Year in review: top stories from 2013
Published: December 20, 2013
It’s been a big year for U of T as students, researchers, alumni – and even a new university president – continued to make headlines around the world.
Here at U of T News, we were pleased to feature some of the best and most exciting stories about these extraordinary people and how their influence is being felt in the city, province, country and beyond.
What follows is a round-up of U of T’s biggest stories from 2013.
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10. Social media thrives
U of T's life on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram resulted in lots of great engagement with future students, current students and more. In fact, there were so many great moments that we've pulled together a separate feature on U of T social media:
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9. U of T in the media
The achievements of U of T's remarkable students and researchers attracted media attention around the world. Here are just a few of our favourite clippings.
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8. Music composition alumni Mychael Danna wins Oscar, Golden Globe
Hollywood bestowed its top honours on U of T alumnus Mychael Danna, who composed the multiple award-winning score for Life of Pi. Click through to the stories below to listen to music from the Oscar-winning soundtrack.
Later in the year, current U of T master of music student Roydon Tse won the 2014 Canadian Music Centre Prairies’ Emerging Composers Competition. His winning piece will be performed alongside a composition by Danna at a Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concert in January.
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7. Celebrating a new cohort of grads
With another Convocation season came another opportunity to celebrate the achievements of more than 12,500 students receiving their degrees. U of T News covered a wide range of their stories through features, social media and even interactive maps.
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6. Headline-grabbing research
U of T is a research powerhouse so it’s no surprise that 2013 was filled with breakthroughs of all kinds, including: a human-powered helicopter; the discovery that just 20 minutes of walking can help prevent depression; the discovery of a new and deadly greenhouse gas; a new cause of autism; an invisibility cloak and answers to why lonely people end up in bad relationships. Add in a U of T-co-researched project being named “Breakthrough of the Year” by Physics World and you’ll see why the year's top research stories merited their very own article.
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5. Shining a light on U of T’s entrepreneurs
The past year saw researchers and innovative dreamers from the University of Toronto launch their startups in a big way. The world took notice when a group of alumni launched the world’s most energy-efficient lightbulb; when grads created a tiny, smarter smartphone keyboard after raising 837 per cent of their funding on Kickstarter; when Google acquired a neural networks company co-founded by one of U of T’s most revered researchers and professors, Geoffrey Hinton, and more.
In fact, so many great companies are spinning out of the work of University of Toronto entrepreneurs that U of T News launched a new series profiling their stories.
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4. U of T as city-builder in Toronto
The university’s role as generator of urban innovation, policy and expertise in the city was realized in a wide variety of ways in 2013. Engineering graduate Samah El-Tantawy’s plans for smarter traffic lights in cities around the world resulted in international news headlines and, back in Toronto, plans for transforming one of the city's most iconic buildings with a dramatic new look were already taking shape. U of T experts weighed in on the development of policy, reflections on the city's history and strategies for its future.
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3. U of T tops global rankings for overall performance, employability, scientific performance, libraries
International evaluations once again recognized the calibre of students and faculty at U of T with top rankings in a wide variety of areas ranging from student employability to scientific research, great libraries and overall university quality.
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2. Three U of T Rhodes Scholars set off for Oxford, two more announced for 2014
Celebration of U of T’s three Rhodes Scholars for 2013 – Joanne Cave, Connor Emdin and Ayodele Odutayo – continued as former University of Toronto president David Naylor, who completed his D.Phil. at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, moderated a panel discussion with the students, asking where they see themselves in 10 or 15 years.
And within a weeks of those scholars starting their studies at Oxford, two new U of T Rhodes Scholars were announced for 2014, alumnae Aliyyah Ahad and Chloe Walker.
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1. Meric Gertler becomes 16th University of Toronto president
On November 7, renowned urban scholar and U of T’s former dean of Arts and Science, Meric Gertler, was installed as the University of Toronto’s 16th president. In his first official speech, Gertler highlighted three strategies he will work to feature throughout his term: the importance of leveraging U of T’s location, international collaborations and reinvention of the undergraduate experience.
And in his first few weeks on the job, President Gertler was already on a plane to China where he met with leaders from partner universities, U of T alumni, research collaborators and friends.
His trip gave U of T News a great opportunity to highlight just a few of the many great research collaborations between U of T and partner universities in China.
