Provost Cheryl Regehr / en “Knowledge resides in everybody”: ֱ expands, supports access programming /bulletin/knowledge-resides-everybody-u-t-expands-supports-access-programming <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">“Knowledge resides in everybody”: ֱ expands, supports access programming</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sungjimi</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-11-25T14:40:27-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - 14:40" class="datetime">Wed, 11/25/2020 - 14:40</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Important work is underway across the three campuses to address systemic barriers that may prevent students from diverse backgrounds from seeing the University of Toronto as a place where they can thrive – and to create pathways and supports to help students succeed.</p> <p>“Many talk about diversifying the student population at the University of Toronto, but this is not merely an academic exercise – it’s something that we truly believe in,” says&nbsp;<strong>Ann Lopez</strong>,&nbsp;the provostial adviser on access.&nbsp;</p> <p>Lopez,&nbsp;an associate professor, teaching stream in the department of leadership, higher and adult education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, says improving access isn’t just important – it’s necessary. Enhancing and promoting access and outreach programming will help underrepresented groups overcome the systemic barriers they face, and ensure all feel welcome, she says.</p> <p>“It’s vital that underrepresented groups – in fact, all students – see ֱ as a place where they belong and where they can thrive,” Lopez says. “This is a place for everyone.”</p> <p><a href="https://www.viceprovoststudents.utoronto.ca/access-connections-day/">Earlier this year, Lopez and her team organized the inaugural access programming conference</a>&nbsp;at ֱ to boost collaboration among the community. The second annual conference is set to take place virtually in March. Next spring will see the launch of a new website that will act as a resource for those working to create or enhance access programming within their own division or department.&nbsp;</p> <p>Lopez points out that&nbsp;<a href="/news/new-collaboration-between-u-t-and-toronto-district-school-board-bring-more-under-represented">a commitment to access is one of ֱ’s core values</a>&nbsp;and it has been a priority for Cheryl Regehr, vice-president and provost.&nbsp;</p> <p>As part of her advisory role to the provost, Lopez conducted an inventory of the access and outreach programs at ֱ and found that there are more than 80&nbsp;active programs or initiatives. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/apuf/">Access Programs University Fund</a>&nbsp;was established to advance these efforts and continues to support the programs that make ֱ a place where all students can envision themselves attending.</p> <p>“We&nbsp;asked ourselves: ‘How do we sustain these access programs?’,” Lopez says. “We are really examining how to make it so that they become embedded in organizational work – being baked into everything we do from the beginning – rather than being work along the way.”</p> <p>Some of those 80 programs are already seeing positive results. The <a href="https://applymd.utoronto.ca/black-student-application-program">Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Black Students Application Program</a>, for example, resulted in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7010646/24-black-medical-students-accepted-u-of-t-medicine/">&nbsp;accepting 24 Black students into the class of 2024, the largest cohort of Black medical students in Canadian history</a>.&nbsp;Other&nbsp;access and outreach programs have been implemented ֱ, such as&nbsp;the Faculty of Law’s&nbsp;<a href="https://bfl.law.utoronto.ca/law-bsap" target="_blank" title="https://bfl.law.utoronto.ca/law-bsap">Black Student Application Process</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://bfl.law.utoronto.ca/" target="_blank" title="https://bfl.law.utoronto.ca/">Black Future Lawyers</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/studentlife/imani-tri-mentorship-initiatives" target="_blank" title="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/studentlife/Imani-academic-mentorship-program">Imani Tri-Mentorship Program</a>&nbsp;at ֱ Scarborough, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s&nbsp;<a href="/news/meet-two-undergrads-pursuing-health-studies-thanks-unique-u-t-outreach-program">outreach and access program</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://outreach.engineering.utoronto.ca/pre-university-programs/blueprint/" target="_blank" title="https://outreach.engineering.utoronto.ca/pre-university-programs/blueprint/">Blueprint&nbsp;</a>program at the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering.&nbsp;The new access website will glean best practices from these programs and help program administrators exchange ideas and initiatives.&nbsp;</p> <p>Lopez hopes the invaluable work being done to break down barriers will continue to thrive at ֱ with these new resources to ensure any student interested in conducting their studies at ֱ has the opportunity.</p> <p>“It’s important to note that access is not about lowering standards,” Lopez says. “We are acknowledging that knowledge resides in everybody but some folks have not had the opportunity to bring that knowledge to the table.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We need to create that space and remove barriers for all racialized groups who have not been historically included or perceived as not belonging in a place like ֱ.”</p> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>“Knowledge resides in everybody”: ֱ expands, supports access programming</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0304AccessConnections001.jpg?h=14867ade&amp;itok=MaZJ3ABu 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/0304AccessConnections001.jpg?h=14867ade&amp;itok=zCu1pY58 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/0304AccessConnections001.jpg?h=14867ade&amp;itok=Zelv5GCn 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0304AccessConnections001.jpg?h=14867ade&amp;itok=MaZJ3ABu" alt="Ann Lopez speaks at the inaugural Access Connections Day conference held earlier this year"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-cutline field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Ann Lopez speaks at the inaugural Access Connections Day conference held earlier this year. Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn</div> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden clearfix"> <ul class="links field__items"> <li><a href="/news/tags/diversity-and-inclusion" hreflang="en">Diversity and Inclusion</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/faculty-law" hreflang="en">Faculty of Law</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">ֱ Scarborough</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/provost-cheryl-regehr" hreflang="en">Provost Cheryl Regehr</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jenny Rodrigues</div> <div class="field field--name-field-hide field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> Wed, 25 Nov 2020 19:40:27 +0000 sungjimi 166632 at Governing Council approves policy on sexual violence and sexual harassment /news/governing-council-approves-policy-sexual-violence-and-sexual-harassment <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Governing Council approves policy on sexual violence and sexual harassment</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-12-16-coat-arms.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=C18XxCjO 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-12-16-coat-arms.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=KWAbhG1H 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-12-16-coat-arms.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=CHnYSLQ6 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-12-16-coat-arms.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=C18XxCjO" alt="photo of stone crest"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-12-16T12:00:09-05:00" title="Friday, December 16, 2016 - 12:00" class="datetime">Fri, 12/16/2016 - 12:00</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/provost" hreflang="en">Provost</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/provost-cheryl-regehr" hreflang="en">Provost Cheryl Regehr</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Toronto is taking an important step to address sexual violence on our campuses with the final approval of a new policy that establishes a consistent system for responding to incidents and getting support, says Vice-President and Provost <strong>Cheryl Regehr</strong>.</p> <p>ֱ’s new policy on sexual violence and sexual harassment received final approval from Governing Council on December 15 and will take effect January&nbsp;1, 2017.</p> <h3><a href="http://www.governingcouncil.lamp4.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/p1215-poshsv-2016-2017pol.pdf">Read the policy</a></h3> <p>The policy will apply to all members of the ֱ community and makes available the same services to everyone – students, faculty and staff. All incidents between members of the community, whether they take place on or off campus or online, will be covered by the new policy.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Sexual violence and harassment have no place in our community,” Regehr said. “We need to make that clear through our policy and services, and we need to make sure those affected by sexual violence know where to turn for help.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Adopting a new policy is one of several actions ֱ is taking to improve its response to sexual violence. It follows almost two years of consultations and research, including <a href="/news/expert-panel-sexual-violence-recommends-one-set-procedures-all-members-u-t-community">the advice of an expert panel</a> that delivered its recommendations in August.</p> <p>Provincial law requires that all universities and colleges in the province have a policy on sexual violence in place by January 2017.&nbsp;</p> <p>The new policy aims to reduce the barriers to disclosure and reporting by minimizing the number of times complainants are asked to tell their story and maintaining as much confidentiality as possible.&nbsp;</p> <p>It makes a clear distinction between disclosing an incident and making a formal report, and there is no requirement to make a formal report in order to access support or to receive academic, employment or other accommodations..</p> <p>“Everyone needs to be treated with respect and know they have a safe environment to work and to learn,” said <strong>Kelly Hannah-Moffat</strong>, vice-president of human resources and equity.</p> <p>The new policy includes a commitment to due process and procedural fairness. The measures are designed to strike a balance, Regehr said, and respect the interests of both parties. She said the university will continue to work with groups on campus as it begins implementing the new policy.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I want to thank everyone who helped shape this policy for their involvement over the past two years,” Regehr said. “This policy is the result of hundreds of hours of consultations and research – and the hard work continues.”</p> <p>Central to the new policy is the creation of a Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre, which will have a presence on all three campuses in January. The centre will manage the process for reporting sexual violence and sexual harassment and will offer support for those who disclose an incident, whether or not they choose to report it. It also will provide training and education and will be the first point of contact for those who want accommodations. &nbsp;</p> <p>The university also has hired <a href="http://memos.provost.utoronto.ca/appointment-of-angela-treglia-as-director-sexual-violence-prevention-support-centre-pdadc-37/">a new director to oversee the centre</a>, who will begin in January. An <a href="/news/executive-director-personal-safety">executive director of personal safety, high risk and sexual violence prevention and support </a>was hired earlier this year to oversee sexual violence prevention and response initiatives, and to take the lead on community safety and high-risk matters.</p> <p>The policy is part of ֱ’s action plan to prevent and respond to sexual violence. As part of that plan, two expert panels are continuing to do work. An expert panel on education and prevention activities is conducting specialized consultations with student leaders and staff and will begin broader consultations this winter. The Sexual Violence Climate Survey Advisory Board, chaired by Professor <strong>Sandy Welsh</strong>, is following the survey development work of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development and its plans for a university sector climate survey.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 16 Dec 2016 17:00:09 +0000 lanthierj 102815 at ֱ celebrates exemplary teaching /news/u-t-celebrates-exemplary-teaching <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">ֱ celebrates exemplary teaching</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jawg12CX 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ADuv2yIR 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8Ox4COiR 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jawg12CX" alt="Photo of 2016 President's Teaching Award recipients"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-11-16T11:41:34-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 11:41" class="datetime">Wed, 11/16/2016 - 11:41</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">ֱ's Jonathan Rose (left) Alison Gibbs and James D. Thomson (right) are the recipients of the 2016 President's Teaching Award</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Geoffrey Vendeville</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/president-s-teaching-award" hreflang="en">President's Teaching Award</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/president-meric-gertler" hreflang="en">President Meric Gertler</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/provost-cheryl-regehr" hreflang="en">Provost Cheryl Regehr</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/education" hreflang="en">Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/professors" hreflang="en">Professors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-education" hreflang="en">innovation in education</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>One tries to make sense of the world through statistics. The other is a coding wiz. And the third focuses on explaining the relationship between plants and animals.</p> <p><strong>Alison Gibbs</strong>, an associate professor (teaching stream)&nbsp;in the department of&nbsp;statistical sciences;&nbsp;<strong>Jonathan Rose</strong>, a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering;&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>James D. Thomson</strong>, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, received&nbsp;the 2016 President's Teaching Award&nbsp;– the University of Toronto's highest honour for excellence in teaching.&nbsp;</p> <p>While the three&nbsp;come from different backgrounds, they share a devotion to their students.</p> <p>“It’s not about teaching. It’s about learning,” Gibbs said.</p> <p>Gibbs and Thomson are from the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. Rose is from the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. All three&nbsp;were honoured Tuesday night at a ceremony&nbsp;marking the 10th anniversary of the first university-wide teaching award. ֱ President <strong>Meric Gertler </strong>and Vice-President and Provost <strong>Cheryl Regehr </strong>presented the awards.</p> <p><img alt="photo of president and provost with Thomson" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2537 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards-embed3.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>President Meric Gertler (right) and Provost Cheryl Regehr (left) present Professor James D. Thomson with the award (photo by Johnny Guatto)</em></p> <p>Thomson co-teaches an introductory biology course on adaptation and biodiversity that&nbsp;is so popular that enrolment often exceeds the seats in Convocation Hall. To accomodate the 1,900 students who typically sign up, the class has&nbsp;morning and evening sessions.&nbsp;</p> <p>Thomson has also taken students as far as Vietnam to study flowers and pollinators, and he&nbsp;wrote a textbook called&nbsp;<em>The Struggle for Existence</em>,&nbsp;a nod to Charles Darwin.</p> <p>Known for his dry sense of humour, he tries not to recycle jokes for students.</p> <p>“If some little witticism occurs to me while I’m phrasing a sentence, I’m willing to take a bit of a flier and throw it in. Usually, those pretty much fall flat,” he said with a laugh.</p> <h3><a href="/news/innovations-teaching-james-thomson">Read more about Thomson</a></h3> <p><img alt="photo of Rose with students" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2538 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards-embed4.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Professor Jonathan Rose at the 2016 President's Teaching Award ceremony with some of his students&nbsp;(photo by Johnny Guatto)</em></p> <p>Rose encourages his computer engineering students to tackle practical problems&nbsp;– and many have by developing prototypes of useful apps. He teaches <a href="http://www.eecg.utoronto.ca/~jayar/ece1778.2016w/project-videos-reports-code.html">a graduate-level mobile app development course</a> that has led students to build more than 110 prototypes. Last year’s projects include an app designed to help autistic kids find suitable playmates and another that translates Russian opera lyrics for singers who can’t read Cyrillic.</p> <p>“He cares really deeply for students, not only at the top of the class but also students at the lower end of the class,” said <strong>Braiden Brousseau</strong>, a PhD candidate in computer engineering and one of Rose’s teaching assistants. “He goes out of his way so many times to make sure no one is left behind.”</p> <h3><a href="/news/innovations-teaching-jonathan-rose">Read more about Rose</a></h3> <p><img alt="photo of Gibbs at lectern" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2535 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-16-alison-gibbs-embed.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Alison Gibbs, associate professor of statistics (teaching stream) speaking at the award ceremony Tuesday (photo by Johnny Guatto)</em></p> <p>Gibbs&nbsp;is leading the charge to renew the statistics curriculum at ֱ. She&nbsp;has developed a capstone course pairing up fourth-year statistics students with&nbsp;research students in other fields.</p> <p>She&nbsp;says the key to good teaching is to see the material through the eyes of students. Whenever she’s lecturing, she draws on practical examples to show the power of statistics –&nbsp;and, sometimes, the&nbsp;blind spots.</p> <p>“When you look at the world through data –&nbsp;the world’s a fuzzy place. It’s like looking at the world through rippled glass,” she said. “But then the idea of statistics is to help you try to make sense of what you can say about what’s hiding behind the glass, and what you can’t say.”</p> <h3><a href="/news/innovations-teaching-alison-gibbs">Read more about Gibbs</a></h3> <p>The President’s Teaching Award winners receive an annual professional development allowance of $10,000 for five years. They are also designated as members of the University of Toronto Teaching Academy for a minimum of five years.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="/news/u-t-honours-great-teaching-research">Read more about the President's Teaching Award</a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 16 Nov 2016 16:41:34 +0000 ullahnor 102431 at