Clubs

There’s always more to discover at the University of Toronto – whether you’re setting foot on one of its three campuses for the first time or have been here for years.

With its diverse opportunities, expansive resources and vibrant community, there are nearly endless ways for students to make the most of their time at one of the world’s top universities.

The following list, though by no means exhaustive, is meant to serve as a starting point for those who are looking for tips on everything from answering basic questions to finding their community – and even starting their own company.

Navigating campus life

Need help finding your way around? U of T’s tri-campus map tool is a great resource when it comes to figuring out where to go – and don’t forget that most lectures start 10 minutes after the hour to make sure students have time to get where they need to be.

“Where do I get a…?”

U of T's ASKMe Anything ambassadors aim to build a warm and welcoming community for students on all three campuses (photo by David Lee)

Starting out at U of T can be both exciting and a bit overwhelming – and many students have a lot of questions.

“How do I find out about orientation events and activities?”

“What is a TCard and where do I get it?”

“How much time is there to walk from class to class?”

Fortunately, U of T’s ASKme Anything booths and ambassadors are here to help. The initiative is all about building a warm and welcoming community for students on all three campuses.

ASKme Anything booths will be operating on the St. George campus from Aug. 19 to Sept. 9 on weekdays, plus Saturday, Aug. 24 and Sunday, Aug. 25. They will be conveniently located at the campus gate at King’s College Road and College Street, at St. George and Ursula Franklin Streets and near Sidney Smith Hall at St. George and Willcocks Streets.

At U of T Mississauga, students are encouraged to visit the Hub Hello Desk in the Student Services Hub to have their questions answered and to connect with student services on campus. The desk is open from 9:30 to 5 p.m.

At U of T Scarborough, ASKme Anything booths will be set up in Scarborough Circle, the lobby of the Sam Ibrahim Building, the front vestibule of the Instructional Centre and in the Bladen Wing hallway just outside of Tim Horton's from Sept. 3 to Sept. 14.

There are also welcome booths at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Terminals 1 and 3.

Finding your community

Students attend Clubs Day at the U of T Mississauga campus (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Diving into university life by joining a club provides the opportunity to learn new things, connect with others and enrich the student experience. From sports and the arts to social causes, there are hundreds of community-oriented clubs and student groups across the three campuses – meaning there’s literally something for everyone.

Interested students should check out the Clubs Carnival on Aug. 30 at King’s College Circle on Front Campus. At U of T Mississauga, students are invited to the Student Groups Fair to find out more information on clubs on Sept. 5 and 6 outside the Communication, Culture and Technology Building.

U of T Scarborough students will get to explore groups and clubs on campus on Sept. 23 at the UTSC Clubs Fair. The location of the event has yet to be determined.

The Student Organization Portal is a great resource to discover campus groups and includes information on what each group does and how to go about joining it.

Explore U of T’s thriving startup scene

Exhibitors gather at the True Blue Expo during U of T Entrepreneurship Week

U of T Entrepreneurship (UTE) is hosting AcceleratorFest on Sept. 18 from 12 to 6 p.m. at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

The event offers an opportunity for aspiring and established entrepreneurs – as well as those who are merely curious about what it takes to effectively create your own job while attending university – to explore the many resources, spaces and programs available to them across U of T’s tri-campus network.

There will be representatives from more than a dozen campus accelerators, founders who turned their ideas into impactful businesses and a tour of ONRamp, UTE’s co-working and community spaced housed inside the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

Stay in the know with UTogether and connect with U of T on social media

There are many ways to connect with the U of T community and stay in the loop for events happening across the three campuses.

The UTogether web page is a hub of information and helps connect students, faculty members, staff and librarians with important resources – such as health and wellness supports – as well as news and messages from U of T leadership.

The social media directory is useful for those looking to find and connect with the various university accounts on social media. Use keywords and filters to search or browse the listings. Below are the quick links to the main social media accounts on each campus.

On Instagram

On TikTok

First day of classes (now the same across all three campuses)

Students on the first day of classes at the U of T Scarborough campus (photo by Ruilin Yuan)

So when does the fall term actually begin? For the first time, students on the St. George campus, U of T Scarborough and U of T Mississauga will begin on the same day: Sept. 3.

The alignment follows a review that recommended standardizing critical dates such as the start and end of classes, exam periods, reading weeks and fee deadlines across the three campuses.

The new, more co-ordinated approach is expected to provide a more streamlined and predictable academic experience for the university community.

First signs of spring: U of T beekeepers unwrap their hives

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:13:03 +0000

First signs of spring: U of T beekeepers unwrap their hives geoff.vendeville Fri, 04/21/2017 - 12:13

Geoffrey Vendeville

Author legacy

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Subheadline

U of T student beekeepers do it for the love of bees, not just the honey, says the club's co-president

Students cramming for finals aren't the only busy bees on campus.

A few storeys above the Trinity College quad, hives cared for by the student-run U of T Beekeeping Education Enthusiast Society are already humming with activity – a sure sign of spring.

On a sunny April day, Laura Curran, co-president of U of T BEES, and fellow club member Tineke Kruytbosch climbed two flights of stairs and a narrow ladder to access the roof and check on their Italian honeybees for the first time since the winter, when the bees went into a semi-slumber.

Curran was a tad nervous. Last fall, hives on top of the ivy-covered Faculty Club on Wilcocks Street fell prey to American foulbrood, an incurable and highly contagious disease, which in Curran's words “turns the brood to soup and destroys the hive.”

Read about U of T BEES in Metro

“You think you're going to be stung because that's what you're told your whole life – bees sting. Right?” she said. “But once you realize you're really safe in the bee suit, it's actually really nice to just observe them. It's meditative.”

The students gently removed the cozies and used a bee smoker – a small, metalic device with hand-held bellows – to pump smoke into the hives in order to calm the colony before peeking inside.

Curran and Kruytbosch smoke the bees to calm them down (photo by Lisa Lightbourn)

Two of the three hives were alive and well, but one didn't last through winter – probably because it didn't get enough sun, Curran guessed. The students are planning to transplant a “nuc” colony, which is short for “nucleus,” to replace the dead colony.

In the fall, the students will gather honey from the hives if there is a surplus. But more often than not, they leave the honey for the bees so that they can sustain themselves over the winter.

“We don't care about the honey production so much,” Curran said. “The club is for promoting pollination and trying to help the bees survive a little better.”

Scott MacIvor, an assistant professor of urban ecology at U of T Scarborough, says one of the best ways to help bees is by becoming a gardener.

“Honeybees are domesticated like cows and sheep, and compete with wild native bees for food,” he said. “Cities are increasingly shown to be hotspots for wild native bees (more than 300 species in the GTA, 92 per cent are native), and so encouraging hobby beekeeping might have a negative impact.

“On the other hand, honeybees can be a ‘gateway’ bee to finding out about the needs of all bees and other pollinators. Participating in clubs where groups share responsibilities and learn is far better than individuals each having their own hive(s),” he added.

Read a Q & A with MacIvor on wild bees

Professor Sandy Smith, an entomologist in the Faculty of Forestry and the BEES's academic point person, says the club gives students in Canada's largest city a rare chance to get in touch with nature.

“It's always good if we pay attention to the natural world, and honeybees do that for city dwellers,” she said.

Apart from the U of T BEES's hives, there are also colonies in the U of T Skygarden, a volunteer-run green rooftop at the Earth Sciences building, and at U of T Scarborough, Smith said.

Like the bees, the students in the beekeeping club also learn to work together. They organize hive tours in the summer and give workshops teaching people to make candles out of beeswax.

“I see them take on a sense of nurturing, looking after things, and that's a very rewarding and satisfying experience,” Smith said.

#UofTBTS16: Back to School wraps up at U of T

ullahnor — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 17:42:42 +0000

#UofTBTS16: Back to School wraps up at U of T

ullahnor Fri, 09/16/2016 - 13:42

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Author legacy

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Topic

U of T has been abuzz with excitement for the past three weeks as Back to School orientations, frosh week, a carnival, the first day of classes and student club fairs welcomed new and returning students to all three campuses.

Back to School has been all about exploring your campus – downtown Toronto, U of T Scarborough or U of T Mississauga – looking for opportunities to expand your horizon and making the most of your time here.

President Meric Gertler kicked off the new school year by offering frosh at a University College orientation a solid piece of advice: “At U of T and here in Toronto, the world is truly your oyster so take full advantage of it,” he said.

Second-year students Hilary Naluz, McKayla Malcolm and Glyn Narca say they're going to do just that. Naluz wants to try out for theatre this year. Malcolm wants to join a sports team. And Narca wants to become more active in student groups.

“Since I’m an equity major, I want to focus on activism,” she said. “In my first year, there was a lot of anxiety. This year after my first week, I realized I’m not doing that this year. I want to get more involved.”

This year's incoming class, the Class of 2020 includes an aspiring filmmaker, an environmental activist, a musician who loves math and a student who has already been recognized for his stellar research.

Read about the chance meeting

On the downtown Toronto campus, students operating the ASKme booths offered advice on everything from where to nap, to favourite places to eat and secret spots when you just want to get away. All you had to do was stop and ask.

Watch U of T News asking two ASKme students some serious questions

As for new things to try: this year the campus has new food offerings. Check out Chef Jaco Lokker’s latest creation – Sambal at the Medical Sciences building and Sid Smith. Some students may also get classrooms newly retrofitted with comfy wider seats and nearby electrical outlets. The university is looking to add more of those in the coming years.

Read story about new food offerings at U of T

Read story about newly refurbished classrooms

Back to School is also about making friends. And what better way for new students to meet other new students than through frosh week. The Mississauga and Scarborough campuses had their own orientation for students as did downtown Toronto's U of T colleges and faculties.

Students wanting to get more involved this year – something many didn’t think about in first year – learned about all the offering at clubs week and this week’s street festival.

And now that Back to School is over, the work begins.

Narca, the equity major, says she's happy with the courses she chose this year, especially an intro course on black history and current issues.

"I'm looking forward to my classes," she said.

Sean Abtahi, a third-year undergrad majoring in biochemistry and physics, said he spent the first week of classes, trying to stay ahead of his readings and prepping for lab work.

"In my first and second year, I was kind of behind on the readings in the first and second week," he said. "This year, I want to get on that and get a head-start on my problem sets. I don't want to leave it to the last minute."

The aspiring medical student says he's also getting involved in academic life. This year, he'll be working with other students to improve their study skills as a peer mentor at the Academic Centre.

"It's my first time doing a work study," he said. "I'll be helping other students."

Clubs

Back-to-school 2024: 6 things every U of T student should know

Navigating campus life

“Where do I get a…?”

Finding your community

Explore U of T’s thriving startup scene

Stay in the know with UTogether and connect with U of T on social media

On Instagram

On X/Twitter

On Facebook

On YouTube

First day of classes (now the same across all three campuses)

First signs of spring: U of T beekeepers unwrap their hives

Read more about U of T BEES in the Toronto Star

Read about U of T BEES in Metro

Read a Q & A with MacIvor on wild bees

#UofTBTS16: Back to School wraps up at U of T

Read more about four students in the Class of 2020, who are recipients of U of T’s National Scholarship

Read about the chance meeting

Read story about new food offerings at U of T

Read story about newly refurbished classrooms