Innis College Alumni & Friends Magazine Alumni.Innis.Utoronto.Ca
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
5 INNIS COLLEGE 2015/2016 ALUMNI & FRIENDS INAUGURAL MAGAZINE EDITION ALUMNI.INNIS.UTORONTO.CA —02 INTRODUCTION INNIS COLLEGE ALUMNI & FRIENDS MAGAZINE 2015 —03 INTRODUCTION INNIS COLLEGE INNIS COLLEGE ALUMNI & FRIENDS MAGAZINE 2015 Innis College Over the last 50 years, this place of “humble beginnings” has fostered a rich and di- verse community committed to growth and achievement. From the first pioneering cohort in September 1964 to the current generation of 2015, Innis students have been central to forging an identifiable ethos for the College. Innis’s reputation as a small, close-knit learning environment that encourages student participation, innova- tion and leadership remains strong. Our community of students, faculty, staff and alumni is immensely proud of what has been accomplished over the last five decades. As we embark on a new chapter in our history, we are excited about what the next five will bring. We hope you will continue to be part of helping to build Innis’s storied legacy. —04 MASTHEAD / INNIS COLLEGE TABLE OF CONTENTS ALUMNI & FRIENDS FEATURES / PROFILES / DEPARTMENTS MAGAZINE 2015 Masthead Department Innis College Alumni & Friends Magazine Fall 2015 Inaugural Edition No. 001 Editor Rolla Tahir Review Committee Profile Ennis Blentic Maddie Freedman 07 Thomas MacKay Rolla Tahir Benjamin Westrate Looking Forward Contributors Innis Town Hall Grand Re-opening Jean Marc Ah-Sen with Sarah Gadon Donald Boere Lily Choi By Ennis Blentic Christine Creighton Kathleen Crook Department Jessi Cruickshank Jasmine Denike George Edelstein Sharon English Alexander Fernandes Samii Folliott Sara Gajic Veenu Goswami Hilary Hager Stephen Hutchison Charlie Keil Rashida Abbas Khokhar 20 Katrina Lagace 22 Ryan Lamers Keara Long Mark McDowell Dynamism Community Richie Mehta Shawn Micallef The Genesis of the Innis Film Society An Ambassador’s Journey Janet Paterson By Rolla Tahir off the Beaten Path Robert “Bud” Patrick By Lily Choi Jim Penturn Aneta Perehinets Feature Marion Plunkett Roger Riendeau Jim Sheddon Bart Testa Tim Worgan Khrystyna Zhuk Cover Image Breaking ground for the construction of Innis College, September 1973 (left to right) University President Dr. John Evans, Founding Principal Robin Harris, ICSS President Sheldon Sinukoff, and Principal Peter Russell. Art Direction + Design www.typotherapy.com Printing Flash Reproductions Correspondence and Undeliverable Copies To: Innis College, University of Toronto Communications, Alumni, & Undergraduate Assistant Publisher Innis College, University of Toronto 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5 innis.utoronto.ca Innis College Alumni & Friends Magazine is published once a year by Innis College and is circulated to 15,000 alumni and friends of Innis College, University of Toronto. Innis College at the 10 University of Toronto respects your privacy. We do not rent, trade or sell our mailing lists. If you do not wish to receive this magazine, please contact us. Legacy Innis College: Humble Beginnings By Roger Riendeau —05 MASTHEAD / INNIS COLLEGE TABLE OF CONTENTS ALUMNI & FRIENDS FEATURES / PROFILES / DEPARTMENTS MAGAZINE 2015 Profile Department 42 Dynamism Inside the Creative City By Shawn Micallef Feature 36 Community Richie Mehta: 52 “We Could Control Everything” By Bart Testa Students Peer To Peer 4 By Thomas MacKay Feature Contents Looking Forward 64 Community Students Lessons in Lifelong Learning 06 By Ben Weststrate with 22 25 Principal’s Note Mojan Naisan Samani An Ambassador’s The Innis and Nic Weststrate Journey off the Herald: Mapping 16 Beaten Path Inconsistency A Short History of 72 By Lily Choi By Aneta Perehinets & the Cinema Studies College Timeline Alexander Fernandes Program/Institute 34 By Bart Testa 74 Mentoring 28 Principal Innisians The Many Masks 70 Janet Paterson By Rolla Tahir & of askastudent Thank You 2005 – 2015 Maddie Freedman Innis Alumni Office By Ennis Blentic 32 36 askastudent Richie Mehta: Timeline Legacy Dynamism “We Could Control Everything” 52 08 20 By Bart Testa Peer To Peer Look Back The Genesis By Thomas MacKay 24 at Innis 50th of the Innis Film 58 Anniversary Society Alumni in Focus: 60 Events By Rolla Tahir Jessi Cruickshank Beginnings By Samii Folliott Students 10 42 62 The Innis Herald: Innis College: Inside the 61 The Great Humble Beginnings Creative City Innis on the Debater Mapping Inconsistency By Roger Riendeau, By Shawn Micallef Bookshelf By Rolla Tahir By Aneta Perehinets & Vice Principal, Innis College 46 69 Alexander Fernandes Inside the Share Your Story 63 Creative City on fastforward Innis Residence By Sharon English at 20 Years By Tim Worgan 50 Ways of Healing By Keara Long —06 LOOKING FORWARD INNIS COLLEGE PRINCIpaL’s NOTE ALUMNI & FRIENDS MAGAZINE 2015 Principal’s Note Above: The magazine that you are holding in your hands Innis has much to thank Janet Paterson for, and Charlie Keil is the new principal heralds a new era in Innis College’s outreach to no one more than me, because I have inherited of Innis College. its community. Innis College Alumni & Friends from her a College that is vibrant, enterprising, Photography courtesy of Alice Xue Magazine will replace its predecessor, the Innis and unique. Over the next five years, I look College News, and will appear on an annual basis, forward to becoming even more familiar with the keeping you informed of the full breadth of activi- Innis community, whose talents are on display 4 ties and innovations occurring at Innis College. in this magazine, which combines insight from Fittingly, this new magazine appears at a time faculty, staff, students, and alumni. We hope you of significant change at the College: Innis’s 50th enjoy what Ennis Blentic, Rolla Tahir and the anniversary celebrations have just wound down, entire editorial team have put together and that it and the Cinema Studies Institute is set to begin will prompt you to revisit Innis if you haven’t been a series of events commemorating its 40 years of here lately. Innis will be host to a slate of memo- existence. Equally significant, Janet Paterson has rable events this coming year and we hope to see completed her ten-year term as principal, over- you at many of them. As Innis College Alumni & seeing a period of sustained growth and renewal Friends Magazine shows, there is no better place at Innis, capped by the magnificent refurbishment to be on campus than right here at Innis of Innis Town Hall. The renovation of Town Hall College – that has been true for many years, restores the room to its rightful status as one of and will continue to be for many more. the university’s best lecture halls, a peerless venue for live events, and, of course, the best place to see films on campus. —07 LOOKING FORWARD INNIS COLLEGE SARAH GADON ALUMNI & FRIENDS MAGAZINE 2015 Sarah Gadon By Ennis Blentic Above: In an intimate and varied Town Hall has always been Cinema Studies alumna, Sarah Gadon, Innis Town discussion with CBC’s George “a magical movie place, a speaks to George Stroumboulopoulos, she also teaching space, and the centre Stroumboulopoulos during a post- Hall Grand delved into her numerous of the College and the film screening of Maps collaborations with Cronenberg community,” said alumna to the Stars at the Re-opening re-opening of Innis and her recent roles, the state Pam Fossen. “It wasn’t Town Hall. Acclaimed actress Sarah Photography courtesy of of Canadian cinema, and the known for its comfort or its Gustavo Toledo Gadon, a graduate of the expanding role of women in aesthetic beauty. With the Cinema Studies Institute, film. “I think there are more recent overhaul, it could be recently returned to Innis and more excellent roles for rightfully known for both.” 4 College this past February to women; just consider this celebrate the re-opening of film,” said Gadon referring “The evening was a profound its 200-seat theatre, the Innis to Julianne Moore and Mia expression of the collective Town Hall. Wasikowska playing lead parts spirit of the College and in Maps to the Stars. the many brilliant people Following a screening of David that form its fabric. I am Cronenberg’s Maps to the Before the Q & A, more immensely proud of everyone Stars, which Gadon stars in, she than 250 guests – including involved in this vital project,” reflected on her four years study- Degrassi creator and U of T said Janet Paterson, former ing cinema as an undergraduate alumna Linda Schuyler – principal of Innis College. student and cited her classes in were treated to a special Town Hall as a driving inspira- program demonstrating the Innis College is about to em- tion to pursue a career in front of transformation of Town bark on the 40th anniversary the camera. Gadon, whose first Hall. The extensive renova- of the Cinema Studies Institute. major role came while she was tions included audio-visual Beginning this fall, celebration still a student (in Cronenberg’s enhancements, new lighting, events will be taking place through- A Dangerous Method), said her state-of-the-art projection out the year. time at Innis still influences the equipment and sound-damp- film choices she makes today. ening architecture. —08 LEGACY INNIS COLLEGE LOOK BACK AT INNIS ALUMNI & FRIENDS 50TH ANNIVERSARY MAGAZINE 2015 EVENTS Below, far left column: As part of the College’s 50th Deepa Mehta introduces her film Anniversary, the Innis College Midnight’s Children community enjoyed an unprec- Look Back Below, middle column: edented year of outreach and Innis Rhodes scholars achievement: more than 1700 th Aliyyah Ahad and Chloe Walker guests have attended a total of at Innis 50 15 events to date. The celebra- 4 tions have centered around the College’s history and its programs (Cinema Studies, Anniversary Urban Studies and Writing and Rhetoric), covering a variety 6 of interests (urban issues, film, Events music, etc.) and spanning all January 2014 demographics.