We now are accepting applications for the Junior Fellowship at Massey College from December 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025. We invite all community members to refer outstanding graduate and professional students from across the University of Toronto to join our vibrant, interdisciplinary community! For information on the application process, tour dates and open houses, please click here: Junior Fellows Applications – Massey College The Interdisciplinary Social Accountability Conference in Healthcare is being held at Massey College in March 2025. They are currently accepting abstracts for the conference and are encouraging participation from health professions, researchers, academics and policy makers. Please see submission guidelines here.
The latest episode of The JCR podcast is out now. Shree Paradkar, social and racial justice columnist at the Toronto Star and William Southam Journalism Fellow, speaks with Nataliya Machalina, Massey College alumnus, Scholar at Risk (2022-2024), and recent graduate of the Centre for European and Eurasian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. They discuss the challenges faced by women soldiers on the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war, focusing on the impacts of professional discrimination, sexual violence and social stigma on their service. Through the Ukrainian context, they draw comparisons with the Canadian Armed Forces, reflecting on what these shared experiences can reveal about gender, power and military culture in both countries.
Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
DECEMBER EVENTS
Wednesday, December 4 (3:00-6:00pm) | Solidarity Across Borders: Launch of the Resilience Network
Presented by our Chairs in Global Engagement (Nurjehan Mawani) and Human Rights (Payam Akhavan) in partnership with the Resilience Society, Equitas, and Journalists for Human Rights (JHR).
Wednesday, December 4 (6:00-8:00pm) | Massey Grand Rounds Dinner
Join in the Private Dining Room for an informal discussion about science, research, careers, and the like over dinner. This month, MGR is hosting Dr. Andrea Furlan, a physician-scientist and Professor in the Department of Medicine at UofT. Her research focuses on the management of chronic pain. This includes diagnosis, treatment and education. She was the team leader who developed the Canadian Opioid Guideline in 2010, and she developed a tool and app to help physicians apply the guideline’s recommendations. She is Chair of ECHO Ontario Chronic Pain and Opioid Stewardship, a telementoring project that aims to teach clinicians in rural and underserved areas how to help patients with chronic pain to live a better life.
Wednesday, December 4 (7:45pm) | Film Screening: The Nature of Healing
Produced by Faith Howe of JamLab Productions, The Nature of Healing is the spoken truth of seven courageous people who survived the Mohawk Institute, Canada’s first and longest-running “Indian” residential school. This is a story of resistance, resilience and a healing path.
Join the director and survivors for a panel discussion following the film.
Thursday, December 5 (7:00-8:30pm) | What next, after the American Election? with Massey/Munk Global Scholar Timothy Snyder
Timothy Snyder is an American historian and author now at the Munk School, who will deliver a talk about what will come next after the 2024 U.S. election. The discussion will concern: the nature of the campaign, the different understandings of freedom and tyranny, the sources of Trump’s victory and Harris’s defeat, and the possible remaking of American political order.
There will be an audience Q&A following.
Timothy’s latest book, On Freedom, will be available for purchase.
Friday, December 6 (6:00pm) | Junior Fellow High Table
This is a High Table to celebrate the Junior Fellows! The Junior Fellows have extended the invitation to all members of the Massey Community. Please join us for a night of Massey at its best – interdisciplinary community engagement over an excellent meal.
Saturday, December 7 (7:30-9:30pm) | Winter Gaudy
Join us for an evening of music, merriment and holiday treats, featuring performances from our talented Junior Fellows, the annual Principal’s ghost story and more. Families are welcome!
The winners of the annual literary competition will also be announced. Anyone can enter! See details here.
Tuesday, December 10 (4:30-6:00pm) | Latkes & Learning: A pre-Chanukah Celebration
All members of the Massey College community are invited to our annual event in anticipation of Chanukah. Join us for a meaningful celebration led by Matan Boker where we will share in a light meal and discussion.
Thursday, December 12 (11:45am) | Senior Fellow Luncheon with Sara Wolfe –Leadership Through an Indigenous Lens: Connection through Land, People, and Story
In this talk, new Senior Fellow Sara Wolfe will explore how Indigenous worldviews and teachings can inform and inspire leadership. She will draw on her experiences as a leader, entrepreneur and midwife to illustrate how connections to land, community and shared narratives can meaningfully shape approaches to governance, innovation and equity. This talk will offer insights into the transformative potential of Indigenous ways of knowing for building inclusive and sustainable futures for all.
COMMUNITY NEWS
AWARDS
- Alum James Bird was given the Order of the Sash by the Northwest Territories Métis Nation.
- Senior Fellow Jillian Kohler was awarded Transparency International Canada’s Canadian Integrity Award for 2024. Read about the award here.
- Alum Phil de Luna has recently been awarded the 2024 Young Alumni Award of Excellence from the Faculty of Science at uOttawa.
Congratulations James, Jillian and Phil!
NEWS
- Senior Fellow Mark Bonham has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Create TO, the body that manages the City of Toronto’s real estate portfolio. He has also been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Toronto Port Lands Company, the organization that manages the City’s Port Lands development.
- Senior Fellow Miriam Diamond talks to CBC here and here about harmful metals in Whitehorse’s groundwater.
- Senior Fellow and Resident Kim Kierans was featured in the Atlantic Business article, ‘The Micheners remind us why quality, local journalism still matters.
- Alum Caitlin Salvino has authored three chapters in the new book, This Wasn’t on the Syllabus: Stories from the Frontlines.
- Senior Fellow Beth Savan was interviewed on CBC regarding a scientist’s letter to the Federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change that she and over 100 scientists signed.
- Senior Fellow Sir Mark Vlasic delivered a Vatican-related lecture, “Culture in the Line of Fire: from Genocide to Cultural Heritage Destruction to Social Impact Entertainment”, at a conference co-organized by the Vatican’s Pontifical Angelicum University and the Pontifical Legate of the Armenian Apostolic Armenian Church.
- Junior Fellow Riley Yesno was featured on a CBC podcast episode of Commotion, listen to it here.
The last formal dinner of the term is coming up December 4 (be sure to sign up by 2:00pm today) or join the Junior Fellows for a meal.
Cheers,
Jonathan
