Annual Review - University of Toronto Scarborough

Tomorrow 

is created 

here. 

University of toronto scarboroUgh 

Annual Review 2010

A long-exposure image from the sound installation Theremin Pendulum, 

by the pioneering artist Gordon Monahan. The Doris McCarthy Gallery at 

UTSC is a leading exhibition space for contemporary art such as Monahan’s, 

with a permanent collection of more than 1,500 works by Canadian and 

international artists. UTSC is known for academic excellence and achievement, 

and the campus has become a leading arts and cultural hub.

Welcome home, tomorrow 

UTSC’s impressive new Instructional Centre will open its doors 

September 2011. The $78-million building will increase academic 

facilities on campus by 25 per cent and will launch an exciting 

phase of expansion on the North Campus. Among the many 

striking features are technology-enhanced classrooms, new 

research and teaching laboratories, state-of-the-art computing 

facilities, a piazza-like entrance courtyard and a grand atrium.

Annual Review 

2010 

2 PRINCIPAl’S MeSSAGe 

Franco J. Vaccarino 

6 RePoRT oN TeAChING AND ReSeARCh 

An interview with Rick Halpern, 

Dean & Vice Principal (Academic), and 

Malcolm Campbell, Vice Principal, 

Research 

11 UTSC hIGhlIGhTS 

UTSC brings innovative NMR 

techniques to government 

partnership (p. 14). 

t o m o r r o W i s c r e at e d h e r e 

12 FoR A heAlThy PlANeT 

19 FACUlTy AChIeveMeNTS 

20 FoR A heAlThy PoPUlATIoN 

28 FoR A GlobAl SoCIeTy 

34 AlUMNI & FRIeNDS hIGhlIGhTS 

36 FoR oUR STUDeNTS 

39 STUDeNT AChIeveMeNTS 

The Clinical Neurosciences 

Laboratory enables a focus 

on mental health (p. 22). 

U t s c at a g l a n c e 

41 DePARTMeNTAL INFoRMATIoN 

AND STATISTICS 

44 ReSeARCH FUNDINg, PUBLICATIoNS 

AND gRANTS 

45 eNRoLMeNT gRowTH 

46 PRogRAM eNRoLMeNT 

47 INTeRNATIoNAL STUDeNTS 

UTSC investigates the impact 

of e-waste in Bangalore (p. 30). 

ANNUAL ReVIew 2010 1

message from the PrinciPal 

Agrowing Centre for 

Research and Learning 

2 UNIVeRSITy oF ToRoNTo SCARBoRoUgH

The University of Toronto Scarborough is poised at an 

exciting new threshold. New students, new faculty, new 

programs and the impressive, new $78-million Instructional 

Centre, which has expanded our academic learning spaces 

by 25 per cent – all these have changed the face of the 

UTSC campus from what it was just a few short years ago. 

but, as you will see on the pages of this Annual Review, 

these developments are just the beginning… 

the North Campus is the 

$170-million Aquatic Centre 

& Field House Complex, which 

will be built for our students 

and the surrounding community, 

and for the upcoming Pan Am 

games in 2015. 

UTSC hAS CoMe INTo ITS owN AS A 

CoMPReheNSIve, ReSeARCh-INTeNSIve UNIveRSITy. 

Many factors have contributed to this transformation: 

U of T’s Towards 2030 plan and the evolution of the 

tri-campus model, a growing student population 

and strategic hiring, as well as promising new 

partnerships and research. These changes are the 

result of the convergence, both organically and 

by design, of strong plans from all levels of UTSC. 

we know that UTSC must be well positioned to 

respond to growing student demand. Demand for 

university student spaces in the greater Toronto 

Area is projected to increase by 35,000 over the 

next 20 years. This is a challenge that will require 

innovative funding solutions and partnerships. 

As part of our strategic planning process, we 

identified the need to build a sustainable platform 

at UTSC, a solid foundation that will provide the 

resources and facilities required to create an 

ideal teaching, learning and working environment. 

And we’ve made good progress in these areas. 

our spectacular Instructional Centre adds a 

plethora of new lecture halls, labs and student 

spaces, alongside innovative food service options 

on campus. It is the first development to take 

place on our North Campus, an area of 100 acres 

of undeveloped land that will be critical to our 

future plans. Another exciting development for 

The new Complex would not be possible without 

our partnership with the three levels of government, 

as well as UTSC students who voted strongly in 

favour of its support. 

when I asked John Aruldason, president of the 

Scarborough Campus Students’ Union, about his 

thoughts regarding the strong student support 

for this new athletics facility, his answer resonated 

with me: “we wanted to leave the campus a better 

place.” It’s a response that says a lot about our 

students and UTSC. 

These new buildings – along with the master 

plan calling for additional improvements in transit 

and new academic and cultural facilities – are 

also helping us realize our vision of the university 

as an intellectual and cultural hub for our region 

and beyond. 

In addition to growing our undergraduate offerings, 

a top priority at UTSC has been to expand our 

research and graduate capacity. we believe that 

this is an important aspect of the intellectual 

and research landscape of UTSC and also adds 

uniqueness and depth to the undergraduate 

experience. 

we launched our environmental Science PhD 

program in 2010 – the first tri-campus doctorate 

administered at UTSC (see page 15). And I’m thrilled 

about our current progress towards launching 


message from the PrinciPal 

a new PhD program in 

Clinical Psychology, led 

by Dr. Michael Bagby, 

one of Canada’s most 

influential and respected 

researchers in clinical and 

personality psychology 

(see page 22). 

our campus and our 

programs have put 

“the global in the 

local.” This sense of 

international identity 

provided by our students is matched by the diversity of 

our programming. And as you read this Annual Review, 

you’ll find some amazing examples of innovative 

scholarship and research in the areas of health, global 

communities and the environment. 

None of these significant achievements would be possible 

without the skills and commitment of our faculty and 

staff. New breakthroughs in research, in combination 

with engaged, passionate professors and staff who care, 

make for an inspiring and stimulating environment for 

our students. There’s a buzz here at UTSC and it continues 

to grow and flourish. over the past three years, we’ve 

added 65 new faculty and 59 new staff. 

Two new leaders on campus deserve special mention. 

The Dean of Student Affairs, Desmond Pouyat, continues 

to build upon the services and programs that make the 

UTSC campus experience vibrant and welcoming for 

all our students. georgette Zinaty, executive Director, 

Development & Alumni Relations, will be a critical player 

in inspiring and connecting our stakeholders with our 

vision for the future. 

New people, new facilities and new programs have 

brought new life to our campus. 

given all these exciting developments, it was time to 

revisit our identity, so that our new position as a mid-sized, 

comprehensive, research-intensive university is better 

represented in words and images. our new tagline 

– Tomorrow is created here – communicates UTSC’s 

promise to create opportunities for generations of 

students and to contribute to a better future for all. 

As always, we welcome your thoughts and invite 

your feedback. Tomorrow is being created here at UTSC, 

and we couldn’t do it without our students, faculty, 

partners, alumni and friends. 

Thank you for your support. 

Professor franco J. vaccarino 

Principal, University of Toronto Scarborough 

Vice-President, University of Toronto 


1 

Following healthy 

debate and discussion, 

UTSC students voted 

2-to-1 in support 

of the new Pan Am 

Aquatic Centre & Field 

House Complex. 

7 

Desmond Pouyat, the 

new Dean of Student 

Affairs, strives for the 

success of all UTSC 

students. 

2 

The new Instructional 

Centre will provide 

state-of-the-art 

educational space and 

a stunning aesthetic 

experience. 

8 

New PhD in environmental 

Science makes 

UTSC a hub for advanced 

research and teaching 

in this critical area. 

3 

Teaching excellence 

is a hallmark of the 

UTSC experience, as 

demonstrated here 

by award-winning 

professor Clare 

Hasenkampf. 

9 

UTSC’s exciting new 

Master Plan sets out 

how the North Campus 

will evolve over the 

next 25 to 50 years. 

4 

The new $170-million 

Pan Am Aquatic 

Centre & Field House 

Complex will feature 

two olympic-sized 

pools, a 25-metre 

diving pool and 

extensive fitness and 

wellness facilities. 

5 

with a brand-new 

story to tell, UTSC 

rolls out a new 

visual identity 

and tagline. 

2010 at a glance 

6 

georgette Zinaty 

(BA ’89) joins 

UTSC as the new 

executive Director 

of Development and 

Alumni Relations. 

1 2 3 

4 5 6 

7 8 9 


ePort on teaching & research 

Project UTSC: 

Turning Vision into Action 

In a conversation inspired by the new programs, new investments, 

new partnerships and new spirit sweeping across campus, Dean and 

Vice-Principal (Academic) rick halPern and Vice-Principal (Research) 

malcolm camPbell bring their wealth of experience and insight 

to the exciting transformations currently underway at UTSC. 

What are some of the 

changes taking Place at 

ontario Universities and 

at Utsc sPecifically? 

rh qone of the real challenges 

that all universities in ontario grapple 

with is expanding demand for places, 

both in our sector and the college 

sector. It’s not just a matter of 

providing additional spaces; it’s about 

developing programs and initiatives 

that will meet the needs of the 

province and our young people. we 

have to remember that our students 

are preparing for an environment 

that’s remarkably different from the 

world that we trained their parents 

for, or even their brothers and sisters, 

for that matter. 

mc qSomething that’s changed 

dramatically is that wise investments 

in university-based research, such 

as those provided by the Canada 

Foundation for Innovation, have 

significantly enhanced the research 

enterprise at universities. This has 

empowered faculty to conduct truly 

cutting-edge research. For campuses 

like UTSC that were traditionally 

teaching institutions, this has allowed 

research intensification to occur at 

a phenomenally rapid rate, and this 

has been entirely transformative. UTSC 

has moved well beyond its historical 

role as a teaching campus to a fullfledged, 

powerful research and 

teaching hub. As a consequence, 

we now stand shoulder-to-shoulder 

with any research-intensive university 

of comparable size. 

What does this mean for 

the stUdent exPerience? 

rh qone of 

the things that’s 

distinctive about 

University of 

Toronto is our 

emphasis on 

bringing research 

into the classroom. 

Specifically, at UTSC we’re able 

to introduce new and innovative 

undergraduate programs faster and 

that’s, in large part, because of this 

research component. If I look at 

Social Sciences and Humanities on 

our campus, we very rapidly moved 

into paradigms of knowledge that 

would only be reflected at the 

graduate level in other universities. 

Comparative cultural studies, 


development studies and city 

studies are good examples. we’ve 

moved beyond outmoded “area 

studies” models to “global diaspora 

perspectives” for undergraduate 

programs for South Asia and east Asia. 

And this is because of the trajectory 

that our campus has followed with 

our continued emphasis on research 

intensification. 

yoU both toUched on 

changes at the UndergradUate 

level. hoW else is the Utsc 

camPUs changing? 

rh qgraduate 

activity is probably 

the single most 

important way 

in which UTSC is 

now differentiating 

itself from the 

previous 47 years 

of its history. we’ve launched a PhD 

program in environmental Science that 

builds on a longer-running, successful 

master’s program in that area. we’re 

currently moving through governance 

and approvals for a new doctoral 

program in Clinical Psychology, and 

there are other programs at the 

PhD, master’s and even professional 

master’s levels that will follow. This 

has had an enormous impact on our 

ability to recruit faculty. we’re one 

of the few institutions in Canadian 

higher education that is hiring at 

a very aggressive rate. 

mc qAs a campus at University 

of Toronto, we embody the U of T 

experience – connecting the world’s 

best research to the best of higher 

education. To accomplish this, we’ve 

made sure that we have the very 

best faculty in place, doing the very 

best research, where they take the 

brilliant ideas, concepts and new 

discoveries that they make in research, 

and bring them to life for students 

in the lecture hall, in the teaching 

laboratory and in their own 

laboratories, where they welcome 

students to personally engage 

in discovery first-hand. 

hoW do yoU ensUre that neW 

Programs meet stUdent interest 

and remain relevant over time? 

rh qwhat we’re trying to do as senior 

administrative leaders is not impose 

a top-down model on the campus 

programs or growth areas we’re going 

to prioritize. To that end, every 

department has been engaged in 

a fairly rigorous planning process. our 

colleagues in the field have decided 

where their short- and medium-term 

futures are, and we’re able to resource 

those areas, sometimes on a pilot 

basis, sometimes on a more permanent 

basis. we’re going to move forward 

cautiously, but once we see something 

take, we’re in a position where we’re 

nimble enough to align resources 

behind it. we’re consciously encouraging 

interdepartmental cooperation and 

prioritizing proposals that emerge 

around certain campus-wide priorities, 

including sustainability in the 

environment, health, internationalism 

and global citizenship. 

mc qAt a 

grassroots level, 

departments 

are identifying 

programs that are 

beautifully aligned 

with our overall 

institutional 

strategic plan, and where they see a 

need and can be competitive. Consider 

Biological Sciences. That department 

has identified biodiversity and 

conservation as an area aligned with 

our institutional interests around 

sustainability and the environment, 

where they’ve got a critical mass 

of faculty, where they can deliver 

programs at the undergraduate and 

the graduate level, and, beyond that, 

develop partnerships at the research 

level that will propel all of those 

activities forward through the coming 

years. That department has launched 

the Biodiversity, ecology and evolution 

Specialist (Bees) program – a directentry 

stream for undergraduates 

that has resonated with high-school 

students. This is a key area for the 

future of UTSC and for society. 

rh qenvironmental 

Studies is another 

example of where 

curriculum has 

developed across 

units. It involves 

the departments 

of Physical & 

environmental Sciences, Biological 

Sciences and Social Sciences. Through 

this triple effort, we have been able to 

combine a science emphasis, a policy 

component and a politics focus, which 

creates an area of study that is of high 

interest to our students. I could make 

the same illustration by pointing 

to Health Studies or Mental Health 

Studies – areas where one department 

has taken the lead and other 

departments have contributed. The 

Department of Psychology’s Mental 

Health Studies program is now in 

its second year and is a very robust 

undergraduate program. 

mc qThe great 

thing about the 

three programs 

Rick has mentioned 

is that they 

emphasize our 

new tagline, 

‘Tomorrow is 

created here.’ we’ve got a significantly 

large aging population in Canada, but 

that’s far outstripped by the aging 

populations emerging in China and 

India, where many of our students 

have direct connections and where 

there is an incredible need for 

healthcare provision, mental-health 

care provision and the development 

of policy pieces related to that. 

Leaders need to emerge to contend 

with those issues in the coming 

decades. The same can be said for 

environmental health, and by that 

I mean the health of our planet. 

It’s not a coincidence that these are 

areas where our researchers are also 

most active. As mentors, they are 

inspiring the next generation to be 

the leaders of tomorrow who will 

ensure the sustained health of our 

planet and people. 


ePort on teaching & research 

WoUld yoU describe Utsc as 

a local or an international 

University exPerience? 

rh qBecause of the diverse nature 

of our community, internationalism 

is not an abstract concept at UTSC. 

you see this in a very real and palpable 

way. And that’s helped propel us 

on a course of action, not just in 

our community here in the eastern 

end of the City of Toronto but also 

abroad. we have programs such as 

International Development Studies, 

which is unique at UTSC. we train 

students to work in the developing 

world and bring together areas 

of knowledge that often are treated 

separately: economics, the 

environment, environmental 

health, and health in general. 

in the world, and it allows us to offer 

something that has not been paralleled 

elsewhere in Canada, or indeed 

throughout higher education. 

increasingly, Utsc emPhasizes 

“exPeriential” rather than 

“co-oP” oPPortUnities. 

can yoU exPlain this? 

rh qFor many years, we were 

regarded as the co-op campus, and 

it’s certainly true we’re the one campus 

at University of Toronto that runs 

a range of co-operative education 

programs. But that only begins to 

capture the experiential piece. we’re 

working to develop experiential 

opportunities for our students. These 

run the gamut from formal co-op 

range from biodiversity measures in 

ecosystems to the cultural practices and 

language use in human communities. 

What else makes the Utsc 

camPUs a UniqUe exPerience? 

mc qAll of the excellent dynamics 

that you come across on the downtown 

U of T campus are amplified here 

at UTSC because of our relationship 

with our surroundings, the nature 

of our student body and our 

community spirit. what is remarkable 

about UTSC is that delivery of the 

U of T experience, which is part of 

our institutional DNA, is improved by 

virtue of our size – big enough to have 

critical mass and momentum, but small 

enough to have proper community 

spirit and connectivity. 

Consider our green Path program. 

we recruit directly out of a number 

of Chinese high schools from all over 

the People’s Republic of China and 

bring in about 180 students a year to 

UTSC, and they form a very important 

part of our community. we’re currently 

developing similar programs for other 

regions. what I can do, when I’m out 

recruiting those students, is tell them 

that by coming to UTSC, they’re not 

simply coming to study alongside 

Canadians; they’re coming to study 

alongside Pakistani Canadians, Somali 

Canadians, Indo-Canadians, Nigerian 

Canadians and so on. This learning 

environment is probably the most 

unique, multicultural and diverse 

placements that take them away 

from the university setting, away 

from the classroom, and put them 

in a workplace setting to something 

broader, where experience – such 

as volunteer activity – gets woven 

directly into the classroom experience. 

And so, the degree-learning expectations, 

the pedagogical outcomes, take 

into account learning that might take 

place out in the community or in 

a non-academic setting. 

mc qexperiential learning actually 

extends to the research arena, where 

students roll up their sleeves and dig 

in, whether that means operating a 

pipette, being immersed in archives, 

being involved in field studies that 

rh qwe have an ambitious master 

plan for the campus that is largely 

about the built environment. It takes 

an active imagination to picture the 

intellectual and academic milieu 

that will emerge as the campus 

grows. It’s about moving things as 

far forward as we can while our 

watch is on. And one of the most 

exciting and rewarding things here 

is working with colleagues who 

are completely committed to the 

collective project of the University 

of Toronto Scarborough. n 


the rules of 

extreme flight 

Professor of biological Sciences 

Ken welch’s pioneering research 

into the hovering capabilities of 

hummingbirds was featured this 

year in an episode of the PbS science 

show Nature. by studying muscles 

at such high levels of performance, 

welch reveals basic rules that 

apply to the design and energetic 

function of all muscles, as well 

as the physiological tradeoffs 

of extreme metabolic systems. 

9

Journey to the centre of television 

our commitment to engaging with the world-at-large 

was exemplified this year by UTSC Professor of Geology 

Nick eyles, who hosted the five-part documentary television 

series Geologic Journey II on CbC’s The Nature of Things with 

David Suzuki. The popular series whisked viewers away 

on a globe-trotting exploration of the earth’s surprisingly 

dramatic – and fascinating – geological history. 

10

Utsc 

HIgHLIgHTS 

291 

FACUlTy MeMbeRS 

wITh 24 New FACUlTy 

hIReS IN 2010, 

which represents a 10-per-cent 

year-over-year increase. UTSC is 

expanding its faculty, and we’re 

attracting top professors from 

across the country and the globe. 

best of all Worlds 

UTSC launches a new identity based on a dual commitment 

to academic excellence and meaningful engagement with 

the world-at-large. The UTSC community is made up of active 

learners drawn from all over the globe, determined to use 

what we discover – through investigation, collaboration and 

experience – to make our world a better place. At UTSC, 

faculty contribute to cutting-edge knowledge in their fields, 

where the finest students are taught by the finest professors. 

But it is also a place where the young leaders of tomorrow 

get a head-start on their careers through innovative programs 

that include experiential learning opportunities. 

25% 

will result when the new Instructional Centre opens 

at the corner of Military Trail and ellesmere Road. 

increase in 

Academic Space 

two new academic departments 

of english and Philosophy have been created to enhance teaching, learning and 

research. The new academic structure of nine departments reflects the maturation 

of UTSC’s academic programs in both complexity and scale. 

350,000 sq ft 

oF woRlD-ClASS FITNeSS SPACe 

is planned for the UTSC campus as a result of its partnership for the 2015 

Pan Am games. The new Aquatic Centre & Field House Complex will be ready for 

the Toronto games and will be jointly owned and operated by the City of Toronto 

and UTSC in perpetuity. 

New state-ofthe-art 

Data Centre 

represents the single largest investment in information 

technology in our history and positions UTSC at the 

forefront of the digital world. 

$7,641,000 

has been invested in campus renewal, including study spaces, 

classrooms and laboratories. Improved technical infrastructure 

has enabled UTSC labs to reach a new level of complexity 

in their ability to support leading research. 


Tomorrow is created here 

for a 

healthy 

planet.

Professor Rudy Boonstra has been exploring biological systems in some of 

North America’s most rugged wilderness landscapes for nearly four decades. 

meeting the 

challenges 

of existence 

PRoFeSSoR RUDy BooNSTRA, 

DePARTMeNT oF BIoLogICAL SCIeNCeS 

MySTeRy IS AFooT in the boreal forest of southern yukon. Populations of Arctic 

ground squirrels have nosedived, and the number of snowshoe hares is dropping, 

too. If ancient patterns of population fluctuation are breaking down like this in 

one part of the forest, they may be breaking down in others. This could foretell 

a catastrophe, as the boreal forest occupies fully half of Canada’s land mass and 

is home to the living core of much of our country’s biodiversity. 

Professor Rudy Boonstra understands these stakes. Boonstra has been conducting 

field research on mammals in the southern yukon for more than 35 years. He is 

an expert on the evolution of the “stress axis,” the mechanism by which mammals 

cope – or don’t cope – with change. And for the mammals of the boreal forest, 

rapid change has become a fact of life. 

“The suite of changes coming our way, thanks to global warming, is approaching 

like a freight train,” says Boonstra. “If we are going to preserve mammal populations, 

we need to know how they have evolved to meet the challenges of existence.” 

“Dr. Boonstra is among the 

distinguished leaders in this field 

of ecological research, and he has 

helped shape a more comprehensive 

and holistic approach to research 

in animal population ecology 

and ecosystem dynamics.” 

Dennis l. Murray, Canada Research Chair 

in Terrestrial ecology, Trent University 

By combining traditional ecological science with the booming fields of 

neuroendocrinology and epigenetics, Boonstra is plumbing the depths of mammal 

physiology to reveal how environmental stressors compromise health, accelerate 

the rate of aging and, ultimately, increase mortality in wildlife populations. 

“A healthy planet,” explains Boonstra, “is a planet where organisms that have 

been around for millions of years – like the Arctic ground squirrel and the 

snowshoe hare – continue to exist. I am trying to understand how these animals 

function in, and are adapted to, the natural world, so they might survive and 

thrive in the future.” 


for a healthy Planet 

Partners for 

Tomorrow, Today 

PRoFeSSoR MyRNA SIMPSoN, 

DePARTMeNT oF PHySICAL AND 

eNVIRoNMeNTAL SCIeNCe 

“Professor Simpson has a deep 

understanding of molecular 

biochemistry and applies that 

knowledge to an ecosystem scale. 

She has a very unique set of skills, 

which provides us with crucial 

insight into how climate change 

will affect carbon cycle dynamics.” 

Dr. ed Gregorich, Fellow of the Canadian 

Society of Soil Science and research scientist 

at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 

AT UTSC we STRIve to connect the 

dots between academic excellence 

and real-world engagement. By 

nurturing research partnerships with 

outside organizations whenever 

we can, we continually expand our 

sphere of influence and ensure that 

the breakthroughs happening on 

our campus have maximum impact 

on the wider world. 

when scientists at Agriculture and 

Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) – the federal 

ministry responsible for agricultural 

sustainability across the country – 

became concerned about the amount 

of carbon being released from our soils 

due to global warming, they enlisted 

one of UTSC’s leading researchers 

to help them figure out how to make 

more of that carbon stay put. 

Professor Myrna Simpson is worldrenowned 

for her soil research 

techniques. She is the co-founder of 

the environmental Nuclear Magnetic 

Resonance (NMR) Centre at UTSC, 

the only facility in Canada dedicated 

to the development and application 

of NMR techniques specifically for 

research in environmental science. 

Simpson is collaborating with the 

AAFC on a groundbreaking 10-year 

carbon sequestration study. 

The goal of the study is to answer 

one of the most pressing questions 

facing environmental scientists today: 

How do climate conditions such as 

temperature or moisture content affect 

whether or not carbon residues in the 

soil remain intact for the next growing 

season, or become degraded and 

eventually lost to the atmosphere? 

This question is a critical one because 

the more carbon is lost, the more our 

soils become infertile and susceptible 

to erosion, and the more havoc is 

wreaked on food production worldwide. 

“The only way to answer this question 

is with NMR,” says Simpson. “That’s 

why they called me.” 

NMR is the most powerful technology 

available for characterizing the 

composition of matter. Researchers at 

AAFC send soil samples from 11 field 

sites to Simpson, and she performs 

high-resolution molecular analyses 

on them that no one else in Canada 

is capable of doing. This biochemical 

data will help government scientists 

determine how best to supplement 

the carbon in the soil in a variety of 

environmental conditions, so that it 

stays in the ground. Then they will 

be one step closer to helping farmers 

protect, and even boost, the 

productivity of their soil. 

“with the results of this study,” says 

Simpson, “we’ll have a better idea 

of how – and in what form– we might 

be able to add carbon residues to 

our soils to help combat the effects 

of climate change. we are producing 

results that could directly influence 

agricultural practices in Canada and 

around the world.” 


a n i m P o r ta n t f i r s t f o r U t s c 

This year, UTSC responded to the world’s pressing need for 

more environmental scientists by launching a new doctoral 

program. The PhD in environmental Science is the first doctorate 

at U of T to be administered from the UTSC campus, drawing 

on our faculty’s depth of expertise in areas such as aquatic 

biogeochemical modelling, global migration of trace environmental 

contaminants, climate change, and soil and water degradation. 

experts from industry, government and affiliate universities 

collaborate as supervisors and students have access to UTSC’s 

internationally recognized research facilities, which feature 

state-of-the-art technology such as nuclear magnetic resonance 

(NMR) and an ultra-clean room for the analysis of trace 

environmental contaminants. 

“This is a significant milestone for UTSC,” says Professor Franco 

Vaccarino, Principal of UTSC. “This new PhD program speaks to our 

continued focus on developing distinctive academic offerings and 

attracting world-class scholars in order to further establish our 

campus as a vital hub for learning and discovery, especially in an 

area of science as vital to our collective future as the environment.” 

Professor Myrna Simpson (left) 

and graduate student Stephanie 

Hofley load samples onto the 

NMR spectrometer for analysis. 

NMR spectroscopy is the most 

powerful technique to identify 

molecular structures in soil extracts. 


for a healthy Planet 

Healthy=Just 

PRoFeSSoR THeMBeLA KePe, 

DePARTMeNT oF SoCIAL SCIeNCeS 

FoR hUMAN GeoGRAPheR TheMbelA 

KePe, an important step towards 

creating a healthy planet is making 

sure that the basic human struggles 

for food, water, land, health and 

prosperity are grounded in a 

commitment to social justice. 

This view was forged in Apartheid 

South Africa, where Kepe grew up, and 

it lies at the heart of his research into 

conservation practices in Zambia, 

Botswana and his homeland. Kepe 

investigates the intersection between 

indigenous land claims and national 

conservation priorities. In all of his 

case studies, he asks a variation of the 

same question: Have our interactions 

with nature been inspired by fairness, 

not just towards the earth but towards 

local communities, too? 

Professor Thembela 

Kepe uses every 

opportunity to bring 

his research home 

to his students, 

such as his work 

with medicinal plant 

sellers in Durban, 

South Africa. 

“Dr. Kepe’s research reveals the hidden complexity of 

how competing claims to resources are constructed and 

contested within overlapping arenas and jurisdictions. 

Dr. Kepe continues to make a unique contribution 

to scholarship on rural society in the South.” 

Professor ben Cousins, Department of Science and Technology/ 

National Research Foundation Chair in Poverty, 

land and Agrarian Studies, University of the western Cape, 

Cape Town, South Africa 

“when human rights are violated in 

the name of conservation,” says Kepe, 

“it has a negative impact on the very 

environment we are trying to protect. 

Before we can think about ‘saving’ 

the planet, we need to understand 

how different people think about 

nature, what they hold as their 

philosophies of life.” 

Kepe inspires his students with this 

same idea. He regularly collaborates 

and co-publishes his research projects 

with undergraduates – a rare thrill for 

young, aspiring academics. This past 

summer, the professor visited one of his 

undergrads at a field site in Botswana. 

“There is an African proverb,” says 

Kepe. “when two elephants fight, it is 

the grass that suffers. Tensions among 

people that result from injustice are 

not good for the environment. I work 

to find ways to make conservation 

sustainable for everyone. And I want 

my students to carry this torch forward.” 


f r o m U t s c a l U m n i 

Above, map shows daily 

mean total-column ozone 

in the polar Arctic. The data 

is derived from groundbased 

observations and 

measurements from 

NASA, NoAA and eSA 

satellites. Courtesy of 

environment Canada. 

“Utsc has played a pivotal role in my life – introducing 

me to canada and to my passion: climate change.” 

HoPPA LAU, gRADUATe, 

eNVIRoNMeNTAL SCIeNCe 

UTSC’S eNvIRoNMeNTAl SCIeNCe PRoGRAM was a natural choice for Hoppa Lau 

(BSc ’99) when he transferred from the University of Hong Kong, as his first-year 

courses here in soil science, geology and climatology complemented his 

previous studies. 

But it was only after studying with Professor william gough – a leading researcher 

specializing in the study of Arctic sea ice and permafrost – that Lau developed 

an interest in climate change, a subject that was, at that time, relatively new. 

UTSC’s environmental Science program offers a deep understanding of the many 

aspects of climate change, including, but not limited to, solar output, orbital 

variations, volcanism, ocean variability and human influences. 

Lau followed up his undergraduate degree with a Master of Science degree 

in Climate Change and Impacts. Now the Directorate Planner for environment 

Canada, Lau utilizes his scientific knowledge to provide strategic counsel to 

the Director general of Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate, helping 

shape government policy and future environmental initiatives. 

Hoppa Lau is part of a growing number of UTSC environmental Science graduates 

who are playing a critical role in future climate-change efforts. 


World-class cms faculty 

UTSC received further proof in 2010 that its Computer & 

Mathematical Sciences (CMS) faculty are among the best in 

the world. Assistant Professor of Mathematics balázs szegedy 

won a sloan research fellowship from the New york–based 

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, becoming the fifth of UTSC’s 18 

tenure-stream CMS faculty to receive the prestigious award. 

The $50,000 endowment was awarded to Szegedy to further 

his innovative research into Fourier analysis, a powerful tool 

for describing the structure of complicated waves. 

18

facUlty 

ACHIeVeMeNTS 

900-page opus 

“The Anthology of Rap,”co-edited by english Professor Andrew DuBois, garnered widespread 

critical attention. The book, which featured lyrics from more than 300 seminal hip-hop 

works, received mentions in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, 

and was called “an instant classic” by American philosopher and critic Cornel west. 

Top Canadian Professor 

Biology Professor Claire Hasenkampf is one of 10 Canadian educators to receive 

a 2010 3M National Teaching Fellowship from 3M and the Society for Teaching and 

Learning in Higher education. The 25-year-old fellowship, which celebrates exceptional 

achievements and contributions by teacher-scholars, is considered one of the most 

prestigious teaching awards in Canada. 

55 

million 

years 

Social Sciences Professor Mary Silcox 

presented new evidence of the 

evolutionary path of a rather strange 

prehistoric mammal. Collaborating 

with researchers at the University 

of Florida, Silcox was lead author 

of the study of Labidolemur kayi, which 

includes detailed descriptions of the 

extinct mammal’s anatomy and will 

help scientists to better understand 

the process of primate evolution. 

award-winning 

mathematics faculty 

Mathematics Professor Balint Virag 

received the 2010 Coxeter-James 

Prize from the Canadian Mathematical 

Society. The prize, which recognizes 

outstanding research contributions 

from young mathematicians, was 

awarded to Virag for his expertise in 

the field of mathematical probability. 

teaching excellence 

Prestigious 

Fellowship 

Professor of environmental Chemistry 

André Simpson has been elected 

a Fellow of the Royal Society of 

Chemistry in London, england, an 

honour given to researchers who have 

made outstanding contributions to 

the advancement of chemical science. 

Simpson has earned an international 

reputation as a pioneer in techniques 

to explore issues like global warming 

and environmental contamination 

at the molecular level. 

Professor Bill gough was honoured with the Canadian Association of geographers’ 

teaching award. A climatologist, gough is also UTSC’s Vice-Dean of graduate 

education and Program Development and Chair of the Physical and environmental 

Sciences Department. He received a Principal’s teaching award in 1998 and the 

Scarborough Campus Students’ Union Award for Teaching in 2002. 

outstanding 

Contributions 

Professor of environmental Chemistry 

Myrna Simpson received the 2010 

Society for environmental Toxicology and 

Chemistry and Royal Society of Chemistry 

environmental Science Award. Simpson 

was honoured for her work using cuttingedge 

nuclear magnetic resonance and 

mass spectrometry techniques to study 

geochemical and environmental processes 

at the molecular level. 

education through 

technology 

Psychology Professor Steve Joordens 

received a University of Toronto 

President’s Teaching Award. The 

5-year, $10,000 annual stipend 

will allow Joordens to further his 

research on using technology 

to enhance learning. Joordens 

shared a 2009 National Technology 

Innovation Award for co-creating 

peerScholar, a web application 

that promotes critical thinking and 

communications skills. 

€60,000 

Professor Ragnar-olaf Buchweitz, former Vice-Principal (Academic) and Dean 

at UTSC, received a Humboldt Research Award for his work in commutative 

algebra and algebraic geometry. The award includes healthy funding and 

the opportunity to spend up to a year collaborating on projects at german 

research institutes. 



for a 

healthy 

population.

a treatment 

and a cUre 

PRoFeSSoR JoANNe NASH, 

DePARTMeNT oF BIoLogICAL SCIeNCeS 

Professor Joanne Nash uses animal 

models to study mechanisms 

of neurodegeneration. In the 

rat brain scans below, red indicates 

high levels of mRNA in synaptic 

proteins SAP97 and PSD95, which 

are important for the organization 

of neurotransmitters. 

“Dr. Nash is combining cutting-edge technologies in 

cell biology and electrophysiology with animal models 

to address important unresolved questions about the 

mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s disease.” 

Dr. Graham Collingridge, Fellow of the Royal Society and Director 

of the MRC Centre for Synaptic Plasticity, University of bristol 

ToDAy, MoRe ThAN 100,000 CANADIANS suffer from 

Parkinson’s disease (PD). This number is expected 

to double over the next 25 years, at which point 

experts predict PD will be an economic burden to our 

healthcare system of over $1.2 billion. of course, the 

real cost to patients and their families is impossible to 

measure, but thanks to neuroscientists like Professor 

Joanne Nash, the afflicted have reason for hope. 

working out of UTSC’s Centre for the Neurobiology of 

Stress, Nash investigates the cellular and molecular 

mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration and 

the range of debilitating motor dysfunctions that are 

the hallmarks of PD. By exploring the mechanisms 

that generate cell death, symptoms and treatment 

side effects, Nash employs the latest scientific 

thinking and high-resolution equipment to help 

improve the lives of those with PD and to lead 

the charge for a cure. 

“The technologies available at the Centre, such 

as advanced microscopy, imaging software and the 

capacity for electrophysiology, allow us to finally 

understand what’s going on at the cellular level,” 

says Nash. In the lab, she and her graduate students 

can monitor electrical activity and neurotransmitter 

function along specific neural pathways in the 

brain, and then seamlessly turn their attention to 

molecular concerns such as mitochondrial dynamics 

in individual sufferers or to trials of potentially 

neuroprotective compounds. 

“I’ve had an interest in understanding the cause of 

human diseases, so that they might be treated more 

effectively ever since [I began studying] biology 

in elementary school,” notes Nash. “In 90 per cent 

of PD cases, the cause is still unknown. This is why 

I focus my research on treating symptoms as well 

as finding that final remedy, because if you were a 

patient, you probably wouldn’t mind which avenue 

we took as long as the end result is a return to full 

physical well-being.” 


for a healthy PoPUlation 

Focusing 

on Mental 

Health 

oF The ToP 10 CoNTRIbUToRS to 

human disability worldwide, half 

involve mental health issues. 

Traditionally considered a minor 

contributor to overall physical wellbeing, 

mental health is now being 

recognized by scientists and clinicians 

as a profound challenge all its own, 

a health priority that demands 

immediate and significant investment. 

This is why UTSC has mounted a 

concerted effort to become a leader 

in the field of clinical psychology, 

which employs a combination of 

science, theory and clinical knowledge 

to help understand, prevent and 

relieve psychologically based distress 

and dysfunction. 

“we are building substantial strength 

in the most promising areas of clinical 

psychology research,” says Professor 

John Bassili, Chair of the Psychology 

Department at UTSC. At the University’s 

Clinical Neurosciences Laboratory, for 

example, Professor Anthony Ruocco 

uses advanced techniques in 

neuropsychology and cognitive 

neuroscience to investigate thought 

and emotional processes in people 

with severe psychiatric illness. 

In response to this growing need for 

more mental health professionals, 

two years ago UTSC launched the 

innovative undergraduate Mental 

Health Studies (MHS) program, in which students can 

concentrate their course load on psychology courses 

relevant to mental health. And soon, UTSC will launch a 

brand-new doctoral program in clinical psychology. This 

groundbreaking PhD will provide a rigorous training ground 

for the next generation of researchers and practitioners of 

clinical psychology, and a rich scholarly environment that 

will attract top experts in the field. 

To highlight these ambitious goals, the new doctoral 

program will be led by one of Canada’s most influential 

clinical and personality psychologists, Dr. Michael Bagby, 

who joins UTSC from the Centre for Addiction and Mental 

Health, where he was director of clinical research and senior 

scientist. Dr. Bagby has been named an Institute of Scientific 

Information “highly cited scientist,” a distinction held 

by only the top one per cent of scientists worldwide. 

“our clinical psychology group is of the highest calibre,” 

says Bassili, “and we never lose sight of the fact that 

scholarly excellence and scientific rigour are our top 

priorities. To lead the new PhD program, we desired 

someone with seniority and recognition that would define 

our commitment to the field. Dr. Bagby is a shining example 

of the kind of scholar who belongs at UTSC.” 

a n ‘a b n o r m a l’ a P P r o a c h 

UTSC’s new Mental Health Studies (MHS) program is proving 

incredibly popular with undergraduates. Just two years since it 

was launched, MHS has a healthy enrolment, and student interest 

shows no signs of slowing. The program offers a specialist or major 

degree to students who wish to focus their studies on disorders 

that are considered psychologically “abnormal.” Students begin 

with a traditional psychology curriculum, but soon diversify into 

courses such as psychotherapy, psychological assessment and 

psychopharmacology. 

Driven by the growing societal awareness of the importance of 

mental health and by UTSC’s top-notch faculty in the field, the MHS 

program is well aligned with the proposed doctoral curriculum in 

clinical psychology. “Mental Health Studies has been a great success,” 

says Professor John Bassili, Chair of the Psychology Department at 

UTSC. “No other psychology department offers a program with this 

thematic focus.” And in keeping with the University’s commitment to 

combining academic excellence with meaningful engagement, MHS 

also offers a co-op option, in which students can take advantage of 

UTSC’s strong partnerships with world-class mental health institutions. 


Professor Anthony 

Ruocco affixes a 

functional nearinfrared 

spectroscopy 

probe onto a subject’s 

forehead to measure 

brain activity. 

Above, coloured 

regions show the 

parts of the brain that 

are activated when 

the subject is viewing 

sad photographs (left) 

and then asked to 

suppress the sadness 

she feels (right). 


for a healthy PoPUlation 

a holistic Policy for health 

PRoFeSSoR ANNe-eMANUeLLe BIRN, 

DePARTMeNT oF SoCIAL SCIeNCeS 

DID yoU KNow that lasting progress 

in international health has historically 

depended on strong social welfare systems? 

or that the small country of Uruguay was 

instrumental in putting the child-rights 

approach to community well-being on 

the international agenda? For Anneemanuelle 

Birn – Canada Research Chair 

in International Health and UTSC Professor 

of Social Sciences – these little-known 

facts from history hold invaluable lessons 

for the modern debate on health policy. 

“what makes for a healthy society?” asks 

Birn. “History tells us that public health 

is best achieved when investments are 

accompanied by policies that encourage 

social and political equality.” 

“Anne-Emanuelle Birn's path-breaking research on international health 

has demystified much of the ‘given wisdom’ about the history and current 

condition of public health and medicine worldwide. She has emerged 

as a leading historian currently writing about international health.” 

Dr. howard waitzkin, Distinguished Professor, University of New Mexico 

Right, a conference 

announcement 

reflects Uruguay's 

burgeoning role in 

the international 

public health 

sphere during the 

early 20th century. 

The dominant model of global health today 

is driven by technological interventions 

and is concerned mainly with disease 

eradication. “My research is critical of 

this approach,” says Birn. “Technology 

without redistribution results in many 

of our efforts being misguided.” 

Using an historical, comparative framework 

in her research, Birn examines how politics, 

prevailing paradigms and power relations 

shape the international health field. She 

instills this approach in her students, many 

of whom are enrolled in UTSC’s renowned 

International Development Studies Co-op 

program. In the IDS co-op, undergraduate 

students spend eight to 12 months working 

in developing countries, where they experience 

first-hand the small successes and ongoing 

challenges of development and learn to 

critically assess what makes some programs 

effective and why others fail. 

“It’s not that vaccines and medicines 

aren’t important,” notes Birn. “They are. 

But they don’t work in isolation. we can’t 

ignore the role of social, political and 

economic conditions in enabling human 

beings to flourish.” 


a new 

Perspective 

on creativity 

The groundbreaking 

work of UTSC University 

Professor John Kennedy, 

a perception psychologist, 

with the blind Turkish 

artist esref Armagan was 

featured in Murcia, Spain, 

in a major exhibit at the 

2010/2011 Manifesta 8 

– one of the world’s 

pre-eminent biennial 

venues for innovative 

contemporary art. 

what makes Kennedy’s 

collaborative work with 

Armagan so relevant to 

the artistic community is 

how it has demonstrated 

that blind people can 

incorporate perspective 

into their art. 

esref Armagan, 

detail from Vase with flowers 

(2000), acrylic on card 

25

Probing 

the ‘terrible 

mystery’ 

while UTSC neuroscientists 

strive to demonstrate the 

electrochemical workings 

of neuronal networks in the 

human brain, the University’s 

philosophers, such as 

Professor bill Seager, tackle 

the mind/brain enigma 

from a different, yet no less 

important, perspective. 

Seager, who has written two 

books on consciousness, 

works to understand what 

he calls a “terrible mystery”: 

how might subjective 

emotions and awareness – 

the aspects of consciousness 

that make life worth living 

– depend on the brain? 

26


FoR SARANGAN UThAlINGAM (BSc ’05), 

everything changed when he attended 

a lecture by Canada Research 

Chair and Professor of Biology 

Herbert Kronzucker. 

Uthalingam will never forget that day. 

Kronzucker’s passion for his subject 

– helping to alleviate famine in Asia 

by improving rice production – was 

infectious. But it was also the photos 

he was showing the class that piqued 

Uthalingam’s interest. The pictures 

were from one of Kronzucker’s farflung 

research trips. They clearly 

demonstrated a scientist with a spirit 

of adventure and a commitment 

to making the world a better place. 

emboldened by UTSC’s close-knit feel, 

Uthalingam approached Kronzucker 

one day after class. Soon, Kronzucker 

had become a mentor for Uthalingam, 

helping him to think deeply about his 

future. This mentorship was pivotal for 

Uthalingam, eventually inspiring him 

to travel to Central America, where 

he spent eight months volunteering 

on various development and health 

projects. It was while working in a 

remote medical clinic that he discovered 

a deep passion for medicine. 

Today, Uthalingam is a pediatric 

resident at the Michael g. Degroote 

School of Medicine at McMaster 

University. He is also a budding 

researcher with a focus on neonatology. 

once he finishes his residency, 

Uthalingam plans to put his knowledge 

and skills to good use in the developing 

world by joining an organization like 

Doctors without Borders. 

For Uthalingam, UTSC was an eyeopening 

experience – a window 

into new ideas, foreign cultures 

and a mentorship that empowered 

him to explore his full potential 

and challenged him to try to make 

his world a better place. 

“Utsc gave me 

a leg up on 

life. i became 

more aware of 

the world and 

the part i want 

to play in it.” 

SARANgAN UTHALINgAM, 

gRADUATe, CeLL & 

MoLeCULAR BIoLogy 



for a 

global 

society.

“Garth Frazer’s research stands out 

for its use of cutting-edge empirical 

techniques to answer important 

– and interesting – questions about 

how countries develop.” 

Dr. Peter K. Schott, Professor of economics, 

yale School of Management 

shifting 

trade Winds 

for africa 

PRoFeSSoR gARTH FRAZeR, 

DePARTMeNT oF MANAgeMeNT 

ReCeNT ReSeARCh by development 

economist garth Frazer is turning 

heads around the world. Ten years ago, 

the U.S. government implemented the 

African growth and opportunity Act 

(AgoA), which gave trade preferences, 

such as reduced tariffs, to low-income 

African countries. The hope was that 

AgoA would help these nations grow 

their export economies. The scholarly 

consensus at the time, however, was 

that changes to trade policies in 

industrialized countries would have 

little effect on a region as economically 

and politically troubled as Africa. 

A decade later, Professor Frazer 

decided to test this theory. He, along 

with his co-author, Johannes Van 

Biesebroeck of the Catholic University 

of Leuven in Belgium, applied a set 

of meticulous statistical techniques 

to huge volumes of international trade 

data to determine the real impact 

of AgoA. what they discovered was 

entirely unexpected. 

“we found that AgoA actually led to 

a surge in imports, especially apparel, 

from African countries,” says Frazer. 

“Apparently, dropping the tariffs worked.” 

Thanks to Frazer, development 

economists everywhere can allow 

themselves a moment of optimism 

about Africa. It appears that trade 

policies, when designed well, can 

serve as development policies, too. 

“Domestic economic policy has real 

power in a globalized world,” says 

Frazer. “But my interest in development 

in Africa begins with basic human 

welfare concerns. every day, many 

millions of people are struggling to 

make ends meet. I want to figure out 

what concrete measures we can 

take with our policies to change this 

outcome to reduce international 

income inequality and to improve 

the welfare of people everywhere.” 

Right, part of 

a diagram 

describing 

the influential 

Ricardian model 

of international 

trade, created 

by David Ricardo, 

a 19th-century 

economist 

who famously 

opposed tariffs 

on international 

trade. 


for a global society 

PRoFeSSoR RAJyAShRee NARAyANAReDDy, 

DePARTMeNT oF SoCIAl SCIeNCeS 

welcome to the 

Urban Century 

MoRe ThAN hAlF oF hUMANITy – nearly four billion people – live in cities, and by 2050 that number is expected 

to double. A world of megacities will surely be rife with political, socioeconomic and environmental challenges. 

But for urban geographer Rajyashree Narayanareddy, this is no reason for pessimism. 

“The idea of the city is tied to the idea of citizenship,” says Professor Narayanareddy. “If we can all become 

engaged citizens, we can view our cities not as obstacles but as opportunities.” 

To better understand how the new global city might become a positive space for all its citizens, Narayanareddy 

has focused her research on Bangalore. Known for decades as India’s “garden City,” Bangalore has transformed 

over the past two decades into an international hub for the information technology industry. Today the city 

has iconic status as the Silicon Valley of India. 

a P r i z e - W o r t h y P r o g r a m 

For more than 25 years now, UTSC’s pioneering International 

Development Studies (IDS) program has been providing students 

with invaluable educational and personal experiences in 

developing countries. our graduates typically move on to play 

critical roles at major international development agencies such 

as CIDA, Care Canada and world University Service of Canada. 

This year, IDS’s impressive reputation received a world-class 

boost when it was nominated for the King Baudouin International 

Development Prize. The prize, worth just over $200,000, is awarded 

by the Brussels-based King Baudouin Foundation every other 

year to individuals or organizations that have made substantial 

contributions to development issues facing the Southern 

Hemisphere and that encourage solidarity between industrialized 

and developing countries. 

The IDS program at UTSC continues to have an enormous 

impact on the world-at-large, but its success substantially depends 

on the generosity of individual donors. Their gifts ensure that 

our students have the financial resources they need to travel to 

the far corners of the globe and help make them safer, healthier 

and happier places to live. To make a difference, visit 

https://donate.utoronto.ca/give/show/24. 

Narayanareddy’s research, however, shows that Bangalore is no 

utopia. The IT sector produces mountains of electronic waste, 

which is mostly processed by low-paid workers from Bangalore’s 

marginalized Muslim community. “we can learn a lot about a 

city when we look at it from its underside,” says Narayanareddy. 

“How is the city imagined as the topos of good life? who is 

doing this imagining, and where do their interests lie?” Her work 

critically examines an international coalition of development and 

environmental agencies that are working to modernize e-waste 

practices in Bangalore. 

Meanwhile, the garden City is running the risk of squandering its 

ecological heritage, and movements to help restore urban lakes 

and green space are underway. Narayanareddy’s current research 

analyzes the re-making of urban environmental commons. Back 

in the classroom, she teaches a popular third-year course on urban 

geography called “Spaces of Hope and Insurgent Citizenship in 

the City.” Her students investigate case studies from Latin America, 

Africa and South Asia – local projects led by local citizens that are 

making cities a better place to live. 

“Citizenship is not just a stamp,” says Narayanareddy. “It must be 

actively claimed, and in many places, it is. we should be exercising 

great optimism about our urban future.” 


For Professor Rajyashree 

Narayanareddy, the 

juxtaposition of intense 

wealth creation with an 

intensifying e-waste 

problem makes Bangalore 

the perfect place to explore 

how citizens can make 

the new global city a better 

place to live. 


for a global society 

A world of Stories 

Wrapper, Asante peoples, ghana. Mid-to-late 19th century, imported cotton cloth, black pigment, 194.5 x 285.6 cm (76 9/16 x 112 7/16 in.). 

Museum purchase, 83-3-8. Photograph by Franko Khoury, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. 

PRoFeSSoR NeIL TeN KoRTeNAAR, 

DePARTMeNT oF eNgLISH 

IN The weST, the book is an old 

technology. But in many places in 

Africa and the Caribbean, storytelling 

has been predominantly oral, and 

writing on paper arrived little more 

than a hundred years ago. In the 

20th century, people from these 

regions began publishing their own 

stories, experiences and perspectives 

to a global audience for the very first 

time. For Neil ten Kortenaar, Professor 

of Comparative Literature and english, 

this outburst of creative productivity 

provides an enormous opportunity 

for scholarship. 

“It is a radical thing to put African 

literature next to Canadian or American 

books,” says ten Kortenaar, whose 

research focuses on the phenomenon 

of reading and writing in post-colonial 

cultures. “A basic premise of literature 

is that the world is so much more than 

what we already know. we can learn a 

great deal about ourselves by studying 

the stories from elsewhere.” 

“A basic premise of literature is 

that the world is so much more 

than what we already know. 

We can learn a great deal about 

ourselves by studying the stories 

from elsewhere.” 

Professor Neil ten Kortenaar 

Humans are bound by the storytelling 

instinct. And as global literacy 

continues to spread, this instinct 

has the potential to build vital bridges 

between peoples, communities 

and nations. 

“I tell my students that books are 

living things,” says ten Kortenaar. 

“They are something to respond to, 

to be challenged by, to make us see 

things with new eyes. Through story, 

we can begin to understand points 

of view we previously dismissed as 

strange, or mysterious. This is a crucial 

step towards becoming a globally 

engaged people.” 



“Utsc was a very rich 

learning experience 

for me. the programs 

were wonderful 

and i appreciated 

the intimate campus 

setting. faculty doors 

were always open.” 

STIAN HåKLeV, gRADUATe, 

INTeRNATIoNAL DeVeLoPMeNT STUDIeS 

STIAN håKlev (honbA ’08) developed a deep passion for research and 

knowledge at UTSC. During his undergraduate degree, he made the most of 

open faculty doors and learning opportunities by laying the groundwork for 

two peer-reviewed research articles on community libraries in Indonesia and 

by working as a TA for Professor Leslie Chan’s International Studies course. 

Before attending UTSC, Håklev taught english for a year at the wuhan 

University of Science and Technology in China. As an undergraduate, he 

completed a one-year placement working for Care International in Indonesia 

and then, with a friend, travelled 8,000 kilometres by bicycle from China 

to Iran in four months. 

These life-changing experiences, combined with his International 

Development studies at UTSC, provided the basis for Håklev’s ongoing 

graduate work. After completing a Master’s thesis on higher education in 

China, he is emerging as a leading figure in the dynamic field of open online 

educational platforms, publishing research and co-founding a platform 

(Peer2Peer University) that’s currently running more than 60 courses with 

students from all over the world. 

Håklev is part of a new revolution in education – one built on global 

accessibility and innovation. His work at UTSC, and now oISe, ensures that 

Canada will continue to play a part in this very exciting field. 


alUmni & friends 

HIgHLIgHTS 

37,000 

The UTSC alumni community consists 

of over 37,000 active members. 

relph admission scholarships 

Professor Ted Relph recently retired as Chair of the Department of 

Social Sciences. Professor Relph has been a tremendous supporter 

of UTSC as an academic leader as well as a benefactor. Most recently, 

he created the Relph Admission Scholarships, which support 

academically strong incoming students with financial need. 

14 Cressy 

Award 

winners 

14 graduates of the class of 2010 were 

recognized with the U of T gordon Cressy 

Student Leadership Award for their 

extraordinary leadership abilities and 

outstanding community contribution. 

The high number of recipients 

demonstrates the strong student 

engagement in campus life at UTSC. 

Pacheco family 

memorial award 

Maria Pacheco, Assistant Registrar, 

Financial Aid and Awards at UTSC, 

wanted to commemorate the memory 

of her parents, so she, along with 

her brother Tony, created the Pacheco 

Family Memorial entrance Award 

in education. As a member of UTSC 

staff and someone on the front 

lines helping students in need, 

Pacheco chose to give back to those 

very students she serves. 

Regional 

Alumni 

Program 

In 2010/11, UTSC launched its 

Regional Alumni Program. events 

were held in ottawa, Vancouver, 

Calgary, New york, California, 

Hong Kong, London and other 

cities. To learn more about 

regional activities near you, visit 

alumni.utsc.utoronto.ca. 

young entrepreneurs 

UTSC’s alumni continue to make waves as young entrepreneurs. 

Satish Kanwar (BBA ’08) and Verne Ho (BBA ’07) are the 

founders of Jet Cooper, a digital agency based in Toronto 

that focuses on “humanizing digital” by creating user-friendly 

beautiful products. In addition to its impressive client list, 

Jet Cooper is heavily involved in important community 

initiatives like Pay It Backwards Day and TeDxToronto. 

$840,000 

over $840,000 was awarded in admission scholarships to 

328 students entering first year. Scholarships were funded in 

part through the generous support of the University of Toronto 

Annual Fund, as well as named scholarships established by 

alumni and friends of UTSC. 

$320,000 

Special thanks to CUPe 3902, University of Toronto education workers, for creating 

one of the largest endowments in recent UTSC history. Through a generous 

donation of $160,000, which will be matched by the government of ontario, the 

$320,000 endowment will support in perpetuity the CUPe 3902, University of 

Toronto education workers entrance Scholarship at UTSC, whose goal is to award 

12 admission scholarships per year. 

annual fund support 

Alumnus Ron Paquette responded to our 

call for Annual Fund support because he 

wanted to help students have the same 

wonderful experience and education 

he had. Through his company, ClearView 

Strategic Partnerships, Paquette created 

an endowment to fund scholarships for 

both incoming and upper-year students. 

Special thanks to Ron and ClearView 

Strategic Partnerships for improving 

opportunities for UTSC students. 


a home for doris 

UTSC celebrated the 100th birthday of one of its dearest friends, the 

trail-blazing landscape painter Doris McCarthy, with a major exhibition 

of her work at her eponymous gallery. Months later, McCarthy passed 

away peacefully at her Scarborough home. In memoriam, the intent is 

for the Doris McCarthy Gallery at UTSC to become the centre in Canada 

for research and exhibition of McCarthy’s life and work. 

Doris McCarthy, detail from Grass Tufts (1966), oil on canvas


for our 

students.

f r o m U t s c s t U d e n t s 

Undergraduate 

student Beulah 

erhiawarien 

mentors young 

members of 

Toronto’s black 

community 

to help them 

see the value of 

a post-secondary 

education. 

“a lot of people have 

invested in me and 

taught me things 

that inform the 

person i am today. 

Utsc’s imani 

mentorship Program 

is a chance for me 

to do the same thing 

for other kids.” 

BeULAH eRHIAwARIeN, 

UTSC INTeRNATIoNAL DeVeLoPMeNT 

STUDeNT AND IMANI MeNToRSHIP 

PRogRAM STUDeNT CooRDINAToR 

FoR ThIRD-yeAR International 

Development student Beulah 

erhiawarien, there’s a lot more to the 

university experience than just 

academics. As Student Coordinator 

of the Imani Mentorship Program, 

which encourages young members 

of Toronto’s black community to 

pursue post-secondary education, 

erhiawarien helps others discover their 

full potential, while developing unique 

skills and a deeper understanding 

of herself in the process. 

erhiawarien is a joyful, passionate 

person determined to live life to the 

fullest, whether she’s in Scarborough, 

her home state of Maryland or her 

birthplace of Nigeria, or volunteering 

in Uganda. This enthusiasm for 

crossing borders and breaking 

barriers is mirrored by the four-yearold 

Imani program – an innovative 

partnership between the University’s 

Imani: The Black Students’ Alliance, 

the east Scarborough Boys & girls 

Club and UTSC. 

Through her experiences here, 

erhiawarien has learned first-hand the 

importance of balancing her studies 

with extracurricular activities and 

volunteer work. “while it’s important 

to focus on your academics,” she says, 

“I believe it’s also important to have 

something else to show for your 

time. If I impact just one life, then 

my time will have been well spent.” 


the transformative Power of art 

Dynamic cultural experiences are a hallmark of UTSC campus 

life, including student performances and works of art, like this 

site-specific installation. The annual ARTSIDeoUT festival, a 

collaboration of student artists, musicians and performers from 

a wide range of disciplines, transforms the campus into a living 

exhibition of creative expression and community spirit. 

38

stUdent 

ACHIeVeMeNTS 

Rising Stars 

of Research 

Two undergraduate students 

were selected to participate in 

the Rising Stars of Research National 

Undergraduate Research Poster 

Competition. Psychology specialist 

Jennifer Khoury and co-op 

neuroscience specialist and psychology 

major Timour Al-Khindi were chosen 

for the competition, which encourages 

continuing research and further 

education through graduate studies. 

award-winning student 

PhD candidate Benita Tam received the 2010 Doctoral Student Paper Award from 

the Canadian Association of geographers. Tam’s work was praised by Department 

of Physical & environmental Sciences Chair william gough for examining the impacts 

of climate change “at the challenging interface of the physical and social sciences.” 

Phd ‘flying fish’ theory 

eric Lewallen, a PhD student in ecology and evolutionary Biology at UTSC, is the lead 

author of the first molecular study of genetic relatedness among species of flying 

fish. Appearing in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Lewallen’s paper 

confirms what scientists have long hypothesized – that the wide variety of flying 

strategies found in fish around the world are all the result of a single evolutionary 

chain of events. The study attracted major media attention from BBC – Earth News. 

Writing excellence 

A paper written by Philosophy and english major Philip Cox was named best essay at the 2010 Student Research Conference 

in the Humanities. Cox received a $400 prize and a fully paid trip to present “Mapping Boundaries, Human Bodies: The Imposition 

of Identity in Titus Andronicus” at a research conference. 

business 

acumen 

Third-year management co-op student 

Samantha Seto received the Zonta 

International Jane M. Klausman women 

in Business Scholarship. The award 

honours young women who have 

demonstrated leadership and excellence 

in academics and extracurricular 

activities while pursuing careers 

in business. 

leadership on ice 

academic integrity 

and engagement 

Undergraduate student Tanya 

Stemberger was awarded a 2010 

Mcgraw-Hill Ryerson Scholarship. 

one of 20 winning students 

selected from over 500 

candidates, Stemberger 

demonstrated academic and 

personal integrity as well as 

engagement and initiative 

in and outside of the classroom. 

greg Danko, president of the Scarborough Campus Hockey Players 

Association, helped create “UTSC Day with the Toronto Marlies,” 

which aims to introduce UTSC’s international students to Canada’s 

favourite sport. Students attended a Marlies game followed 

by a skate on the team rink. Danko even convinced a sponsor 

to donate equipment for the participants, many of whom skated 

for the very first time. 

Future world 

leaders 

Fourth-year co-op management 

student Derrick Fung received an 

internship to the william J. Clinton 

Foundation in New york. Fung, 

who was also named co-op student 

of the year in 2008, was one 

of four Canadians chosen for the 

prestigious internship. 

athlete of the year, and more 

Not only did emily Kakouris win the 2010 Dickinson 

Award for Female Athlete of the year, but she also 

encouraged student fitness as president of PACe 

(Physical Activity Coaches and educators). She contributed 

to the highly successful “UTSC’s Best Dance Crew” event 

and helped achieve record voter turnout in support 

of the Pan Am Aquatic Centre & Field House Complex 

through her role on the Referendum Committee. 


UTSC 

at aglance.

Utsc at a glance 

dePartmental information and statistics (2009-2010) 

b i o l o g i c a l s c i e n c e s 

disciplines 

biochemistry 

Cell and Molecular biology 

Conservation biology 

ecology and evolutionary biology 

Neuroscience behaviour 

Physiology 

Plant biology 

research strengths include 

q Biodiversity and Conservation 

q Cells and Infection 

q Comparative Physiology 

q Integrative Behaviour and Neuroscience 

q Neurobiology of Stress 

q Plant Cellular and Molecular Processes 

q Plant Stress Biology 

faculty and students 

Department Chair: 

PRoFeSSoR gReg C. VANLeRBeRgHe 

4 Canada Research Chairs 

26 faculty 

1,778 undergraduate students 

64 graduate students 

8 research associates and 

post-doctoral fellows 

c o m P U t e r & m at h e m at i c a l s c i e n c e s 

disciplines 

Computer Science 

Mathematics 

Statistics 


Mathematics 

q Algebra 

q Applied Mathematics 

q Combinatorics 

q geometry 

q Number Theory 

q Topology 

Computer Science 

q Artificial Intelligence 

q Computer Systems 

q Database and Knowledge Management 

q Scientific Computing 

q Theoretical Computer Science 

Statistics 

q Bayesian Statistics 

q Probability 



PRoFeSSoR VASSoS HADZILACoS 

1 Canada Research Chair 

34 faculty members 

698 undergraduate students 

59 graduate students (supervised) 

14 post-doctoral fellows 

e n g l i s h (established 2010) 

english Studies at UTSC has historical 

breadth (from studies of exile and 

migration in the early Modern period to 

the study of rap as poetry in the present). 

It is interdisciplinary (from studies 

in literature, and film to literature and 

medicine); theoretical (with a particular 

focus on narrative studies), international 

(with studies of literature across the 

english-speaking world), and both 

creative and practical (with a focus 

on the teaching of writing). 


q Comparative Literature 

q Liberalism in Literature and Culture 

q Post-colonial and Contemporary 

American and Canadian Literature 

q Modernity, Post-Modernism 

and globalization 

q ethnic Literature and Cultural Studies 

q Immigrant experience and Diaspora 

q women’s Literature, Feminist Theory 

and gender Studies 

q Literature and Music & Literature and Film 

q Rap Poetics 



PRoFeSSoR CHRISTINe BoLUS-ReICHeRT 




h U m a n i t i e s 

disciplines 


African Studies 

Faculty members study every area 

Classical Studies 

of the humanities, from the Buddhist 

French 

conception of time to American labour 

Global Asia Studies 

history, from the depiction of violence 

history 

in modern Chinese art to the language 

Intersections, exchanges, encounters patterns of Latin American migrant 

in the humanities (Iee) 

communities in Israel. 

Journalism 

linguistics 

Media Studies 

New Media Studies 

Religion 

visual and Performing Arts: Art history, Arts 

Management, Theatre and Performance 

Studies, Music and Studio, Art and Culture 

women’s and Gender Studies 



PRoFeSSoR wILLIAM R. BoweN 

1 Canada Research Chair 




1 post-doctoral fellow 

m a n a g e m e n t 

disciplines 

Accounting 

business economics 

Finance 

Management Science 

Marketing 

organizational behaviour / 

human Resource Management 

Strategic Management 

Public Management 


q Performance: Individual and 

organizational Leadership 

q Recruitment and Retention 

q organizational Knowledge and Learning 

q Trade and globalization 

q Branding and Consumer Behaviour 

q Public Finance and Management 

q Business ethics and Innovation 

q International Finance 

q education – early Childhood to graduate 

q Production and Distribution optimization 



PRoFeSSoR MICHAeL KRASHINSKy 





P h i l o s o P h y (established 2010) 

The researchers and teachers of UTSC’s 

Department of Philosophy are dedicated 

to providing a sound education to students 

interested in philosophy – ranging from 

those with a broad curiosity to those seeking 

a point of view on specific issues, as well as 

students in search of rigorous intellectual 

tools and a perspective that comes 

with intensive study, and those seeking 

pre-professional training in preparation 

for graduate studies and research. 


q Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science 

q Logic 

q Metaphysics and Philosophy of Science 

q History of Philosophy 

q Political Philosophy 

q Philosophy of Art 



PRoFeSSoR PHILIP KReMeR 


The UTSC Philosophy Department’s strong 

collective publication record makes it a 

critical part of the University of Toronto’s 

tri-campus graduate Department of 

Philosophy, which is ranked in the top 15 

philosophy departments in North America 

and among the top 10 at english-speaking 

public institutions worldwide. 



P h y s i c a l & e n v i r o n m e n ta l s c i e n c e s 

disciplines 

Chemistry 

environmental Science 

Physics and Astrophysics 


q environmental Science 

q Biological Chemistry 

q Biological, Chemical and Physical 

Processes in the environment 

q general Relativity, Planetary System 

Formation and the evolution 

of Planetary Interiors 



PRoFeSSoR w.A. goUgH 


947 undergraduate students 



P s yc h o l o g y 

disciplines 

Psychological Science 

Neuroscience (in collaboration 

with biological Sciences) 

Mental health Studies 


q Cognitive, Social and Affective Neuroscience 

(including Neuroimaging Technologies) 

q Computational Cognition 

q Lifespan Development 

q Social and Personality Psychology 

q Mental Health 



PRoFeSSoR JoHN BASSILI 





s o c i a l s c i e n c e s 

disciplines 

Anthropology 

City Studies 

Diaspora and Transnationalism Studies 

health Studies 

human Geography 

International Development Studies 

Political Science 

Public Policy 

Sociology 


q City Planning and governance 

q Tourism, Recreation and Heritage Sites 

q equity, gender and Human Rights 

q ethnic Diversity and Multiracialism 

q epidemics and the History of Healthcare 

q Transnational Religious Movements 

q Failed Authoritarian States 

q Teenage gangs 

q Foster Parenting 

q The ethics of everyday Life 

q Political ecology of environmental Issues 



PRoFeSSoR MATT HoFFMANN 

2 Canada Research Chairs 







t o ta l r e s e a r c h f U n d i n g b y s o U r c e 2 0 0 9 – 2 0 1 0 

33% NSeRC* 

SSHRC* 11% 

CIHR* 3% 

CRC 12% 

3% other 

1% Corporate 

5% International 

15% Provincial government 

Federal government 17% 

*Tri-Council funders 

research PUblications 2009–2010 

Papers in 

refereed journals 

books 

book 

chapters 

Biological Sciences 47 2 2 

Computer & Mathematical Sciences 48 0 1 

Humanities 45 9 27 

Management 40 4 13 

Physical & environmental Sciences 111 0 9 

Psychology 58 1 12 

Social Sciences 76 5 30 

total 425 21 94 

sUPervision of gradUate stUdents 

and Post-doctoral felloWs 2009–2010 

graduate students 

(supervised) 

Post-doctoral 

fellows 

Biological Sciences 67 14 

Computer & Mathematical Sciences 59 14 

Humanities 79 1 

Management 12 2 

Physical & environmental Sciences 71 11 

Psychology 39 4 

Social Sciences 76 6 

total 403 52 

research grants and contracts 2009–2010 value number 

Biological Sciences $2,713,204 53 

Computer & Mathematical Sciences $1,305,229 26 

Humanities $363,475 31 

Management $286,669 20 

Physical & environmental Sciences $2,239,595 44 

Psychology $637,172 26 

Social Sciences $872,542 38 

total $8,417,885 238 



e n r o l m e n t g r o W t h * 

Number 

of students 

12,000 

i n t e r n at i o n a l e n r o l m e n t g r o W t h * 

Number 

of students 

1,200 

10,000 

1,000 

8,000 

800 

6,000 

600 

4,000 

400 

2,000 

200 

0 

2000- 

01 

* head count 

2001- 

02 

2002- 

03 

2003- 

04 

2004- 

05 

2005- 

06 

2006- 

07 

2007- 

08 

2008- 

09 

2009- 

10 

2010- 

11 

0 

2000- 

01 

2001- 

02 

2002- 

03 

2003- 

04 

2004- 

05 

2005- 

06 

2006- 

07 

2007- 

08 

2008- 

09 

2009- 

10 

2010- 

11 

P r o g r a m s W i t h t h e h i g h e s t e n r o l m e n t 2 0 0 9 – 2 0 1 0 

specialist Programs double majors Program majors 

Management (BBA) Co-op Health Studies (BSc) & Psychology Psychology 

Management (BBA) Neuroscience & Psychology Health Studies (BSc) 

Psychology Biology & Psychology Biology 

Human Biology Biology & Health Studies (BSc) english 

english 

economics for Management 

& International Studies 

Political Science 

Political Science Biology & Neuroscience Neuroscience 

Management & Finance Biochemistry & Psychology Biochemistry 

Cell & Molecular Biology Health Studies (BA) & Psychology economics for Management 

Cell & Molecular Biology Co-op english & History International Studies 

Neuroscience Psychology & Sociology Health Studies (BA) 



Data as of November 2009 

P r o g r a m e n r o l m e n t 2 0 0 9 – 2 0 1 0 

(may include students enrolled in more than one department) 

25% Social Sciences 

Biological Sciences 9% 

Humanities 18% 

18% Psychology 

7% Physical & 

environmental Sciences 

Management 19% 

Computer & 4% 

Mathematical 

Sciences 

c o - o P P r o g r a m e n r o l m e n t 2 0 0 9 – 2 0 1 0 

11% Social Sciences 

Biological Sciences 8% 

10% Psychology 

3% Physical & 

environmental Sciences 

6% Computer & 

Mathematical Sciences 

Humanities 6% 

Management 56% 

Programs and coUrses offered 2009–2010 Programs courses 

* course 

enrolment 

Biological Sciences 10 105 8,153 

Humanities 60 609 20,577 

Management 41 312 20,103 

Computer & Mathematical Sciences 33 103 7,279 

Physical & environmental Sciences 33 98 7,835 

Psychology 15 103 12,756 

Social Sciences 40 223 18,586 

total 232 1,553 

*head count 



U t s c at t r a c t s s t U d e n t s f r o m a l l o v e r t h e W o r l d 

(as of 2010) 

north america 

Canada 

United States 

Mexico 

eUroPe 

england 

France 

germany 

Norway 

Portugal 

Spain 

Sweden 

Switzerland 

Turkey 

Ukraine 

United Kingdom 

central, eastern, 

soUthern & 

Western asia 

Afghanistan 

Bangladesh 

Cambodia 

China 

Hong Kong 

India 

Indonesia 

Japan 

Jordan 

Kazakhstan 

Korea (South) 

Macau 

Malaysia 

oman 

Pakistan 

Philippines 

Russian Federation 

Saudi Arabia 

Singapore 

Taiwan 

Thailand 

Vietnam 

caribbean, 

central & 

soUth america 

Antigua & Barbuda 

Argentina 

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Brazil 

Cayman Islands 

Colombia 

Costa Rica 

Dominica 

ecuador 

el Salvador 

guyana 

Haiti 

Jamaica 

Panama 

Trinidad & Tobago 

Uruguay 

africa 

egypt 

ethiopia 

gambia 

ghana 

Kenya 

Libya 

Mauritius 

Mozambique 

Nigeria 

South Africa 

Tanzania, United Republic of 

Uganda 

Zambia 

Zimbabwe 

oceania 

Australia 



let’s hear it 

for Utsc 

Academic excellence and 

meaningful engagement may 

be our guiding philosophies, but 

dynamic campus experiences 

are where our core values burst 

into life. To be a UTSC student 

is to be a member of a vibrant 

community of active learners 

on a campus that pulses with 

expression, participation, 

collaboration, and yes, a whole 

lot of fun.

Produced by the Department 

of Communications & Public Affairs 

Writers 

Andrew westoll 

Marsh Thornley 

design 

Scott Thornley + Company STCworks.ca 

coPy editor 

Dali Castro 

PrinciPal PhotograPhy 

Ken Jones 

additional PhotograPhy 

Nick eyles 

betty boonstra 

Anne-emanuelle birn 

Raj Narayanareddy 

on the cover 

Gordon Monahan 

Theremin Pendulum (2008) 

sound installation

1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ontario M1C 1A4 

tel 416-287-8872 

info@utsc.utoronto.ca 

utsc.utoronto.ca

Annual Review - University of Toronto Scarborough

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