Events

Join the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and Indigenous Student Services on September 30 for a virtual event sponsored by Hart House commemorating Orange Shirt Day and the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

This year’s virtual event will feature the award-winning Indigenous author, teacher and poet Lee Maracle. Orange Shirt Day virtual backdrops and profile icons are also available for download.

Other ways to participate

We also invite and encourage all members of the U of T community to use the Orange Shirt Day icon as their profile photo and use the virtual backdrop (available for download here) on Teams or Zoom calls the week of September 27.

Learn more about Orange Shirt Day and the legacy of Canada’s residential school system.

Join us for a talk and Q&A with John Desjarlais (P.Eng., MBA) and Matthew Dunn (P.Eng., M.Sc.) as they discuss the connections between engineering and Indigenous peoples through design and ethics.

John Desjarlais is Nehinaw Métis from Kaministikominahiko-skak. John is the General Manager at Great Plains Contracting and the President-Elect for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS).

Matthew Dunn is Dene and a citizen of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Matthew is the Senior Strategic Officer, Indigenous Engagement at the University of Saskatchewan.

John and Matthew are also the co-Presidents of the Saskatchewan Professional Chapter of the Canadian Indigenous Science and Engineering Society (.caISES).

Read an interview with the panelists in the U of T Engineering News.

Part of the Towards Inclusive Practices Series (TIPS) hosted by the Engineering Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Group.

U of T Engineering alumni, join us for this monthly series.

This special event will showcase some of the innovative and progressive research underway at U of T Engineering.

With professors from different departments sharing their expertise and research, you’ll get a taste of the diversity of our Faculty’s research.

Featured speakers:

Upcycling CO2: Achieving energy storage and addressing persistent emissions with renewable electricity, Professor David Sinton (MIE)

Supporting Student Success: Increasing Access to Inclusive Global Research Experiences, Professor Elham Marzi (ISTEP)

Pi in the Sky: Drone-delivered defibrillators for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Professor Timothy Chan (ISTEP)

Read the abstracts and register for this free and exclusive event.

U of T Engineering alumni, join us for this monthly series.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now a part of the standard physical scientist’s tool kit, and it is regularly used to discover exciting new materials and processes. But AI is famously fickle, susceptible to data set bias and imbalance, subject to information leakage during training, and reliant on humans to evaluate its performance.

Professor Jason Hattrick-Simpers (MSE) discusses best practices for the implementation of AI techniques in the field of materials science, the challenges and successes of his research, and why he believes that robots can help us learn to better trust AI.

Read the abstracts and register for this free and exclusive event.

Honour the experiences of residential school survivors by joining a University-wide event to recognize Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Students, librarians, faculty and staff may register to attend this event in-person or watch the livestream.

The University of Toronto will commemorate this day of recognition with remarks from Kelly Hannah-Moffat, Vice-President, People Strategy, Equity & Culture, and Alexandra Gillespie, Vice-President & Principal, University of Toronto Mississauga, in The Great Hall at Hart House. Andrew Wesley, former Elder-in-Residence at First Nations House, will provide the keynote address: “Twelve Steps to Spiritual Renewal, Healing, and Forgiveness: Reflections on my Residential School Experience.”

Visit the event website to register to attend in person, or watch the livestream on YouTube.

Other ways to participate

Purchase an Orange Shirt Day Shirt:

All members of the University community—and Canadians nationwide—are encouraged to wear an orange shirt on September 30 in the spirit of reconciliation. Doing so affirms that “Every Child Matters.”

The University of Toronto Bookstore, in partnership with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, will have a limited supply of Orange Shirt Day shirts available for purchase.

All proceeds from the sales of the shirts are being directed to Indigenous community organizations—no proceeds will go to the U of T Bookstore or the University of Toronto.

Participate virtually:

We also invite and encourage all U of T community members to use the Orange Shirt Day icon as their profile photo and use the virtual backdrop (available for download below) on Teams or Zoom calls the week of September 26.

Download Orange Shirt Day Teams/Zoom Background (jpg:1.8MB)
Download Orange Shirt Day Team/Zoom Avatar (jpg:159KB)

Learn more about Orange Shirt Day and the legacy of Canada’s residential school system.

Join Professor Elham Marzi (ISTEP) in conversation with U of T Engineering alumnus and entrepreneur Ian Small (EngSci 8T6, MSc CompSci 8T9) as he shares insights and advice gained from over three decades of working in engineering startups and management.

Topics will include how to manage and lead change, how to make challenging organizational decisions, and how to help employees and company culture navigate transitions.

Speaker bio:

Ian Small has spent more than 30 years in Silicon Valley since graduating from the University of Toronto, working in tech companies ranging from three-person startups to 100,000-employee multinationals. He first worked as a software engineer, and spent time in software engineering management and software product management before transitioning into a range of business leadership roles.

Ian currently serves on the boards of Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of lasers and photonic devices) and Snapdocs (a venture-backed startup driving mortgage automation). Ian has worked with a number of Sequoia Capital portfolio companies, including working as CEO of Evernote (personal productivity software), CEO of TokBox (video platform-as-a-service), and a lengthy stint with MarkLogic (NoSQL database). Ian also served as Global Chief Data Officer at Telefónica, following its acquisition of TokBox, served on the advisory board to Loon (a Google X Labs spinout), and started his Silicon Valley career in the Human Interface Group at Apple Computer.

Ian’s experience in Silicon Valley includes fundraising, tech mergers and acquisitions (both as buyer and seller), and tech spinouts. Ian graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science (Computer Science option) and an M.Sc. in Computer Science, and is a holder of more than 10 patents.

Moderator:

Professor Elham Marzi is a Teaching Stream faculty member in the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice (ISTEP). She teaches in areas inclusive of Organizational Behaviour, HRM, Strategy,and Negotiations in the Business Minor Program.

This event will be a moderated fireside chat with audience Q&A.

Register to attend in person or virtually
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | 6-7 PM EST
In-person: HS610, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street
Virtual: Zoom link will be emailed to you after registration

Questions? Please email Professor Elham Marzi at elham.marzi@utoronto.ca.

Honour the experiences of residential school survivors by joining a University-wide event to recognize Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. Students, librarians, faculty members, and staff can register to attend this event in person or watch the live stream.

The University of Toronto will commemorate the day on Friday, September 29th with remarks from Alexandra Gillespie, Vice-President & Principal, University of Toronto Mississauga, and Rose Patten, Chancellor, University of Toronto, in the Great Hall at Hart House. David Kim, Warden, Hart House, will host the commemoration.

Following those remarks, Grant Hurley, Canadiana Librarian, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Mikayla Redden, Information Services & Instruction Librarian, New College Library, and Desmond Wong, Outreach Librarian, OISE Library, will engage in a panel discussion on making Residential School Survivors’ stories accessible at the University of Toronto Libraries. Angela Henshilwood, Head, Engineering & Computer Science Library, is moderating the discussion.

Orange Shirt Day has been observed on September 30th annually for several years. In June 2021, the Federal Government passed legislation formally recognizing September 30th as the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation.

For more information regarding speakers, how to register and more, please visit the Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth & Reconciliation Commemoration event page.

Other ways to participate

Purchase an Orange Shirt Day Shirt

All members of the U of T community are encouraged to wear an orange shirt on September 29-30 in the spirit of reconciliation. Doing so affirms that “Every Child Matters.”

In recognition of Orange Shirt Day 2023 and the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, the Office of Indigenous Initiatives has again partnered with the U of T Bookstore for a limited supply of orange t-shirts.

MJ Singleton, an Ojibwe, two-spirit student from Migisi Sahgaigan First Nation who is studying at the University of Toronto Mississauga, designed this year’s t-shirt. Their design, titled noojimo’iwe, emphasizes the importance of healing the intergenerational trauma of residential schooling by supporting and loving those around you. The design depicts three children holding hands, with flowers blooming around them.

All proceeds from the sale of these shirts will be directed to Indigenous community organizations—no proceeds will go to the U of T Bookstore or the University of Toronto.

Visit this site to purchase a shirt or learn more about MJ Singleton’s design.

Participate Virtually in Orange Shirt Day

We also encourage all U of T community members to download and use the Orange Shirt Day icon as their profile photo and use the virtual background on Teams or Zoom calls the week of September 25-30 featuring MJ Singleton’s design.

Visit this site to download the icon or virtual background.

Learn more about Orange Shirt Day and the legacy of Canada’s residential school system.