Randy Boyagoda

How St. Michael's College helps first-year U of T students find their footing

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 21:34:27 +0000

How St. Michael's College helps first-year U of T students find their footing

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 01/31/2020 - 16:34

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A new "check-in" program at St. Michael's College matches first-year students with professors to chat about making the adjustment to university life (photo courtesy of St. Michael's College)

Catherine Mulroney

Topic

Our Community

Student Experience

Health & Wellness Centre

Centre for International Experience

Faculty of Arts & Science

Mathematics

Mental Health

Randy Boyagoda

St. Michael's College

Undergraduate Students

Randy Boyagoda, the principal of the University of Toronto’s University of St. Michael's College, is happy to give credit for the college’s new first-term check-in program where it’s due: the students themselves.

The program, which matches first-year students with professors to chat about adjusting to university life, is the result of an idea brought forward by St. Mike’s student union.

Boyagoda says he was pleased when a group of students approached him last spring to ask what St. Mike’s was doing to promote mental health.

“A delegation from the Student Life committee met with me and wanted to know what was being done locally,” he recalls. “They asked what St. Mike’s could do to respond. The challenge came from students.”

In ensuing discussions about what causes students worry or distress, one of the issues that came to light was students’ anxiety over meeting with professors – an experience that is pretty much unavoidable over the course of four years of a post-secondary education.

“Students were telling us they felt intimidated. Our goal was to humanize the relationship,“ Boyagoda says.

Working to overcome that challenge seemed like a good – and feasible – first step so the first-year check-in idea took root with the goal of normalizing professor-student meetings.

A quick survey of professors – both at St. Mike’s as well as fellows associated with the college – indicated a willingness to help and the program was launched successfully this past fall, according to Boyagoda. He adds that U of T has taken notice of the program and is considering broader applications.

“This program is not about course advising. It is totally voluntary and student-centred,” he says.

First-year student Lisa-marie Lofty took advantage of the new program, and says she found the opportunity to chat with Felan Parker (left), an assistant professor of book and media studies, helpful as she adjusted to life at St. Mike’s.

“We met early in the semester as I was still thinking about courses and we had a friendly conversation about things to consider as the year went on,” Lofty recalled.

As someone who had attended boarding school four hours outside of Nairobi and was drawn to U of T in part because of the appeal of a big city, Lofty says it was nice to have another friendly face to relate to, especially as Parker told her a bit about his own experiences as a student.

St. Mike’s fellow Mary Pugh, a professor in U of T's department of mathmatics, also participated in the program after a student contacted her. She says the main message she conveyed was that the student could contact her at any time.

The program “gives students access to a disinterested/non-judgmental person who’s well-familiar with the Faculty of Arts & Science and its classes and programs – someone who can treat them like a human and offer support/advice if needed,” Pugh says.

As helpful as the program is proving to be for students, it is also proving to be educational for professors as well.

“Because I usually teach upper-year courses, I haven’t had much interaction with first-year students,” says Parker. “Contrary to popular myth, I’ve found that they are the opposite of entitled, frequently apologizing for asking for help and uncertain of what kind of support is available. My hope is that the first-year check-ins, along with other initiatives like the first-year foundations seminars, will help show students that we are here to help.”

Social worker Nicole LeBlanc (left), St. Mike’s in-house wellness counsellor, says first-year students can experience anxiety for a number of reasons. Everything from worry over marks and making friends through to loneliness and being far from home can make students feel anxious or depressed – or both.

“Students face a lot of pressure these days, whether it’s competition to get into graduate programs or wanting to please parents, or worrying over expenses. Add in relational issues – the rules of engagement over dating and friendships, for example – and it can be very challenging,” she says. “Many students are going from being a big fish in a little pond to a little fish in a very big pond, no longer having the top marks or profile they might have had in high school. It’s a shock to the system.

“Be open and honest,” she says when asked what others can do to help. “Tell the person that you notice a change, and let them know that you care. You can suggest counselling or a doctor. Destigmatizing mental illness is very important.”

LeBlanc offers one-on-one counselling for St. Michael’s students and notes that all it takes is an email or call to set up an initial appointment with her. She finds that a significant part of her role is letting students know what services are available, whether it’s academic help via the writing centre or learning strategist, social support from places like the Centre for International Experience, a referral to U of T’s Health & Wellness Centre for medical issues, or friendly encouragement to take advantage of on-campus activities offered through St. Mike’s Student Life.

This is U of T: Randy Boyagoda talks about multiculturalism in literature and his novel Original Prin

Romi Levine — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 20:03:23 +0000

This is U of T: Randy Boyagoda talks about multiculturalism in literature and his novel Original Prin

Romi Levine Tue, 01/22/2019 - 15:03

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Randy Boyagoda, English professor and principal and vice-president of U of T’s University of St. Michael’s College (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

University of St. Michael's College

As a writer, Randy Boyagoda is curious about what it means to find sources of humanity in unexpected places. It's a narrative he weaves into many of the stories he writes – and most recently in his third novel, Original Prin.

The book follows Princely "Prin" St. John Umbiligoda, a Sri Lankan-Canadian professor at a Catholic College in Toronto, who is simultaneously grappling with work and family life, religion and illness.

While there are many parallels between the lives of Umbiligoda and Boyagoda, the English professor and principal and vice-president of U of T’s University of St. Michael’s College, says Original Prin is not a thinly veiled autobiography, but adds, "I could inhabit the world he’s in.”

Watch Boyagoda speak about his new novel, what multicultural Canadian writing looks like, and – with his busy schedule – when he finds time to put pen to paper.

Salman Rushdie at U of T: celebrating freedom of expression, power of fiction

Romi Levine — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 16:32:15 +0000

Salman Rushdie at U of T: celebrating freedom of expression, power of fiction

Romi Levine Wed, 04/05/2017 - 12:32

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Award-winning novelist Salman Rushdie spoke to a crowd of U of T students, staff and faculty at St. Michael's Brennan Hall (photo by Sheila Eaton/University of St. Michael’s College)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

English

St. Michael's College

Twenty five years ago, award-winning novelist Salman Rushdie made an appearance at an event hosted by PEN Canada – an organization that seeks to protect writers from oppression around the world and advocates for freedom of expression.

The 1992 event was Rushdie’s first public appearance after Iran’s then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa – calling for his death – for his novel, The Satanic Verses. Alumnus Bob Rae, premier of Ontario at the time, appeared with Rushdie at the event, becoming the first Western leader to publicly show support for Rushdie.

Last week, Rushdie returned to Toronto for a PEN Canada event. While in town, he visited the University of Toronto to speak with students, staff and faculty at the University of St. Michael’s College.

Bob Rae affectionately throws his support behind Salman Rushdie in 1992 (photo by Jean-Marc Desrochers Photography, courtesy of PEN Canada)

Rushdie took the opportunity to read an excerpt from his soon-to-be-released novel, The Golden House, which takes on American life in the age of Barack Obama in the lead up to Donald Trump’s election win.

It’s an interesting time to be a fiction writer, said Rushdie, when – especially in the United States – truth has become stranger than fiction.

“When the world is so full of lies, what business does one have making things up?” Rushdie asked the audience at St. Michael’s Brennan Hall.

While fact usually exists in a realm separate to fiction, it has entered murky territory, said Rushdie.

“The relationship between fiction and lies is distant. Whereas in the real world, the relationship between truth and lies is very important,” he said. “I do think we live in a time that's very complicated because of the attack on truth that has taken place.”

A lot has changed in 25 years for writers, said Randy Boyagoda, principal and vice-president of St. Michael’s and PEN Canada president.

“The big change would be that writers who are imperiled today aren't writers you or I have heard of,” he said. “They tend to be people writing blogs in repressive regimes all over the world rather than prominent, global literary stars like Salman Rushdie.”

The real challenge today is trying to aid writers who aren’t in the public view, said Boyagoda.

Regardless, fiction writers from high-profile novelists to local bloggers need to be protected, he said.

“It is literature, the stories we tell about ourselves and our world in fuller form, that has the most lasting effect,” said Boyagoda. “So providing a space for those sorts of voices to keep telling those stories will always be important.”

From left to right, Randy Boyagoda, Salman Rushdie, and President and Vice-Chancellor of St. Michael’s David Mulroney (photo by Sheila Eaton)

Throughout its history, U of T has played an important role in providing a safe space for writers. In recent years, the Massey College/University of Toronto scholars-at-risk program has sheltered such writers as Reza Baraheni and Martha Kumsa. And, in the late 1960s, writer Josef Škvorecký, fled to Canada from Czechoslovakia during the Soviet invasion. While teaching at U of T, he founded a publishing company, providing a platform for dissident Czech writers. His novels have won a number of awards, and he was nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature in 1982.

Škvorecký’s time at U of T highlights the crucial role universities play in encouraging and promoting freedom of expression, said Boyagoda.

“We live in a divisive, shout-filled world,” he said. “Literature takes a longer view and universities should let you take a longer and a fuller view.”

U of T regularly brings in well-known authors such as Rushdie for special events. It also hires award-winning writers to teach and mentor students. At University College, this year's Barker Fairley Distinguished Visitor in Canadian Studies, renowned author André Alexis, follows such authors as Miriam Toews, Shyam Selvadurai, and Anne Michaels.

Boyagoda is also an award-winning novelist, and the writer who interviewed Rushdie at the U of T event was Ato Quayson, a University Professor and director of the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at U of T.

“Students who are studying literature at a university like ours appreciate a sense of continuity,” said Boyagoda. “Having contemporary, active, working writers contribute to the work of the University of Toronto is really an important demonstration of continuity between the greatness of the past and the vitality of the present – and the future promise.”

Randy Boyagoda

How St. Michael's College helps first-year U of T students find their footing

This is U of T: Randy Boyagoda talks about multiculturalism in literature and his novel Original Prin

Read more on Boyagoda and Original Prin

Salman Rushdie at U of T: celebrating freedom of expression, power of fiction