No. 2 How to help each other in uncertain times No. 12 Our creativity has no limits FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS No. 9 Our senior No. 16 citizens deserve We can use our better care time in lockdown to grow No. 10 No. 17 We need better How to start a ways to support business in frontline workers a pandemic No. 5 We are stronger than we think No. 1 We need a liveable city for No. 6 everyone Privacy and security matter even more 17 key takeaways from a year of new normals, endless pivots and calls to build a better world SUMMER 2021 Create the change you want to see in the world. Realize your future at ryerson.ca/graduate/ future-students Dr. Loree Erickson, Disability Studies postdoctoral alumna, artist and activist. Contents SUMMER 2021 Sara Yacobi-Harris founded No Silence on Race to create inclusive spaces. Gould Street Alumni Diary 3 President’s message 29 Making a difference Tri-Mentoring advocate 5 Hybrid learning Sonny Thaker on flourishes giving back In-person labs and virtual hospital help 30 Listen to this nursing and midwifery T wo gifted storytellers students master skills share your next 21S ’TRE AGAM, IYLLIEE NNNYY WH BPARGOTOH; PELAY DY TS BNOITARTSULLR IEVOC BNOITARTSULLR TS DY PELAY BPARGOTOH; WH NNNYY IYLLIEE AGAM, ’TRE 21S favourite podcast 6 A ward-winning building Features A look inside the 32 Life story Daphne Cockwell Health 12 H ow Sara Asalya Sciences Complex 17 things we’ve learned creates community The last year has shed light on challenges for newcomers 7 Med school ahead? we cannot ignore. We discovered that we Planning begins for 34 Alumni profiles a Brampton site have the resilience to face a worldwide crisis Sara Yacobi-Harris, and look to the future Mehrnaz Shokrollahi 8 Research on and Christian Allaire COVID-19 testing on their calling Reliable new method can 26 apply to other diseases Navigating the risks 38 Cl ass notes of quantum computing U pdates from alumni 9 Q & A Cybersecurity Research Lab is helping protect Ryerson’s new provost 44 Remember when? brings whole heart and organizations from future threats A g limpse of mind to role By Sharon Aschaiek Toronto’s past Summer 2021 / Ryerson University Magazine 1 FOLLOW US @ryersonu @RyersonU @ryerson_u @ryerson_university Contributors and letter from the editor LETTER FROM JEYAN JEGANATHAN WYNNE NEILLY K.J. AIELLO THE EDITOR Journalism ’13 Image Arts ’12 Writer, Profiles of Peter Chiu, In this issue we Writer, Profile of Sara Photographer, Alumni Rachel Kelly and startup by explore what we’ve learned about Yacobi-Harris (p. 34) Profiles (p. 34 and 36) students Maddy Hearne and surviving constant Jeyan Jeganathan is a host Wynne Neilly is an award- McKenzie Day (p. 18, 19 and 24) change and and field producer for TVO’s winning photographer and K.J. Aiello is a Toronto-based uncertainty, and the Ontario Hubs project and visual artist. His artistic writer whose work has been unequal reality of its flagship current affairs practice, most often, is an published in The Globe and the world, revealed by the pandemic program, The Agenda. He investigation into engaging Mail, Chatelaine, Toronto Life, in such clarity that graduated from Ryerson’s with the queer and trans This Magazine and West End we cannot look journalism program in 2013 identity, both on an individual Phoenix, among others. She away. These stories and lives in Hamilton, Ont. level and relationally within was a moderator at the 41st show the talent, expertise and vision the community. His most Toronto International Festival of alumni, students recent achievement is of Authors. and researchers shooting Elliot Page as the who are ready and first trans man on the cover able to adapt, make change, and create of Time Magazine. (,11 D)OLLEAI BSUIAR HARAS what’s next. —Colleen Mellor Journalism ’86 DID YOU You can download the online magazine at ’ KNOW... ryerson.ca/alumni/news/Ryerson-University-Magazine. BPHARGOTOPH (Y C)ROLLEM MREPHOTSIRH DNOSNA MRYATNEMUCO, AIDE Volume 24, Issue 2, Summer 2021 Ryerson University Magazine is published twice a year for alumni and friends. Reproduction, republication or distribution of content and photographs is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the editor. Vice-President, University Advancement and Alumni Relations Ian Mishkel • Chief of Staff & Executive Director, Communications Michael Forbes • Executive Editor Karen Benner • Editor Colleen Mellor • Associate Editor Michelle Grady• Staff Writers: Surbhi Bir, Lindsey Craig and Jessica Leach • Art Direction & Design Studio Wyse CONTACT Ryerson University Magazine, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, On, Canada M5B 2K3 Phone: 416-979-5000 ext. 5088 • Email: [email protected] • Web: ryerson.ca/alumni/news/Ryerson-University-Magazine/ MEMBER Council of Ontario Universities (COU), Universities Canada, and Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) © 2021 Ryerson University ISSN: 1713-627X • Published June 2021 PUBLICATIONS AGREEMENT NUMBER 40065112 PRIVACY POLICY Ryerson University respects your privacy. 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Please also see www.ryerson.ca/privacy. 2 Ryerson University Magazine / Summer 2021 Support Ryerson students. Visit ryerson.ca/giving What’s next By Mohamed Lachemi for learning? President and Vice-Chancellor THE PANDEMIC BROUGHT with it to succeed means paying attention to We must be mindful, however, that any many challenges to post-secondary developing future skills and competencies changes have the potential to deepen exist- education: providing career counselling to including leadership, team building, cre- ing inequalities. We must recognize that we students entirely online; developing individ- ativity, communication and resilience. have a responsibility to create a more equi- ualized learning programs tailored to stu- These are the tools that will enable Ryerson table, inclusive and diverse higher educa- dents’ abilities and learning styles; and students to innovate and push boundaries, tion sector. using virtual reality to deliver the lab expe- to build better organizations, to strengthen The pandemic has forever changed aspects rience in distance learning. communities, and to participate in city of our lives and communities. Recognizing The truth is, COVID-19 did not force a building and sustainability. the potential and seizing the moment will sharp turn in the evolution of post-second- I believe this evolution will ultimately lead allow us to accelerate change that will ary education; it accelerated trends that to more valuable experiences for our stu- deepen the impact of higher learning and were already in motion. Coping with the dents and will benefit those well beyond the open more widely the doors of opportunity pandemic has meant opportunities to university campus. for all. rethink teaching and learning for more effective, creative and more widely accessi- “Seizing the moment will ble education. allow us to accelerate change that will The centuries-old model of higher educa- deepen the impact tion was being challenged long before the of higher learning.” pandemic. And now the stage is set for a rapid and fundamental shift. Rapid change isn’t easy and comes with hurdles, but the upside for universities and for our students in the long run is huge. In many instances there is no substitute for face-to-face learning and teaching, par- ticularly when it comes to labs and studio work. But online and virtual learning is nat- ural for this generation of students. We know that simply moving lectures online is not best practice, so what will the future of learning look like? Research shows that interactive, self- paced learning is more effective than lectur- TFUR CAM ADY BNOTIATRSULLI ADY CAM TFUR ing, and a hybrid model of learning is defi- nitely in the future. Rather than simply searching for information, students will have more time to problem solve and collab- orate – mirroring real world experiences. What about curriculum? Fundamentals are always vital, however preparing students Summer 2021 / Ryerson University Magazine 3 RU-AlumniWeekAd-8.5x10.875 V11 FINAL.indd 1 2021-04-21 2:25 PM UPDATES FROM OUR CAMPUSgould street / MEDICAL SCHOOL PLANNING / LINCOLN ALEXANDER SCHOOL OF LAW / CAIRO CAMPUS / MEET THE NEW PROVOST / Midwifery student Hannah Cole practises clinical skills during an in-person class last fall. HEALTH CARE WHILE COVID-19 RESTRICTED in-person learning at Ryerson this past year, the OROA. FA KSSYLY AH BPARGOTOHP AH KSSYLY FA OROA. Hybrid learning flourishes Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing and the Midwifery Education Program in the Faculty of Community Services In-person labs and virtual adapted in ways that exemplify the hybrid learning model. This year, faculty hospital help nursing and found ways to safely provide some in-person learning opportunities, while midwifery students master skills getting creative with remote learning. Summer 2021 / Ryerson University Magazine 5 GOULD STREET Planning for a safe return to campus started early for Daria Romaniuk, professor and associate director of the collaborative nursing degree program. She and her team made plans for three different in-person courses that maintained public health guidelines.