Professor Dimitry Anastakis, who joined the Faculty of Arts & Science as the L.R. Wilson/R.J. Currie Chair in Canadian Business History in 2019 and is cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management, has been appointed director of Canadian Studies.
Leanne De Souza-Kenney, PhD, joined Health Studies as assistant professor, teaching stream; she has taught in the program for three years. This is a joint appointment with Human Biology & Global Health.
Maria Papaconstantinou, associate professor of human biology, will serve as acting program director of Health Studies/Public Health during Professor Colleen Dockstader’s research leave from January 2025 to December 2025.
Three-time U of T graduate Temitope Adefarakan, PhD, was cross-appointed as an assistant professor, teaching stream, Black Canadian Studies and at the University of Toronto’s Transitional Year Programme.
Six new faculty members were appointed as fellows of the College: Funké Aladejebi, Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, Colleen Dockstader, Lance McCready, Sali Tagliamonte, and Alan Verskin. Each fellow brings unique expertise and contributions to respective fields:
Aladejebi is a scholar of the twentieth century with a specialization in Black Canadian history. Her research and teaching interests focus on oral history, the history of education in Canada, Black Canadian women’s history, and transnationalism.
Bernhardt-Walther, an associate professor of psychology, is chair of Cognitive Sciences at UC. His research focus is on the neural and computational mechanisms that underlie the perception of complex real-world scenes.
Dockstader, director of Health Studies/Public Health, is an associate professor of human biology who previously worked as a researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children using neuroimaging to investigate how brain structure and function underlies cognition and behaviour.
McCready is an experienced community-based researcher of the education, health and welfare of Black families, youth and adults. He is an associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and is currently serving as the Director of the Transitional Year Programme.
Tagliamonte, acting principal of the college, is a renowned linguistics expert. She has recently had her Canada Research Chair in Language Variation and Change renewed. Awarded by the Government of Canada, Canada Research Chair positions are designed to reinforce academic research and training excellence.
Verskin is the Samuel J. Zacks Chair of Jewish History. His areas of research include religious, legal, and social history in both Jewish and Islamic contexts, from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century.
After an extensive search, Manda Vrkljan was appointed University College Head Librarian. Vrkljan has presented conference papers on graphic fiction, professional development, and the value of research support to students.
The 2024-2025 academic year brought Barker Fairley Distinguished
Visitor Richard Fung to UC. He cofounded Gay Asians Toronto, the first organization for racialized LGBTQ+ people in Canada, and his tenure included screening his new film The Enigma of Harold Sonny Ladoo.
Tamara Trojanowska will remain as Vice-Dean, Faculty & Academic Life through June 30, 2027, thanks to an extension to her appointment. Trojanowska is a graduate of the Drama Centre at the University of Toronto (PhD) and of Theatre Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (MA).
UC Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI,” shared the prize with Princeton University Professor John J. Hopefield. They were cited “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” Hinton created a new network, called the Boltzmann Machine, that can autonomously find properties in data and perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures. A Companion of the Order of Canada, he is also co-founder of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
Former UC Principal and Professor Emerita Sylvia Bashevkin was recognized twice by the Governor General: first, as one of six recipients of the Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, and then, as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Emerita Professor Tania Li was also named Officer of the Order of Canada, as well as being awarded this year’s Killam Prize in Social Sciences for her research on land, labour, capitalism, development, politics, and Indigeneity in Indonesia. Killam Prizes are awarded to Canadian scholars who have distinguished themselves through sustained research excellence.
Congratulations to Instructor Vikki Visvis from the UC Writing Centre for winning the Superior Teaching Award, Sessional Instructor, one of the Faculty of Arts & Science’s prestigious
Outstanding Achievement Awards.
Simon Lewsen, who is currently serving a one-year appointment as Interim Director of the UC Writing Centre, won a Canadian Association of Journalists award for outstanding investigative journalism.
Professor Jesook Song was appointed as Chair of the Department of Anthropology for a five-year term. She also released a new book, Mediating Gender in Post-Authoritarian South Korea.
Wesley J. Hall, business leader and champion of equity, diversity, and inclusion, was elected by U of T’s College of Electors to serve a three-year term as chancellor of the university effective July 1, 2024. Installed at the fall 2024 University College convocation ceremony, Hall is the university’s 35th chancellor since its founding in 1827.