We are all looking forward to the excitement of the new term – new Junior Fellows mixing with returning Fellows, Senior Members, and all their friends. Please come to the opening BBQ on Friday, September 6 to meet the incoming Principal James Orbinski and his family!
We’re also cooking up some great events and meals –
- there is a special Welcome Lunch Table during orientation week (September 3-6) for everyone to meet new and returning folks
- the first formal dinners (already a hot ticket!) on September 9 and 11 and
- Senior Fellow Carolyn Tuohy is hosting Randy Boyagoda and Ian Williams in a discussion and panel of what makes discourse civil in the modern age on September 11.
MCAA ELECTIONS
The Massey College Alumni Association (MCAA) is delighted to welcome Juliet Guichon (former Don of Hall: 1989-90) and James Greene (former Don of Hall: 1990-91) as newly elected members of the Council, in addition to returning member Alexander (Sasha) Kostenko, who has served as VP for the last three years. They join standing members Marc Desormeaux, Kim Kierans, Divas Kapur, Leah Morris, Andrea Geddes Poole, and Tanya d’Anger. We sincerely thank all those who ran and voted as part of this election.
We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to outgoing MCAA President Kia Dunn who has led the Council during the last three years and is returning as a Junior Fellow to Massey.
FORMAL DINNER UPDATES
We have changed the registration for formal dinners to ensure a smoother experience upon entrance to Ondaatje Hall. To grab a spot at formal dinner, please register by 2:00pm on the business day before, which for Mondays means the previous Friday. If you don’t already have a meal plan, you’ll be charged upon registration for the dinner, which allows us to avoid the entry line up to the hall.
If you cannot attend a booked meal but notify us by 2:00pm on the business day before, you can exchange your ticket for a future formal dinner. Unfortunately, we cannot offer refunds. This policy helps us minimize food waste and allows us to staff events appropriately.
For Non-Resident Junior Fellows: If you register but do not attend without prior notice (by 2:00pm on the business day before), the missed meal will count toward your plan’s allocated meals.
MASSEY COLLEGE CHOIR
The Massey Choir will be back this year under the direction of Jayden Browne, who comes to us from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Rehearsals will be on Mondays, 5:00-6:00pm in the Music Room (Colin Friesen Room), starting on September 9.
All are welcome – Junior Fellows, Alumni, Senior Members and staff. No training is required, and no experience necessary.
Members of the choir are invited to stay for formal dinner after rehearsal at a subsidized rate. Share a meal with new friends and make your autumn Mondays evenings of music, excellent food and wonderful company!
ORIENTATION WEEK “WELCOME LUNCH” TABLE
From the Don of Hall, Alec Krawciw:
Welcome to the 2024-25 Academic Year at Massey! At lunch each day from Tuesday, September 3 – Friday, September 6, we will designate a table in the Dining Hall as the Welcome Table. There will be a Junior Fellow and Senior Member each day to make the transition back to Massey as seamless as possible. The start of the term is an ideal time for Junior and Senior Members alike to get to know Massey and each other. Whether you are new to the community or returning again after many years, we encourage you to join us to help build new connections between all Fellows in 2024-25.
See the weekly menu.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Make sure you are logged in to your Massey account to access affiliation discounts. Please click through here for some simple how-to instructions for our ticketing and online directory systems. If you have issues logging in, please email us.
A LOOK AHEAD TO SEPTEMBER
Friday, September 6 (5:00pm) | Welcome BBQ
The BBQ is informal and open to all Massey Community members (Junior and Senior Fellows, Quadrangle Society members, Alumni, Visiting Scholars, Senior Residents, Journalism Fellows) and your families and guests. Come and see old friends, and meet some new ones, including the new Principal James Orbinski and some of his family!
Sunday, September 8 (5:00pm) | Alumni Dinner
Join Massey alumni for a delightful evening of reconnecting with fellow alumni at a dinner in the Rec Room! Note, this is an offsite event.
Monday, September 9 (6:30pm) | First Formal Dinner
Where else in this city can you come for a tasty evening meal with scholars, artists, businesspeople and their family and friends, and have a guaranteed great conversation? You might sit next to a physicist or a psychologist, a musician or a mathematician, an educator or an engineer, an ophthalmologist, a philanthropist, a sociologist or a writer! Where else will you come out just delighted you made the effort to attend? Certainly, this is the Massey Formal Dinner experience, and I look forward to seeing everyone at this first formal dinner — and every Monday and Wednesday that you’re able to come!
Register below to get your spot – space is going fast! The bar will be open in the JCR to gather pre-dinner at 6:00pm.
Tuesday, September 10 (4:00-5:30pm) | Toward International Principles on Gender Persecution: Advancing Human Rights and Accountability
Join us for the first public panel of the term hosted by Professors Valerie Oosterveld and Payam Akhavan (Massey’s Chair in Human Rights). Across the world, women and girls are systematically excluded from public life, education, employment, and health care. LGBTQIA+ individuals are subjected to sexual violence and murder. Girls are forced to serve as so-called ‘wives’ of armed fighters, and boys are coerced to be those fighters. This panel will explore the crime against humanity of persecution carried out on gender grounds, including in Afghanistan and Iran.
Sponsored by the Massey College Chair in Human Rights, Western University’s Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction and MADRE.
Wednesday, September 11 (4:00-6:00pm) | Massey Dialogues: Can We Talk? Civil Discourse and What It Means for Liberal Democracy
This Massey Dialogue brings together two deeply thoughtful people and acclaimed novelists who are playing leading roles in addressing these issues. Professor Ian Williams will deliver this year’s CBC Massey Lectures, What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time and Senior Fellow Professor Randy Boyagoda is leading a university-wide effort on Civil Discourse. Their sensitivity to our common humanity is matched by their robust engagement in public debate. Their conversation will probe the timely and enduring issues of democratic speech that are at the heart of today’s most heated debates. Reception to follow.
Many thanks to Senior Fellow Carolyn Tuohy for spearheading the discussion. Be sure to also book the formal dinner afterwards!
Wednesday, September 11 (6:00-8:00pm) | Book Launch: Research Project Management and Leadership
Join Senior Fellow Alison Paprica for the launch of her book. Senior Fellow Barbara Sherwood-Lollar will interview the author with book signing to follow.
Friday, September 13 (9:30am-5:00pm) | Manuscript Cultures Across Africa & Asia
To open the upcoming exhibition, “From Mauritania to Japan: Multi-materiality and Physicality of Non-Western Manuscripts in the Robertson Davies Library,” the Library has organized an academic forum focusing on research related to non-Western manuscripts, occurring across the U of T tri-campus.
The symposium will highlight and celebrate the work being conducted on manuscript cultures outside of Europe and non-Indigenous North America by professors, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD students at the University.
Monday, September 16 (4:00-6:00pm) | 2nd Annual Irving Abella Lecture: Adam Gopnik on Confronting Hate
Adam Gopnik will take on the thorny but essential question of the persistence of anti-Semitism in the twenty-first century. Expanding beyond the usual debates over Israel, its history and its opponents, he will try to look at how anti-Semitism has served as a template for anti-liberalism – as a way of undermining cosmopolitan and universalist movements in modern life and replacing them with the narrowest kinds of tribalism and nationalism. The Jews, in this sinister formula, become both the implacable outsiders and the comfortable cosmopolitan elite. Gopnik will explore how this form of anti-Semitism has transformed itself to become a weapon in the larger authoritarian fight against liberal democracy.
Tuesday, September 17 (12:00-1:00pm) | The Ethics Series – The Ethics of Bail Reform: Do We Need Corrections in the Corrections System?
Bail reform is one of the most contentious and highest profile issues in the Canadian justice system. Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms all accused persons are presumed innocent until they are proven guilty, so any person charged with an offence has the right “not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause.” Join Thomas Axworthy, Public Policy Chair, who will moderate the panel with Peter Sloly – Massey’s Changemaker-in-Residence and former Ottawa police chief; Mary-Jane Bennett – litigator with a 40-year legal career in Manitoba and B.C. and Kate Mitchell – Junior Fellow and SJD candidate in the Faculty of Law. This event will be online only.
Wednesday, September 18 (1:00pm) | 2024 MGR Symposium & 2024 Janet Rossant Lectureship
The Annual MGR Symposium is a Junior Fellow-led conference for the benefit of the entire U of T academic community. It features the Janet Rossant Lectureship, established in 2018, to honour promising mid-career health scientists. Further details coming soon!
Thursday, September 19 (3:00-5:00pm) | Meet the 2024-2025 William Southam Journalism Fellows
We are hosting a welcome reception for our 2024-2025 William Southam Journalism Fellows – come and hear about their background and plans for their fellowship year.
The William Southam Journalism Fellowships are an essential part of Massey College and they have been around since 1962. Over the past 60+ years we have welcomed over 300 Canadian and international journalists for eight months of fellowship, academic work, and reflection.
Friday, September 20 (5:00pm) | Annual Community Group Photo
Be a part of Massey’s history! Current Senior Fellows, Quadrangle Society Members, Journalism Fellows, Visiting Scholars, Senior Residents and 2024-2025 Junior Fellows: come to the Quad for the annual formal group photograph. Gowns will be worn in the photo. No RSVP necessary.
Friday, September 20 (6:00-9:00pm) | Welcome High Table
Following a phenomenal year celebrating 60 years of Massey College, we look forward to welcoming the community back for an incredible year ahead. We return to Ondaatje Hall for a delicious meal for the start of what will be a banner year as we introduce new fellows, scholars and community members. Before and after dinner, everyone is welcome to the JCR again for a reception.
Monday, September 23 (5:00pm) | Our Brains, Our Future: The Integral Brain Health Implementation Strategy
As the world ages, preventing brain disease has never been more critical. This requires a coordinated, systematic effort of unprecedented scale. Dr. Vladimir Hachinski presents a road map to make it happen. Presented by Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University and the National Killam Program and Massey College.
Monday, September 23 (8:00pm) | Junior Fellow Lecture Series – Artificial Intelligence
Presented by the Junior Fellows, these lectures take place roughly once a month and invite three Junior Fellows to give an after-dinner lecture on a chosen topic through the lens of their various fields of study. More details on presenters coming soon for the first JFLS of the year.
Tuesday, September 24 (11:45am-2:00pm) | Senior Fellow Lunch with James Bird
You are invited to the first Senior Fellow Luncheon of 2024-2025. Join us for a fantastic lunch and a lecture by Alum James Bird followed by an audience Q&A. Thank you to Co-Chairs Jennifer Jenkins and Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi for organizing the luncheons for the year. Reserve tickets for the next luncheons on October 22, November 12 and December 12.
Wednesday, September 25 (4:00-5:30pm) | Massey Dialogues: Reflecting on Nunavut 25+
Nunavut is celebrates its 25th year in 2024. Massey College and the Harvard Club of Toronto will mark this milestone with former Premier Paul Okalik and Professor Emeritus Graham White discussing the territory’s history and current state. Join us to hear their insiders’ perspective on Nunavut negotiations and how they see the territory today alongside Junior Fellow Riley Yesno.
Thursday, September 26 (5:00pm) | Book Launch: Journalism for the Public Good by Kim Kierans
You are invited to the book launch of Senior Resident Kim Kierans. Kim will be in conversation about her book with award-winning journalist Anna Maria Tremonti. Following the conversation, there will be an audience Q&A, book sales/signing, and a reception.
Friday September 27 (8:30am – 3:00pm) | Public Policy Conference – What’s Driving Crime Today?: How Old School Criminals are Using New School Technology
Join us for a conference featuring subject matter experts from policing, justice, academia, media, and the private sector to examine what’s driving crime today.
COMMUNITY NEWS
APPOINTMENTS
- Alum Giancarlo Da-Ré is starting a new position as the Director of Policy & Stakeholder Relations to the Solicitor General, Ontario
- Junior Fellow Margaret de Leon is starting a new position as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at University of California, Berkley.
- Alum Rena Roussin has been appointed a 2024-2026 Postdoctoral Associate at the Don Wright Faculty of Music of Western University.
Congratulations everyone!
AWARDS
- The Samara Centre for Democracy’s podcast Humans of the House, hosted by Senior Fellow Sabreena Delhon is a national finalist in the best podcast category of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) 2024 Awards.
NEWS
Massey and the Rotary Club of Toronto Bay-Bloor have partnered with the El Echad Foundation in Abuja, Nigeria. Recently, the foundation implemented a vocational training program for 10 women with disabilities. The program trained participants in the production, packaging, and sale of sanitary products, and each trainee received a business startup grant and resources to kickstart their businesses. Junior Fellow Otuto Chukwu co-founded the foundation. Read more.
- Massey Chair in Human Rights and Senior Fellow Payam Akhavan co-authored What are the Legally Binding Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change? for the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
- Senior Fellow and UofT Provostial Advisor on Civil Discourse Randy Boyagoda writes about British state-of-the-nation novels in The Atlantic.
- Alum Tajja Isen was interviewed on an episode of Commotion on CBC Radio about book covers, race and publishing. Listen here.
- Senior Fellow Rosemary McCarney co-authored an OpEd in the Globe on Canada’s need to step up against pathogens.
- Senior Fellow Fahad Razak commented on mpox, listen here.
- Senior Fellow Neil Seeman wrote an OpEd in the Ottawa Citizen reflecting on the importance of Canadian literature in shaping our national identity.
- Senior Fellow Germaine Warkentin has just published Writing-on-Stone and Book History: Recording the Life-World of the Great Plains in American Contact: Objects of Intercultural Encounters and the Boundaries of Book History, edited by Rhae Lynn Barnes and Glenda Goodman, University of Pennsylvania Press.
- OFFERINGS – Journalism Fellow Alum Richard Warnica (feature writer/opinion editor at the Toronto Star) is teaching a two-day online course September 14-15 on feature writing and narrative reporting skills. Find more information here.
So, there are just a ton of exciting things going on to start the term – come and join us, and bring your family and friends!
Jonathan
P.S. Keep checking the online events calendar to see more details and events as they are added.
