Get to Know Us
As we step into the renewal of spring and summer at Massey College, I look forward to sharing more about our vision for the College. To begin, I invite you to read the speech I delivered at the Installation ceremony on April 10, now available here on the Massey website. I hope it offers inspiration as we embark on this exciting chapter together.
I am also delighted to announce that the Junior Fellowship has selected its 2025-2026 Don of Hall: Margaret De Leon.
Margaret (Margie) de Leon is a second-year PhD student in Education at the University of Toronto and Junior Fellow at Massey College. Her scholarly interests include university affordability; the economics of education, and financial aid policy in the United States and Canada. Margie is currently based in California, completing a Fulbright research year at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. She has actively contributed to the Massey College community through various leadership roles, including Chair of the Lionel Massey Fund Committee, Member of the House Committee, Co-Organizer of the Walter Gordon Symposium, and regular contributor to the JCR Podcast.
Welcome, Margie! I look forward to working together over the coming year.
And finally, the Massey College podcast team kindly invited me for a conversation. I had a lighthearted and engaging chat with Junior Fellow Jane Zhao, which you can enjoy here.
I very much look forward to seeing you Massey this spring and summer.
With best wishes,
James Orbinski
Principal
UPCOMING EVENTS AT MASSEY COLLEGE
Tuesday, April 29 – A Symposium Celebrating Massey Grand Rounds
1:00pm –5:30pm | Junior Common Room
Join us as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Massey Grand Rounds with a half day symposium full of insightful discussions at the intersection of medicine, science, and society. The event will feature a Massey Dialogues panel from the founding co-chairs of Massey Grand Rounds chaired by Principal James Orbinski and a plenary session featuring our esteemed MGR alumni and co-chairs chaired by Dr. Aubie Angel. Featured guest speakers include Dr. Danielle Rodin, the 2025 Janet Rossant Lecturer. After the symposium, please join us for a ticketed gala dinner featuring a short talk by Dr. Danielle Martin, Chair of Department of Family & Community Medicine. We look forward to seeing you there.
Thursday, May 1 – Social Media Disinformation: How to Prevent, Identify, Combat
10:00am –1:00pm ET | Online Only
Join Massey College and Canadian Mennonite University for a timely and dynamic public policy event exploring the growing challenge of disinformation in the digital age. This special session brings together a diverse panel of experts from across academia, government, civic planning, media, and advocacy to examine how we can collectively recognize, respond to, and resist the spread of false information online.
Click through here for more information about this event.
Tuesday, May 6 – In Pursuit of Democracy and Justice. Massey College and the Harvard Club of Canada Present: An Evening with the Honourable Rosalie Abella and Professor Galit Sarfaty
4:00pm | Junior Common Room
The evening will open with a keynote address by the Honourable Rosalie Abella, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, as she shares the story of her family’s immigrant journey, her formative years at Harvard Law School, and the insights she gained on the bench of Canada’s highest court. Following her address, Professor Galit Sarfaty, Canada Research Chair in Global Economic Governance at the University of Toronto, will engage Justice Abella in a wide‑ranging conversation. They will reflect on landmark decisions and the evolving role of the judiciary, assess current threats to democratic institutions and human rights in Canada and abroad, and offer a concise overview of the Middle East conflict and its legal dimensions alongside an analysis of today’s U.S. political landscape. Justice Abella and Professor Sarfaty will conclude by turning to the future—considering how legal scholars and practitioners can safeguard equity, dignity, and the rule of law in an increasingly complex world.
COMMUNITY NEWS
IN MEMORIAM
We are saddened to share the news that Professor Emeritus Ian Lancashire (U of T) passed away earlier this month at the age of 82. Ian was a valued member of the Massey community, serving as a Junior Fellow from 1966 to 1968 and Don of Hall in 1967–68. He was also chosen by the College to be one of Vincent Massey’s pallbearers in 1968. We extend our condolences to his wife, Senior Fellow Anne Lancashire, and their family. You can read his full obituary here.
We also note with sadness the passing of Reverend Hugh Gemmell, a Junior Fellow in Massey’s founding year, 1963. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Funeral and obituary information can be found here.
AWARDS
- Junior Fellow Otuto Chukwu has been awarded the title of 2025 UTAA Graduate Scholar. You can read about the award here.
- Junior Fellow Erina Moon’s paper “The Datafication of Care in Public Homelessness Services” was recently awarded a Best Paper Honorable Mention Award at the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Read it in full here.
- Junior Fellow Carlos E. Sánchez Pimienta received the SGS Jeanne F. Goulding Fellowship through the University-Wide Award 2024-25 competition for merit in pursuing research to benefit the environment.
- Senior Fellow Sheila Wang is the recipient of the 2025 Jean Davey Honorary Fund, awarded by Women’s College Hospital.
NEWS
- Alumnus Tom Cooper will be interviewed by Dr. Paul Levinson about his new book Wisdom Weavers: The Lives and Thought of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan on Zoom, May 1, 2025 8pm-9pm ET. Please email if you are interested in attending online.
- Junior Fellow Erik De Lorenzi has been featured recently in two articles about rejecting US offers of employment. Read them here and here.
- Senior Fellow and Chair in Global Engagement, Nurjehan Mawani, has been appointed to the Advisory Council of Academics Without Borders (AWB). The mission of AWB is to bring together higher education institutions in the Global South and expert faculty and staff volunteers from primarily Canadian universities and colleges to work on capacity-building initiatives identified by the partner institutions. More about AWB here.
- Senior Fellow Sir Mark Vlasic premiered Erase the Nation, a film he executive produced about cultural heritage destruction in Ukraine, at Ukraine Day at American University earlier this month.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Dr. Brenda Andrews has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research. Read the full announcement here.
- The Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation are holding their 13th annual Historical Gathering April 29 through May 1. The event is free and open to all, and will include presentations on history, archaeology, and reconciliation issues, as well as dancing, drumming, story-telling, workshops and craft demonstrations. Breakfast and lunch will be provided each day. Anyone is welcome to attend on any or all of the three days. Advance registration is required. Click through here for more information, including the full agenda and registration.
BOOK CLUB
- The Book Club Committee would like your input! Complete this survey to suggest titles that you would like to discuss in 2025-2026.
REMINDERS
Doors Open at Massey College
Doors Open Toronto returns to Massey College on May 24. We are looking for a large team of volunteers from across the Massey community. If you are interested in volunteering for all or part of the day, please contact Matt Glandfield at mglandfield@masseycollege.ca. This is an important community outreach event for the College, and we would greatly appreciate your help as an ambassador.
Summer Rentals
From May to August, Massey College rents out residence rooms on a short-term basis. If you or someone you know is looking for accommodations in the heart of downtown Toronto, please visit our website: Massey College Summer Residence Programme. Rooms can be booked directly online and include breakfast at competitive rates. For more information, contact Fernando Yanez at summerresidence@masseycollege.ca.
