I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far. I’m happy to report that the Massey is Lunch program is starting up again in September, and we are pleased to announce registration is now open!
We will have two lunch spots on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as one spot for dinner on Mondays throughout the term. For lunch, you’ll meet a Junior Fellow Ambassador in the Junior Common Room at 12:15 and head up to the Dining Hall together to dine with a group of current Junior Fellows. For dinner, you’ll meet in the JCR at 6:20pm.
Massey is Lunch (and now dinner!) is open to Senior Fellows, Quadrangle Society Members, Journalism Fellows, Visiting Scholars and Alumni (at least five years out) at Massey College. Meal vouchers are provided for participants and can be picked up from the Porter’s Lodge upon arrival. Although using the program is restricted to one time per term, I’d really like to encourage you to come to lunch and dinner often!
I highly recommend that you plan to attend as many formal dinners as possible. Formal dinners are held on Monday and Wednesday and they begin at 6:30pm sharp. In the coming weeks, we will open registration online – so you can get them in your calendar before the term begins.
One way to think about this program is that it is a friendly way to get used to coming and meeting new people – from many disciplines and generations – and that makes it easier to come anytime – for events or any meal. I would also encourage you to bring friends and family.
Earlier this month, I received the wonderful news that the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Honorable Edith Dumont has agreed to serve as the Honorary Patron of Massey College. The length of this honorary patronage is for the duration of Madame Dumont’s tenure as Lieutenant Governor and by granting patronage, Her Honour hopes to help provide recognition to Massey College’s contributions to civil society and our activities as an important Canadian institution.
COMMUNITY NEWS
AWARDS
- The Samara Centre’ for Democracy s podcast Humans of the House has been nominated for a national RTDNA award. The show was the basis of a Massey Dialogue last year and has other Massey connections. Senior Fellow Sabreena Delhon is the host, and the show is produced by Media Girlfriends, a company founded by William Southam Journalism Alumi Nana aba Duncan and Garvia Bailey.
- Senior Fellow John Borrows has received a TRC Teaching Award from the U of T Students’ Law Society and the Indigenous Law Students’ Association. The TRC Awards recognize faculty members who have made an outstanding contribution to the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Call to Action #28 by teaching course content involving Indigenous perspectives, topics and law, as well as Canadian Aboriginal Law.
- Journalism Alumni Patrick Egwu was awarded the 2024 Bertha Challenge Global Journalism Fellowship.
Congratulations!
APPOINTMENTS
- Alum Sourojeet Chakraborty will join the Johns Hopkins Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering in January of 2025.
- Alum Aleksandra Dojnov has started a new position as a Research Engineer at Ampa.
- Alum Samantha Kappagoda has been appointed to the Business Board of the Governing Council at the University of Toronto.
- Alum Audrey Rochette has been appointed Associate Vice President, Indigenous Engagement and Education External at Sheridan College.
- Senior Fellow Kim Stanton has been appointed by the Attorney General of British Columbia to conduct an independent review of the legal system’s treatment of survivors of sexual violence and intimate partner violence – her mandate has already begun and her final report is due in May 2025. She is also featured in a recent article about the review.
- Alum Alice (Xia) Zhu will be starting as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador.
NEWS
- Senior Fellow Payam Akhavan has recently penned an Op-Ed in Prothomalo, one of the leading English-language outlets in Bangladesh, on the recent judgement of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on the obligation of states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read it here.
- Junior Fellow Otuto Chukwu has published an article in Social Science and Medicine Journal, with an impact factor of 4.9. You can read it here.
- Alum Jack Cunningham comments on the Gaza-Israel War, listen here.
- Senior Fellow Sabreena Delhon was quoted in the New York Times on a critical gap in Canadian democracy.
- William Southam Journalism Alum Hamutal Dotan will teach a first-year course in literary journalism with U of T this fall.
- Ashley Fitzpatrick, our incoming St. Clair Balfour Fellow is interviewed in Saltwire.
- Quadrangle Society Member Charlotte Gray is quoted on cbc.ca – read it here.
- Alum Michael O’Shea graduated in June with a PhD in Higher Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Congratulations Michael!
- Senior Fellow and Governing Board Chair Akwasi Owusu-Bempah has co-authoured A Roadmap for Transformative Change: Canada’s Black Justice Strategy with Zilla Jones published with the Department of Justice Canada. He was also recently quoted in the National Post, read it here.
- Junior Fellow Leighton Schreyer’s piece “What’s Left Unsaid” was a finalist for the Pulse –voices from the heart of medicine writing contest, themed “On Being Different.” You can read the published piece here.
- Alum Damian Tarnopolsky has published a new book of short stories, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monk, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monster
- Alum Elisa Tersigni has recently co-authored an article on AI and postsecondary education.
ICYMI
In the Junior Common Room this past May, Tara Henley sat down with Rudyard Griffiths to discuss The Trust Spiral – Henley’s 2024 LRC Massey Essay. In case you missed it, you can listen to their conversation Tara’s substack here.
A reminder that the kitchen will be closed for lunch as of August 3, and breakfast is available until August 18. We look forward to welcoming you back for meals in September!
I hope your summer goes well!
Jonathan Rose
