these two generals, who are known war criminals, are now struggling for political and economic control. And everybody else is in the middle of this.”

Even prior to the fighting that gave rise to this catastrophe, Sudan – Africa's third-largest country – was dealing with a refugee crisis and severe food insecurity. The United Nations estimates that 25 million people in the country currently need aid and protection.

Elamin is an American citizen who recently completed her first year as a scholar at �鶹��Ƶ. She is currently writing a book based on 15 months of fieldwork in Sudan, and her recent trip there was taken with the intention of conducting follow-up research while also introducing her young daughter to her Sudanese family.

“My work focuses on large-scale land investments – what many call ‘land grabs’ in central Sudan, where I’m originally from,” she says.

“I’ve been tracing the impacts of Gulf Arab corporate and domestic investments on local communities and researching the various forms of resistance to these investments. Just to give you an idea, the Saudis and Emiratis have invested about $27 billion in real estate infrastructure over the last two decades – all while the country was governed by a brutal military regime.

“Such investments have also impacted local food sovereignty – these shifts in land ownership undermine people’s access to subsistence food, and they’re relying on imports now more than ever.”

Elamin notes that despite the various crises affecting them, the people of Sudan remain unbowed. Soon after the shelling and explosions began, “only 16 per cent of hospitals in Khartoum were operating at capacity. The Sudanese Doctors’ Union has set up field hospitals on the outskirts of the city to treat the injured, deliver babies and do whatever is needed, though even getting there is dangerous.”

Since her return from Sudan, Elamin has been tireless in her efforts to inform the public about what is happening in her family’s homeland, appearing on international radio and television programs. She points out that while the news cycle invariably moves on, Sudan’s problems do not.

Still, Elamin affirms that much is being done.

“For example, the Sudanese Students Union at �鶹��Ƶ recently held an event to inform the community about what’s happening. It was also a fundraiser for the Sudanese Doctors’ Union – that’s an important initiative to support, because money goes directly to the support the lifesaving work doctors are doing there.”

Elamin also calls on governments around the world to lend help where they can. Much more assistance is needed at the borders of the seven countries bordering Sudan, which are all processing refugees at a painfully slow rate in the punishing desert climate.

She notes Canada could provide expedited travel visas, such as those offered to refugees from Ukraine.

“But probably the most important thing is for Canadians to assist the international community – specifically efforts on the African continent led by regional actors such as the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority for Development – with their effort to broker a sustainable peace," Elamin says.

"This requires, in my view, putting these two generals on trial instead of putting them at the negotiating table – and really starting a transitional kind of process: one that centres the pro-democracy forces that have been sidelined.”

The year in pictures: �鶹��Ƶ News looks back at 2022

davidlee — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 17:38:49 +0000

The year in pictures: �鶹��Ƶ News looks back at 2022

davidlee Tue, 12/20/2022 - 12:38

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The Toronto High Containment Facility, based at Temerty Faculty of Medicine, houses the largest containment level 3 lab in Ontario. Researchers can study high-risk pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 and HIV, in a safe and secure way. (Photo by Nathan Cyprys)

Mariam Matti

Topic

City & Culture

Back to School 2022

Black Research Network

Eagle Feather Bearer

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Global

International

Photographs

Research & Innovation

Undergraduate Students

Members of the University of Toronto community shared many memorable moments across the three campuses in 2022.

In spring, graduating students returned to Convocation Hall. In fall, more than 90,000 students from across Canada and around the world were welcomed back to �鶹��Ƶ for what President Meric Gertler described as “our biggest back-to-school ever.” Through the year, the university’s renowned scholars continued to make their mark through pathbreaking research and innovation that made an impact locally and globally. Meanwhile, events with world leaders deepened the university’s international collaborations and partnerships.

For all those highlights and more, �鶹��Ƶ News photographers were there. Below is a selection of striking images and special moments from 2022:

Indigenous artist Que Rock, a member of the Nipissing First Nation, stands in front of the mural he created honouring the 215 children whose unmarked graves were discovered at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., in 2021.

The mural is on the north facade of the building housing �鶹��Ƶ’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. (Photo by Nadya Kwandibens/Red Works Photography)

The Hidden Stories project, co-ordinated by the research team at �鶹��Ƶ Mississauga’s Old Books New Science Lab and funded by the Mellon Foundation, aims to explore the systems, peoples and cultures that make a book.

Alexandra Gillespie, �鶹��Ƶ vice-president and �鶹��Ƶ Mississauga principal, leads the Old Books New Science Lab. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

The founders of the Black Research Network, Alissa Trotz, Beth Coleman, Rhonda McEwen and Maydianne Andrade, appeared in an episode of Groundbreakers, a �鶹��Ƶ multimedia series on Institutional Strategic Initiatives, to discuss Black research excellence and enhancing the research capacity of Black scholars across �鶹��Ƶ's tri-campus community.

The renowned scholars and pathbreaking leaders also discussed the origins of the Black Research Network and opportunities for collaboration and policy change. (Photo by Lisa Lightbourn)

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, delivered an address and participated in a Q and A with students at �鶹��Ƶ and other universities across Canada at an event hosted by �鶹��Ƶ President Meric Gertler and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in June. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

More than 90,000 �鶹��Ƶ students were welcomed back to �鶹��Ƶ for their fall term with a wide range of events, including a cheer-off at Varsity Stadium on the St. George campus. (Photo by Johnny Guatto)

The proximity of the �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough campus to Highland Creek Valley and Rouge National Urban Park offered many opportunities for students to enjoy the outdoors throughout the seasons.

A year-round program started by Athletics and Recreation organizes activities such as snowshoeing, hiking, dragon boating and rock climbing. (Photo by Don Campbell)

�鶹��Ƶ President Meric Gertler welcomed Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korean president, to Simcoe Hall to discuss artificial intelligence and opportunities for further collaboration between the university and South Korean partners.

The meeting included a roundtable discussion titled “AI for the Better Future of Humanity,” that featured AI leaders and luminaries, including University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton and Lee Jong-ho, South Korea’s minister of science and ICT (information and communication technology). (Photo by Polina Teif)

Kaeliana Smoke, a master’s student in anthropology at �鶹��Ƶ Mississauga, was a member of the inaugural cohort of Eagle Feather Bearers during spring convocation.

The Eagle Feather Bearer carries a ceremonial Eagle Feather into Convocation Hall at the outset of each ceremony. The new tradition symbolizes the university’s enduring partnership with Indigenous Peoples. (Photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

The �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough Cheer Team – open to all �鶹��Ƶ students, regardless of athletic ability – is one of hundreds of clubs and extracurricular options students participated in across �鶹��Ƶ’s three campuses this year. (Photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

In 2022, a new ranking placed the university second in the world for sustainability, recognizing the way sustainability permeates �鶹��Ƶ's entire mission of research and teaching as well as its operations.

The greenhouse atop the Davis Building at �鶹��Ƶ Mississauga, which provides research opportunities for undergraduate biology students, is home to some annuals, including beans and corn and has a permanent collection of flora that includes hibiscus, orchids, mosses, peppers, cotton, bananas and figs. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

‘Young leaders of the future’: The international students creating a global community at �鶹��Ƶ

lanthierj — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 17:21:34 +0000

‘Young leaders of the future’: The international students creating a global community at �鶹��Ƶ

lanthierj Fri, 10/08/2021 - 13:21

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The University of Toronto is home to more than 20,00 students from around the world who live, work and study across its three campuses

Topic

Undergraduate Students

Like many international students, Dhanya Dass finds it easy to talk about how she has benefited from studying at the University of Toronto. “U of T has given me so much,” says the third-year U of T Mississauga student – “new opportunities, new friends and a new creative outlet.”

What’s sometimes left unsaid is how the university community also gains from the presence of more than 20,000 other students from around the world who, like Dass, live, work and study across the three campuses.

Joseph Wong, �鶹��Ƶ’s vice president, international, says students from more than 160 countries give their domestic counterparts the opportunity to learn alongside peers who often have direct knowledge of the material being studied.

“It’s one thing to read about nationalist movements in Europe or South Asia,” he notes. “It’s an entirely different learning experience when you can talk to – and learn from – your peers who are from these regions.”

This advantage extends beyond the classroom into co-curricular experiences and conversations in residence, he says, adding up to an immeasurable impact on life at the university. “All U of T students gain a tremendous opportunity not only to be prepared academically for the world of work but also to be prepared socially and culturally for the literal ‘world of work,’” he says.

Global diversity at �鶹��Ƶ also promotes excellence that reaches far beyond the walls of the university, Wong says. “What an incredible privilege to have a global talent pool from which to draw, the very best, most creative and most impactful young leaders of the future to Toronto and Canada.”

University of Toronto Magazine spoke recently with Dass, a fourth-year student in economics and sociology at �鶹��Ƶ Mississauga, and with recent grad Zarina Mamadbekova about their experiences at �鶹��Ƶ and how they feel they contributed to the university’s global outlook.

Dhanya Dass
Hometown: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

What was your first impression of Canada?

I actually didn’t know what Canada was like before coming here. People in Malaysia don’t talk about Canada, except that it’s super cold. But after my arrival, I realized how much it felt like home. I could see people just like me all around me. There was a really welcoming vibe.

Why did you choose �鶹��Ƶ?

I came here partly because Toronto is the at the centre of the performing arts world in Canada. And I knew �鶹��Ƶ has an extensive network, which would enable me to build connections.

How was your first year away from Malaysia?

Challenging – but rewarding because of that. I didn’t know where I was going to end up. I had juggled academics and the performing arts my whole life – and both were crucial to my happiness. But I struggled to find a new creative outlet at U of T Mississauga. What kept me strong was the friendships I developed. The friends I made are like family to me now.

Did being in residence help?

I owe a lot to my residence experience. It played a huge part in my life and provided me with that circle of friends. In second year, I became a residence community ambassador because I wanted to be part of the support system for first-year students.

Did you get the chance to talk to your fellow students about Malaysian culture?

Yes, I had roommates from India, Zimbabwe and Canada. One thing people find hard to grasp is I’m ethnically Indian but from Malaysia. I don’t say I’m Indian because I’ve never been to India. We practise some of the same traditions but I come from a very different culture overall. I am proud of my Indian heritage and proud to be Malaysian. I think it helps for people to understand these nuances. We may share the same skin tone but our culture can be completely different. For my part, it’s interesting to hear someone who grew up in Zimbabwe talk about how her experience as a Black person there is different from her experience as a Black person in Canada.

You worked for a Hart House Theatre show as an assistant director. Why was that meaningful for you?

I finally found my creative outlet! For a while, I would come home at midnight or 1 a.m. almost every day and have to get to 9 a.m. classes the following morning. I did it because it’s my passion. I need to be around creative people. And I was appreciative of how much effort Hart House Theatre puts into recognizing that each individual has something unique to contribute.

Something must have clicked for you to continue with the theatre as a work-study student…

I applied for the program thinking I would help with staging and promoting shows, but because of COVID, everything went online. I organized virtual workshops. One of my proudest moments was conducting a workshop with the musical director of Hamilton. We also staged an interactive theatrical piece about the rise of domestic violence during the pandemic. Participants were able to stop play at any time and propose alternate ways to navigate the situation.

What’s next for you?

I’d like to combine my studies in behavioural economics with my interest in inclusivity and my passion for the arts. I feel that engaging with the performing arts gives me a chance to be more self-aware and confident. At the same time, I love data and I'm not afraid to say it. I like to jump from one field to the other.

Zarina Mamadbekova
Hometown: Khorog, Tajikistan

You studied political science. How did your international peers contribute to your learning experience?

In third year, I took South Asian politics. Most of the students were from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. I did my readings, but I learned so much in that class because the discussions were so enriching. My classmates had firsthand knowledge of what we were studying and were very opinionated, especially on the partition of India. All the experiences and stories they shared were very relevant. It made the whole experience so real, and I realized what a blessing it was to be part of such a diverse class. My own opinion of the political situation in South Asia, a place that was foreign to me, came from discussions in that class.

The professor must have encouraged students to participate in class.

There were only about 25 people in that lecture, and he got us to talk. He understood that although many of the students were South Asian, some were not, and he would make sure to encourage those of us who were not to speak our opinions, too. It was one of the first times I understood why it’s so important to be in the presence of students who had experienced the reality of what we were studying. It made me feel like I was part of that place.

Were you able to share aspects of your culture with your classmates?

I realized quickly that most people know almost nothing about Tajikistan. Every person I met had questions. I felt like I was putting Tajikistan on the radar for them. During a cultural event at U of T Mississauga, I represented Pamir, the region where I’m from. And I gave some short presentations about Pamir in class – about the people, the food, the traditions and religious practices – that seemed to have an impact.

You were also part of a small, first-year seminar on global justice as part of the UTM One Scholars program. What was that like?

We talked about social, religious and political issues on a global scale. There was a lot of disagreement in that class. One of the biggest topics was cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation – and what these terms mean. I learned that different communities think about these issues in very different ways.

Are you still in touch with classmates from different countries?

Yes! One is from California; another is Spanish but lives in the Philippines; another is from B.C. I love travelling, and now, when I do, I’ll have a second home in many places.

Your work at U of T Mississauga relates to international students. How so?

I’ve been helping to develop a new program called the Global Living, Learning Community. First-year students from different countries, including Canada, will live together in residence. It’s one thing to talk about global citizenship, but it is something else to live in a community with people from so many different cultures. International issues will come up in daily life – and so will disagreements. They’ll have to figure out how to get past them.

Alexie Tcheuyap named �鶹��Ƶ’s head of international student experience

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 22:01:08 +0000

Alexie Tcheuyap named �鶹��Ƶ’s head of international student experience

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 07/30/2021 - 18:01

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(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Alexie Tcheuyap, a professor of French whose scholarship focuses on African literary, cinema and media studies, has been appointed the University of Toronto’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, international student experience.

Having received governance approval Thursday, Tcheuyap will serve for nearly six years beginning Sept. 1, 2021, including six months of administrative leave. He will be responsible for promoting opportunities for students to learn abroad, overseeing the tri-campus Centre for International Experience, developing global engagement opportunities for all �鶹��Ƶ students through curricular and co-curricular initiatives and generally fostering a positive experience for international students at the university.

Tcheuyap says his own experience as an international student – he was educated in Cameroon and in the United Kingdom before moving to Kingston, Ont. for graduate studies at Queen’s University – gives him unique insight into the needs of �鶹��Ƶ students who are new to Canada.

“All of this is very personal for me because I came here as an international student and this means I have lived through a lot of the same things as the students whom I will be working to support,” he said.

“In my career as a professor, I have always been very sensitive not only to the experience of students, but of those who are new to the country.”

He added that he arrived in Canada in 1997 carrying two suitcases – one for clothes and another full of books.

“My driver dropped me off [at Queen’s] in front of the university’s Stauffer Library and he said: ‘You brought books here. See that building over there? It’s full of books,’” Tcheuyap recalled.

He went on to earn a PhD in French literature from Queen’s, adding to a doctorate and master’s in the same field from the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon. He taught at the University of Calgary before joining the French department at �鶹��Ƶ in 2006 and is a senior fellow of the European Institutes for Advanced Study.

An expert in African literature, cinema and media studies, Tcheuyap counts Ariane Astrid Atodji, Florence Ayisi, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Assia Djebar, Amina Abdoulaye Mamani, Jean-Marie Teno and Mansour Sora Wade among his favourite African filmmakers. He has written several books, including De l’écrit à l’écran, Postnationalist African Cinemas, Autoritarisme, presse et violence au Cameroun and Avoir peur. Insécurité et roman en Afrique francophone.

The most rewarding part of his job as an instructor, he said, is to introduce native English speakers to the original text of French language works.

Tcheuyap also brings considerable senior leadership experience to his new role.

He served as chair and associate chair of the department of French in the Faculty of Arts & Science and has been the faculty’s vice-dean, academic life and equity since 2019. As vice-dean, Tcheuyap initiated new strategies to develop a more diverse and more inclusive faculty, including the recruitment of several Black and Indigenous scholars.

Tcheuyap succeeds Professor Joseph Wong in the international student experience office; Wong was named vice-president, international earlier this year.

“Professor Tcheuyap is an extraordinary leader at the University of Toronto, who brings with him tremendous insight into the international student experience, having been one himself in the 1990s,” Wong said.

“He is well known among colleagues for his leadership skills at all levels of the university. His academic background in the humanities will no doubt open up new opportunities in international partnership-building as well as international learning experiences for our students.”

Tcheuyap said he will continue promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in his new role.

“It’s important to ask where our students come from and to make sure that everyone feels welcome on campus, regardless of their background,” he said. “This requires special efforts to attract and retain students from underrepresented groups.”

He also plans to build on Wong’s efforts to create global scholar and global citizen designations for �鶹��Ƶ students that are acquired through completing academic or extracurricular activities that foster a global outlook. The designations appear on a student’s co-curricular record or transcript.

“We are very fortunate to have the global scholar and citizen programs,” Tcheuyap said. “We just need to make sure that all students are aware of these possibilities to gain an international perspective.

“It’s not unusual to find a student who was born in Lethbridge or Kingston and who has never left Canada. The world is changing around us. We need to bring these international opportunities to students.

“The world is so rich. We need to encourage students to learn about the world in Toronto or go abroad and harvest international experience and then return to share their newfound knowledge back here.”

�鶹��Ƶ and AMD launch supercomputing program dedicated to big-data health research

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 16:07:44 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ and AMD launch supercomputing program dedicated to big-data health research

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 09/14/2020 - 12:07

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(photo courtesy of SciNet)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Global Lens

Coronavirus

Industry Partnerships

Research & Innovation

University Health Network

The University of Toronto is teaming up with processor giant AMD to launch a supercomputing platform that will power the university’s health research – including on global threats such as COVID-19.

The initiative, dubbed SciNet4Health, will allow researchers and clinician scientists at �鶹��Ƶ and its partner hospitals to access and analyze massive databases of patient health information – in a secure way that protects patients’ privacy – using technologies such as machine learning.

SciNet4Health is made possible by AMD’s donation of one petaflop of dedicated processing power, capable of a quadrillion calculations per second. It promises to lead to advancements in vaccine development, drug discovery, genomics research and mathematical modelling.

“The new resources that we are receiving from AMD are going to allow us to set up the computing infrastructure that our health researchers need, especially right now during the time of COVID-19 when many of our faculty are working towards various solutions and positive outcomes for the pandemic,” said Alex Mihailidis, �鶹��Ƶ’s associate vice-president, international partnerships.

“Until today, �鶹��Ƶ did not have a dedicated computing infrastructure for health researchers that can support patient data, so this is going to have a significant impact on our research.”

SciNet4Health will operate out of the facilities of SciNet, the �鶹��Ƶ-based supercomputing consortium and home to Canada’s most powerful research supercomputer: Niagara. The program will allow SciNet, which has enabled advancements fields ranging from astrophysics to climate science, bring its capacity for cutting-edge data science to health research.

Daniel Gruner, chief technology officer at SciNet, said high-performance computing allows for complex calculations that regular computers simply can’t manage.

“If you’re thinking of using AI and machine learning to try and make sense of huge and diverse data, you need these big computers because it can’t be done on a small machine – it requires a lot of math, a lot of computation, so you need computers that are specially geared towards that,” he said.

“The resources we’re receiving from AMD happen to be very heavy on GPUs [graphic processing units] that can run deep learning calculations a lot faster than a regular CPU can.”

The donation by AMD, based in Santa Clara, Calif., consists of 20 “compute nodes” – individual computers that comprise a high-performance computing cluster – each with eight GPUs.

“That’s a whole lot of power,” Gruner said.

It’s also power that will be completely in-house. Until now, �鶹��Ƶ health researchers in need of supercomputing worked through partner initiatives such as HPC4Health, a high-performance computing network established by UHN and the Hospital for Sick Children. SciNet4Health drew on HPC4Health’s experience using patient data to establish its procedures and protocols. The two organizations plan to work together to meet the needs of the health sciences research community in and around Toronto.

“This is helping catalyse our ability to do more private health information research inside the university,” said Gruner.

For his part, Mihailidis says the machine learning and deep learning capabilities that will be provided by SciNet4Health will enable researchers to work with patient data to a degree that wasn’t previously possible due to security and privacy considerations. A professor in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy in the Faculty of Medicine, Mihailidis cited his research on aging and geriatrics as just one example of the kind of work that stands to benefit.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work around collecting data about what older people are doing in their homes and communities, and using machine learning, deep learning and other predictive analytics to determine changes in their health,” he said.

“The problem we’ve had to date is that because we haven’t had secure servers that have allowed us to securely use patient data, we’ve had to scrub the data to the point where the personal attributes are being removed – and because of that, our predictive models on their health aren’t as accurate as they could be if we were able to include the patient health data itself.

“Having this type of resource at the university will allow us to take that type of research to the next level.”

�鶹��Ƶ is among a small group of universities to receive the supercomputing systems from AMD. Others include Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

“AMD is proud to be working with leading global research institutions to bring the power of high-performance computing technology to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic,” said Mark Papermaster, AMD’s executive vice-president and chief technology officer.

“These donations of AMD EPYC and Radeon Instinct processors will help researchers not only deepen their understanding of COVID-19, but also help improve our ability to respond to future potential threats to global health.”

Learn more about industry partnerships at �鶹��Ƶ

What international students need to know for fall: Advice from �鶹��Ƶ’s Joseph Wong

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 21:26:25 +0000

What international students need to know for fall: Advice from �鶹��Ƶ’s Joseph Wong

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 08/05/2020 - 17:26

Cutline

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Undergraduate Students

Note: For the most up-to-date information on coming to Canada, students should refer to the Office of the Vice-Provost, Student's website.

The University of Toronto is providing advice to international students who are making travel arrangements in advance of the fall semester and telling them what to expect when they arrive in Canada.

Making up nearly a quarter of �鶹��Ƶ’s student population, international students are vitally important to the globally diverse learning experience the university offers, says Joseph Wong, �鶹��Ƶ’s interim vice-president, international.

“We’re doing everything we can to make their arrival in Canada, their experience in quarantine and transition into studies as smooth and as safe as possible,” he says.

“We want to ensure that students have the information and support they need for a successful, enjoyable – and healthy – start to the academic year.”

Wong recently spoke with �鶹��Ƶ News about everything international students will need to know for this fall.

Some visa application centres in students’ home countries may be closed due to COVID-19. What should students who haven’t been able to secure a permit do?

Nobody should go to the airport without a visa. But students without a permit should be able to enrol with us for online learning on the understanding that they’re in the process of applying for a visa (see question #3 in this FAQ for newly admitted international students).

The Canadian government says students must have a “non-discretionary reason” to enter the country. How is this determined?

Right now, it’s going to come down to Canada Border Services agents to decide whether a student has a non-discretionary reason to be in Canada. �鶹��Ƶ is providing letters for international students that specify that they do have a non-discretionary reason to be in Canada – to participate in an in-person class opportunity, an in-person research opportunity or one of several other on-campus activities (see question #3 in this FAQ for all international students). Students should contact their registrar to obtain a personalized letter of support and make sure they have this letter, as well as a confirmation of enrolment, with them when they arrive at the border.

That’s because we want to avoid students encountering any problems when they arrive at Pearson International Airport?

Yes, 100 per cent.

�鶹��Ƶ recommends that, wherever possible, students should book a direct flight to Toronto. Why?

Once a student has obtained a visa, received their personal letter of support for access and created their individual quarantine plan, we’ve recommended that students fly here directly in order to support them in meeting quarantine requirements. We’re trying to make sure that their passage into Canada is as safe and secure as possible. For students completing their quarantine with us, we are providing transportation from Toronto Pearson Airport directly to their quarantine location.

Is �鶹��Ƶ is offering spaces for international students to quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival here?

Yes. Students will be able to fulfill their quarantine plans at a �鶹��Ƶ-provided location.

Students will need an approved quarantine plan from the Canadian government. How do they submit that?

It’s all done through the ArriveCAN app. Anyone coming into the country has to submit a quarantine plan through the app two days in advance of their flight. It asks where you’re going to stay (if not in one of our rooms, then perhaps with family or a friend), how you’re going to get there, how you will isolate, how you’re going to get your food and so on.

Will international students need to wear a mask when travelling from the airport to wherever they are staying during their quarantine?

Yes. When they land in Canada students will need to wear a mask when they are in the airport and when travelling to their quarantine location. They should have a mask with them for travelling on the plane. For students doing their quarantine with us, we will have a fresh mask for the ride to their quarantine location if they need one. We are providing transportation from Pearson for all international students who are completing their quarantine at �鶹��Ƶ. It’s a good idea to have an extra mask or two in your carry-on luggage when travelling to Toronto.

For students quarantining with �鶹��Ƶ, what steps are being taken to ensure they have everything they need without leaving their rooms for two weeks?

All the rooms we are using adhere to public health guidelines. Dual occupancy rooms will be single occupancy, all units have private washrooms, meals will be delivered each day to their room, and so on.

Some students may have family members, such as a spouse or a child, moving to Canada with them. Will they be able to quarantine together?

Yes. But they will need to cover the costs of their dependent family members, who will also need their documentation in order before coming to Canada. We are encouraging students without dependents to travel alone to Toronto and making them aware that if they come with a friend, their friend will have to quarantine separately (see question #7 in this FAQ on quarantines). Parents or other family members who are travelling from the United States to drop off students are strongly encouraged to contact Canada Border Services Agency ahead of time (see question #8 in this FAQ on quarantines).

What can students do if they run into any problems during their time in quarantine?

Staff will check in daily with students. All students will have access to My SSP, which provides immediate and confidential support around the clock for any school, health or other concern and is available in on the phone in 35 languages, and 146 languages if scheduled in advance. We’re really trying hard to ensure students will be well taken care of.

Do out-of-province students have to quarantine?

No, just those arriving from out of country.

I understand students will receive a �鶹��Ƶ welcome kit. What’s in it?

International students will receive a personal thermometer so they can do temperature checks every day. They’ll also be provided with hand soap and sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, masks, laundry detergent (so clothing can be handwashed) and snacks. We’re trying to think of every little thing, from the moment they arrive, to make their quarantine period pass as smoothly – and comfortably – as possible.

How should students time their arrival in Toronto?

The most important thing is to, first, make sure they have a visa, a letter from �鶹��Ƶ to show border security and have a quarantine plan in place before they make arrangements for travel. Beyond that, it’s really up to them. However, the university’s quarantine accommodation program won’t start until Aug. 15. Students need to register for the program in advance of their flight to confirm they have a place and make sure they have their quarantine plan when they enter Canada. An application form is available at starrez.utoronto.ca (students need to login using their JOIN/UTORid). If students are planning to arrive in Toronto sooner than Aug. 15, they should contact info.quarantine@utoronto.ca. Finally, if students are not quarantining with �鶹��Ƶ, they will need to make sure they have their own quarantine plan in place before they enter Canada.

The university will be flexible on start dates. Presumably, some students will start their courses remotely while they’re in quarantine. Even if they choose an in-person option for a course, they can miss attending one or two classes in person if necessary. If students have to miss an in-person class due to travel or quarantine, they should contact their instructor to let them know and remember to record their absence in our online absence declaration in ACORN.

See the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students’ COVID-19 page for the most update-to-date information

�鶹��Ƶ and Hebrew University of Jerusalem launch research and innovation partnership

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 19:49:59 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ and Hebrew University of Jerusalem launch research and innovation partnership

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 07/03/2020 - 15:49

Cutline

�鶹��Ƶ's partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will allow faculty and students from the two institutions to combine their resources to carry out high-impact research in a variety of fields (photo by Yonit Schiller)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Global Lens

Coronavirus

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Cell and Systems Biology

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Medicine

Global

Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Research & Innovation

How did environmental conditions and climate change influence early human evolution? Can protein engineering be harnessed to block the virus that causes COVID-19? How do quantum mechanics affect biological functions, and how do our memory and learning work on a cellular level in the brain?

These are some of the big questions that will be explored by researchers at the University of Toronto and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) as part of a new strategic partnership that will allow faculty and students from the two institutions to combine resources to carry out high-impact research.

Each year, the University of Toronto – Hebrew University of Jerusalem Research and Innovation Alliance will select projects to receive funding of $150,000 a year for up to four years, with each research group comprising faculty drawn from both universities and covering a range of disciplines. The alliance will also occasionally provide one-time seed funding to help get promising projects off the ground.

Initially launched with endowed funding of $5.9 million from the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University and the family of Roz and Ralph Halbert, the alliance aims to raise another $14 million and eventually construct an innovation pipeline between �鶹��Ƶ and HUJI to connect the entrepreneurship ecosystems in Toronto and Jerusalem and provide student entrepreneurs with exposure to each other’s universities and markets.

“[HUJI’s] mandate with respect to research is very closely aligned to �鶹��Ƶ’s in terms of leading the world in a variety of areas, and that’s always the kind of partner we’re looking for,” said Alex Mihailidis, �鶹��Ƶ’s associate vice-president of international partnerships and a professor in the Faculty of Medicine's department of occupational science and occupational therapy, as well as the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering.

“We both recognize that international collaborations strengthen the research within each university, and that’s why we’re excited to partner with them.”

He added that the timing of the partnership speaks to �鶹��Ƶ’s commitment to forge ahead with research partnerships despite the challenges of working and collaborating amid the pandemic.

“From an international partnerships perspective, it’s business as usual,” said Mihailidis, who is also cross-appointed to the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “We’ve not shut anything down and we’ve not stopped collaborations. We’re going full-speed ahead – it’s looking a bit different, but we are still moving ahead both with existing and new partners.”

The funding will enable Professor Michael Chazan of �鶹��Ƶ’s department of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science to work closely with geologist Ari Matmon at HUJI’s Institute of Earth Sciences to build a more comprehensive picture of how climate affected the evolution of early humans in the Kalahari Basin. The basin covers more than 2.5 million square kilometres across South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

Both researchers developed an interest in the Kalahari – Chazan as an archeologist analyzing early evidence of human activity and Matmon as a geologist carrying out dating techniques to study the evolution of the landscape – and they’re now looking to combine their perspectives.

“The next phase of work with this funding is to expand Ari’s geological work, particularly looking for evidence of wet environments, so we can try and understand when there was a shift to modern arid conditions,” said Chazan. “At the same time, I’ll be working in the town of Kathu in South Africa, which is a major mining area today, and we’re looking at some very large sites and trying to understand what the conditions were when this place supported large groups of people.

“So it’s a really new area of study that combines geological perspectives on how the landscape and hydrology evolved with an archeological perspective which is asking – in more narrowly focused locations – what the human behaviour was and what was drawing people to these sites.”

Oron Shagrir, vice-president for international affairs at HUJI, said the partnership brings together “the two leading universities in Israel and Canada,” and that the call for research proposals resulted in several exciting submissions.

“In these challenging and unprecedented times for societies and universities alike, international partnerships are an invaluable source of support and inspiration,” said Shagrir, a professor of philosophy and cognitive science. “They are not only an important asset and tool in advancing universities on all levels, but also serve as a valuable platform to promote and support collaborative research projects.”

Chazan points to his project as an example of how the two universities can combine their respective strengths.

“At �鶹��Ƶ, we’re strong in terms of field archeology and geophysics,” he said. “Hebrew University is particularly strong in looking at the evolution of landforms over the period of the last two to five million years ... [and] that requires some very specialized labs.”

Among the labs that Chazan and his students will have access to is a high-tech facility that “blocks out any modern magnetic signals” to precisely study fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field. “Having access to that is a major asset for the project and for our students, who get to learn how to operate in that kind of system,” said Chazan.

Meanwhile, Sachdev Sidhu, a professor appointed to �鶹��Ƶ’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, the department of molecular genetics and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, will be working with Professor Julia Shifman of HUJI’s Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Science to study how the fast-growing fields of protein engineering and design can be leveraged to develop treatments for diseases, including COVID-19.

Their project will use insights gained from past outbreaks of coronaviruses to understand the functions of the proteins that power SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and to develop molecules with the potential to disarm the virus and pave the way to a potential cure.

Additionally, the �鶹��Ƶ – HUJI Research and Innovation Alliance is providing $5,000 in seed funding to two projects.

The first will see Professor Dvira Segal of �鶹��Ƶ’s departments of chemistry and physics and Professor Roi Baer of HUJI’s Fritz Haber Research Center for Molecular Dynamics and Institute of Chemistry explore the role of quantum processes in natural and engineered quantum systems.

The second aims to better understand how the brain acquires and stores information in order to help prevent and treat debilitating memory and learning disorders. The principal investigators are Associate Professors Sheena Josselyn and Paul Frankland of the department of physiology in �鶹��Ƶ’s Faculty of Medicine, Professor Melanie Woodin of the department of cell and systems biology and HUJI scholars Adi Mizrahi, Ami Citri and Inbal Goshen.

Ronald Appleby, a �鶹��Ƶ alumnus and campaign chair for the partnership, said the research efforts made possible by the partnership speak to the two universities’ “shared commitment to advancing interdisciplinary teams of researchers and students working on translational research, bolstered by mutual respect and friendship.

“The attention paid to research in engineering and medicine, the sciences, the social sciences, humanities, and law reflects our mutual interest in creating novel solutions for some of the most pressing current issues,” Appleby said.

Joseph Wong named �鶹��Ƶ’s interim vice-president, international

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 12:50:27 +0000

Joseph Wong named �鶹��Ƶ’s interim vice-president, international

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 06/26/2020 - 08:50

Cutline

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Global Lens

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Asian Institute

Faculty of Arts & Science

Professor Joseph Wong has been appointed the University of Toronto’s interim vice-president, international, effective July 1. The appointment is for a one-year term or until a permanent appointment is made.

As the university’s first-ever associate vice-president and vice-provost, international student experience, Wong opened up new avenues to international learning opportunities for �鶹��Ƶ students.

The number of undergraduate students who travelled abroad for their studies or research was on track to hit 26 per cent this year before COVID-19 struck – up from 14 per cent in 2016.

“If we have a quarter of our undergraduate students participating in international learning opportunities, that means it’s becoming part of the core value proposition of being at the University of Toronto,” said Wong, a professor in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Ralph and Roz Halbert Professor of Innovation at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.

“It’s no longer a nice-to-have or luxury on the side; it’s part of the expectation any incoming student would have of their experience. I think that’s transformational.”

As interim vice-president, international, Wong will be taking over from University Professor Ted Sargent, who was named �鶹��Ƶ’s new vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

President Meric Gertler announced Wong’s appointment on Thursday following approval by �鶹��Ƶ’s Governing Council. He said Wong was highly regarded among those consulted on the potential appointment.

“His success in promoting the wider uptake of international experiences amongst our students, as well as the incorporation of internationalization more broadly within our undergraduate programs, were singled out as particularly noteworthy achievements,” President Gertler said.

Wong told �鶹��Ƶ News one of his priorities in his new role will be to grow students’ opportunities for global engagement while the pandemic restrictions remain in place and to ensure that �鶹��Ƶ is ready to hit the ground running as soon as international travel is once again safe.

“If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that global engagement is more important than ever,” said Wong. “Those institutions and countries that have become more inward looking are facing bigger challenges.

“When we emerge into the new normal, we want to be sure that �鶹��Ƶ is in full stride and that we’re not restarting our international engagement and internationalization strategy from a standstill.”

In one of his own seminars, Wong is planning to set up an online dialogue between his students in the Munk One program and a class at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico. “It’s an opportunity for our students to dig deep, work together, collaborate, discuss and debate with students in Mexico,” around issues of poverty, inequality and trust in governance during the COVID-19 era,” he said.

In addition to teaching, Wong is a faculty mentor and the founder of the Reach Project, a student-driven, multi-disciplinary research initiative that has taken students to all corners of the world for in-depth looks at innovative development programs that are reaching the world’s most marginalized people. Over the last several years, Reach student researchers have gone to Ethiopia to study a program to alleviate food insecurity, Brazil to investigate a conditional cash transfer program and Mongolia to study access to solar energy.

Earlier this year, Reach received additional support from the Mastercard Impact Fund to form the Reach Alliance and expand to six other universities by 2022.

Wong also helped introduce new academic designations that encourage students to acquire the international experience necessary to tackle some of the world’s greatest global challenges. Students can work toward a Global Scholar certification and designation on their transcript by taking a curated series of courses offered by their program or faculty. And they can obtain a Global Citizen designation on their co-curricular record through participating in programs and activities that foster a global outlook and engagement, or that celebrate inclusivity and equity and other core competencies.

Before taking on his current position, Wong was director of the Munk School’s Asian Institute from 2005 to 2014. He’s the author of several books and has worked with international organizations such as the World Bank and United Nations, and has advised governments on matters of public policy.

“I’m very excited about this [appointment], as I was about the assistant vice-president role, because internationalization is one of the core pillars of President Meric Gertler’s own vision of the university – so it’s a terrific opportunity to be working with and collaborating very closely not just with the president, but with partners across the university,” Wong said.

COVID-19 re-emphasizes importance of expert knowledge: �鶹��Ƶ’s Illan Kramer in the Toronto Star

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 17:09:11 +0000

COVID-19 re-emphasizes importance of expert knowledge: �鶹��Ƶ’s Illan Kramer in the Toronto Star

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 04/22/2020 - 13:09

Cutline

Eileen de Villa, Toronto's medical officer of health, speaks as David Williams, the chief medical officer of Ontario, and Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, look on (photo by Cole Burston via Getty Images)

Topic

Research & Innovation

The COVID-19 pandemic is prompting a renewed appreciation of expert knowledge among the general public and media, and highlights the importance of inspiring the next generation of experts and luminaries.

That’s according to a Toronto Star op-ed by Illan Kramer (left), the University of Toronto’s director of international research partnerships, who writes that the diverse challenges presented by COVID-19 have served as a reminder of the need to empower and celebrate thought leaders in fields ranging from medicine and public health to finance, education and beyond.

“In scarcely a month, expertise went from being passé to haute couture,” says Kramer, who has a PhD in electrical engineering.

Kramer identifies the years after the space race as the period when “the lure of expertise began to fade,” but that the current pandemic is reversing the trend.

“Every once in a while, an event comes along that can change the course of how we move forward, collectively,” Kramer writes. “Make no mistake, COVID-19 is a global catastrophe. It is also a reminder that we have people among us who can help us through this time through their collective knowledge and the knowledge of those that preceded them."

Inset photo by Tyler Irving

International

Remembering Brian Mulroney: Munk School's Peter Loewen reflects on the former prime minister's legacy

After a harrowing escape from Sudan, �鶹��Ƶ scholar Nisrin Elamin calls on the world to pay attention

The year in pictures: �鶹��Ƶ News looks back at 2022

‘Young leaders of the future’: The international students creating a global community at �鶹��Ƶ

Alexie Tcheuyap named �鶹��Ƶ’s head of international student experience

�鶹��Ƶ and AMD launch supercomputing program dedicated to big-data health research

Learn more about industry partnerships at �鶹��Ƶ

What international students need to know for fall: Advice from �鶹��Ƶ’s Joseph Wong

See the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students’ COVID-19 page for the most update-to-date information

�鶹��Ƶ and Hebrew University of Jerusalem launch research and innovation partnership

Joseph Wong named �鶹��Ƶ’s interim vice-president, international

COVID-19 re-emphasizes importance of expert knowledge: �鶹��Ƶ’s Illan Kramer in the Toronto Star

Read the op-ed in the Toronto Star