Like many of you, I was saddened to hear that Bill Davis passed away yesterday. Bill Davis was a Senior Fellow of the College and as Minister of Education, was responsible for the enactment of the founding legislation for Massey College. His contribution to Canada has been profound as Premier of Ontario for so many years. We will miss his wisdom. The College extends its sympathies to Davis’ family and friends. The College flag will be flown at half-mast and I will share details of a public celebration of life with the community when they become available.
The summer is slipping away and we are preparing for the Fall, with various Massey Dialogues, Senior Fellows lunches, book launches, High Tables, held in person or in hybrid format. Send me your ideas.
It is also time to read the books selected by the Book Club. The results are in from community consultations, thank you to all of you who gave your input and a special thank you to our Book Club Committee. We will discuss the following titles throughout the year.
Monday, October 4 – Sufferance by Thomas King
Monday, November 1 – Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Monday, December 6 – Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong
Monday, February 7 – Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
Monday, March 7 – Divided Loyalties by Nilofar Shidmehr
Monday, April 4 – Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
On behalf of Kia Dunn, the President of the Massey College Alumni Association, I’m pleased to invite you to the Alumni Summer Garden Party. Join us outside in the College Quadrangle on Sunday, August 15th from 11:00am to 3:00pm. Visit our calendar for more details and to RSVP. I hope to see you there!
In preparation for the Fall, please save the date for some of our events listed below.
We will be opening up our online RSVP system for High Table and themed dinners approximately two weeks in advance of each event, and will send additional invitations.
I thought you may want to make time in your calendar to join us and celebrate our Junior Fellows.
| Event | Event Date |
| High Table – Welcome | Friday, September 17 |
| High Table – Indigenous Heritage | Friday, October 15 |
| High Table – College History | Friday, November 5 |
| High Table – Pride | Friday, November 26 |
| International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Dinner in Memory of Christine Karcza | Wednesday, Decedmber 1 |
| Junior Fellow Holiday High Table | Friday, December 3 |
| International Human Rights Day Dinner | Wednesday, December 8 |
| Holiday Gaudy | Saturday, December 11 |
| High Table – Clarkson Laureates | Friday, January 21 |
| High Table – Black History Month | Friday, February 8 |
| High Table – International Women’s Day | Friday, March 11 |
| High Table – Convocation | Friday, March 25 |
  I’m pleased to announce that Junior Fellows Anna Wong and Paul Chen have agreed to serve as the 2021-2022 Massey Grand Rounds Co-Chairs. |
Alumna Delila Bikic has just published a piece in Open Canada entitled My Sarajevo. Read the full article here. This work is a follow up to the Massey Dialogues – A Balkan Journey: Reflections on 25 Years of Dayton Peace that we hosted in April of 2021, which you can watch here.
I look forward to seeing you all soon,
