First Year Students / en 'A transformative experience': 茄子直播 program gives first-year student - and aspiring surgeon - a head start /news/transformative-experience-u-t-program-gives-first-year-student-and-aspiring-surgeon-head-start <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'A transformative experience': 茄子直播 program gives first-year student - and aspiring surgeon - a head start</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/2024-09/0909NastehaOmar007.jpg?h=20014d77&amp;itok=NaJoPDy7 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-09/0909NastehaOmar007.jpg?h=20014d77&amp;itok=FBNFC2-s 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-09/0909NastehaOmar007.jpg?h=20014d77&amp;itok=FUsy_V8l 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/2024-09/0909NastehaOmar007.jpg?h=20014d77&amp;itok=NaJoPDy7" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-09-12T13:14:30-04:00" title="Thursday, September 12, 2024 - 13:14" class="datetime">Thu, 09/12/2024 - 13:14</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"><p><em>Nasteha Omar is pursuing an honours bachelor of science in life sciences, and eyeing a specialist in molecular biology (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)</em></p> </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/rahul-kalvapalle" hreflang="en">Rahul Kalvapalle</a></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/back-school-2024" hreflang="en">Back to School 2024</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/current-students" hreflang="en">Current Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/first-year-students" hreflang="en">First Year Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">茄子直播 Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Nasteha Omar, who wants to study orthopedics, spent a high school semester at 茄子直播 Mississauga via the Support, Engage, Experience (SEE) UTM program</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Nasteha Omar</strong> has long been interested in becoming an orthopedic surgeon 鈥 and thanks to a unique program at the University of Toronto Mississauga, the first-year student is already well on her way.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚鈥檝e had to go to hospital and be in contact with different orthopedic surgeons lots of times because of problems that I have myself,鈥 she says. 鈥淎nd I found their careers really interesting from a young age. It鈥檚 just something that I鈥檝e always wanted to do.鈥</p> <p>While taking the first steps towards her goal at 茄子直播 Mississauga was always her intention 鈥 her family lives near the campus and her older sister is already a student 鈥 Omar got an early and up-close look at university life via the <a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/future-students/seeutm">Support, Engage, Experience 茄子直播 Mississauga (SEE UTM)</a> initiative,&nbsp;which invites Peel District high school students to spend a semester at 茄子直播 Mississauga to get a taste of post-secondary education.</p> <p>It was nothing short of 鈥渁 transformative experience,鈥 says Omar, who was encouraged to apply for the initiative by her vice-principal at Erindale Secondary School.&nbsp;鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 only a chance to connect with peers and mentors, but also an opportunity to engage in programs that helped me enrich my academic and personal growth.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>Now a first-year student, Omar is pursuing an honours bachelor of science degree in life sciences and eyeing a specialist in molecular biology.</p> <p>She says her SEE UTM experience allowed her to explore the sciences from a variety of lenses. One of the highlights was taking a course, "STEM in Society," that explores how the STEM fields intersect with society, culture and politics.</p> <p>鈥淚鈥檝e always been interested in the sciences and STEM, so participating in a course that was more about the ethical side of ongoing situations in our world 鈥 and of science topics 鈥 really opened my eyes to different pathways that I want to explore,鈥 Omar says of the course taught by <strong>Sheliza Ibrahim</strong>, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy.</p> <p>In addition to exploring new intellectual ground, Omar also got a taste of hands-on scientific research in the <a href="https://applylab.org/index.html">Applied Perception &amp; Psychophysics Laboratory</a>, co-directed by Assistant Professors <strong>Anna Kosovicheva</strong> and <strong>Benjamin Wolfe</strong> of the department of psychology. There, Omar used MATLAB programming software to design an experiment to study how visual and auditory stimuli interact. 鈥淚t was to show how our perception of time can be influenced by how we interpret events,鈥 she says.&nbsp;</p> <p>While Omar didn鈥檛 have time to test the experiment before her semester ended, she plans to do more lab work as an undergraduate student, picking up where she left off.</p> <p>Alongside her SEE UTM experience, Omar also gained insight into 茄子直播 Mississauga's myriad resources and supports via the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/future-students/black-access-educational-excellence">Black Access to Educational Excellence initiative (BAEE@UTM)</a>, which organizes events and networking opportunities aimed at helping Black high school students learn more about the campus community&nbsp;鈥 a<span style="font-size: 1rem;">nd thrive once they get there.</span></p> <p>For Omar, that means looking beyond her academic goals. She&nbsp;plans to get involved in student clubs, particularly anything that caters to her love of literature 鈥 she writes poems and fiction, and took part in the <a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/rgasc/undergraduate-students/caribbean-black-writing-collective">Caribbean &amp; Black Writing Collective</a> during her semester at the university. And she wants to start a non-profit tutoring organization by building on her high school experience founding the Erindale Secondary School chapter of <a href="https://www.learntobe.org/">Learn To Be</a>, an NGO that provides free online tutoring.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚t was a great opportunity for students to not only gain volunteer hours but make connections with other students in an online tutoring format, where they tutored students from under-privileged families that wouldn鈥檛 be able to get extra help or access to educational resources outside of school,鈥 she says.&nbsp;鈥淚鈥檇 love to see it up and running at UTM if that would be a possibility.鈥</p> <p>Omar remains in touch with some of her peers from the SEE UTM and BAEE@UTM programs,&nbsp;as well as the upper-year 茄子直播 Mississauga students who served as mentors.</p> <p>鈥淚 feel like we were all able to grow really close as a community,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t helped me find my footing for what was to come when I enter university, so it was really amazing.鈥</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> Thu, 12 Sep 2024 17:14:30 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 309348 at Singing karaoke, designing flash mobs: 茄子直播's Denise Cruz engages first-year students /news/singing-karaoke-designing-flash-mobs-u-t-s-denise-cruz-engages-first-year-students <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Singing karaoke, designing flash mobs: 茄子直播's Denise Cruz engages first-year students</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/2017-01-26-cruz.jpg?h=2fe880c3&amp;itok=ei3IHbMD 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-01-26-cruz.jpg?h=2fe880c3&amp;itok=DfhNW5bu 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-01-26-cruz.jpg?h=2fe880c3&amp;itok=qIqgNPRM 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/2017-01-26-cruz.jpg?h=2fe880c3&amp;itok=ei3IHbMD" alt="Photo of Denise Cruz"> </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="2017-01-30T15:00:20-05:00" title="Monday, January 30, 2017 - 15:00" class="datetime">Mon, 01/30/2017 - 15:00</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">Denise Cruz: 鈥淭he humanities allow you to imagine alternate worlds, and what it might be like to think, act or live in those worlds. They encourage critical thinking and lead toward an ethical way of being with each other鈥 (photo by Diana Tyszko)</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/elaine-smith" hreflang="en">Elaine Smith</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">Elaine Smith</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/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</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/english" hreflang="en">English</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</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/undergraduate-education" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/first-year-students" hreflang="en">First Year Students</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The literature of the Asian diaspora would have lost a major champion if Denise Cruz had followed her initial plan to attend medical school.&nbsp;</p> <p>Luckily, Cruz, an associate professor in 茄子直播's English department, couldn't walk away from literature.</p> <p>Today, her class for first-year students in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science includes Canadian writers from diverse backgrounds&nbsp;such as Mona Awad, David Chariandy and Souvankham Thammavongsa.&nbsp;</p> <p>Literature, she says, plays an important role in teaching critical thinking and reflection, something she emphasizes when teaching 鈥淟iterature of Our Time.鈥</p> <p>For Cruz, the 400-student humanities course, which was previously taught by Professor Nick Mount,&nbsp;is an argument for why the acts of critical reading and writing are crucial in today鈥檚 world where we read things on social media&nbsp;鈥 without context 鈥揳nd make snap judgments on whether to&nbsp;鈥渓ike鈥 or 鈥渘ot like.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭his is why I don鈥檛 just analyze the texts and provide historical and cultural context. My students and I have sung karaoke together to demonstrate anonymity within a crowd, designed musical flash mobs to synthesize skills for the final exam&nbsp;and played a 400-student version of the game 鈥渢elephone鈥 to examine the multiple narrators of a book like Toni Morrison鈥檚 <em>Beloved</em>.鈥</p> <p>She says she&nbsp;looks&nbsp;for ways to engage students with the&nbsp;global world.</p> <p>鈥淲hat I try to bring is a direct engagement with the transnational and the global,鈥 Cruz says. 鈥淪tudents are able to read works that are not similar to their experiences.</p> <p>鈥淭he humanities allow you to imagine alternate worlds, and what it might be like to think, act or live in those worlds.&nbsp;They encourage critical thinking and lead toward an ethical way of being with each other.鈥</p> <p>Cruz鈥檚 research also challenges people to think about the world 鈥&nbsp;both past and present 鈥&nbsp;in new ways. She calls herself 鈥渁 scholar of gender and sexuality in national and transnational cultures.鈥</p> <p>鈥淚鈥檓 interested in national, regional&nbsp;and global interactions in North America, the Philippines&nbsp;and Asia, and how these dynamics effect gender and sexuality,鈥 she says.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淢ore broadly, my work is grounded in my fascination with examining how different forms of culture 鈥&nbsp;a novel, a performance, a fashion show 鈥 can become a way of questioning lived social realities.鈥</p> <p>The California native pursued her&nbsp;PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles, and arrived at the University of Toronto in 2013 after six years teaching at Indiana University.</p> <p>鈥淭he University of Toronto was attractive for many reasons,鈥 Cruz says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a wonderful school and I was impressed by the strength of the English department. It has a lot of depth in gender and sexuality studies and in post-colonial studies, two of my major interests.鈥</p> <p>Cruz, the daughter of Filipino immigrants to the United States, was also attracted by Toronto鈥檚 large Filipino community.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭oronto鈥檚 place as a global city interested me, and I like the idea of studying American literature outside the United States. It has been wonderful.鈥</p> <p>She is currently working on a book about fashion, <em>Runways: Filipino Couture and the New Silk Road</em>.</p> <p>鈥淢anila (the capital of the Philippines) has a long history of made-to-order, custom clothing 鈥 couture,鈥 Cruz says. 鈥淭here are more than 300 working designers there today, and the book looks at the city from the Second World War to the present.</p> <p>鈥淭hese designers defy the stereotype of cheaply made Philippine clothing, highlight the importance of the industry and show its connections with centres like Dubai, rather than the traditional fashion centre, Paris.鈥</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> Mon, 30 Jan 2017 20:00:20 +0000 ullahnor 103614 at