Joe Howell

Noah Rudder was rehearsing for a starring role as the detective Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express at the University of Toronto’s Hart House Theatre when he received the momentous news: he had just become a Rhodes Scholar.

The world’s oldest graduate fellowship, the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship enables recipients to pursue fully-funded graduate studies at the University of Oxford.

It is awarded following a rigorous global selection process.

“I was so grateful – I feel at home in the theatre, and there’s no better place for me to have taken that call,” says Rudder, a student at Victoria College who’s completing the peace, conflict and justice program at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science alongside a major in drama at the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies.

Rudder is one of two U of T students to be named a 2025 Rhodes Scholar this year. He is joined by Amy Mann, a fellow Victoria College student who’s pursuing a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and statistics.

Mann says she’s looking forward to continuing her research in mathematical biology at Oxford.

“I want to keep studying math and seeing how we can apply it to these big problems – like considering social factors of disease transmission to improve intervention strategies,” says Mann, who is the president of the U of T Mathematics Union.

The pair are among 11 Canadian students who will head to Oxford next fall, joining more than 100 young scholars from around the world.

“On behalf of the entire U of T community, I would like to congratulate Noah Rudder and Amy Mann on this tremendous achievement,” said U of T President Meric Gertler.

“We wish them continued success in their scholarship and look forward to hearing about their accomplishments in the years to come.”

Rhonda McEwen, president and vice-chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto, said she was “over the moon” for Rudder and Mann. “It is a true privilege to interact with this caliber of young person,” McEwen said.

Rudder, who hails from Ajax, Ont., hopes to combine his interests in social justice and the arts by pursuing master of public policy and a master of fine arts degrees at Oxford.

The president of the Peace, Conflict and Justice Society, Rudder was instrumental in Victoria University’s signing of the Scarborough Charter, a commitment by institutions across Canada to combat anti-Black racism and foster Black inclusion in higher education. “Working with Vic’s Office of the President on the Scarborough Charter inspired me to contribute to an area that I can make an impact,” he says. “I think there are a lot of opportunities to push for spaces for Black individuals at the highest level of education.”

He has also conducted research with the World Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist, focusing on knowledge generation in African countries before 2009 – and has written for and performed in the Toronto Fringe Festival and various U of T productions.

Mann, meanwhile, is passionate about leveraging math and science to address pressing global challenges.

In 2021, she co-authored a paper, published in the journal Atmosphere-Ocean, that examined the reduction in occurrences of cold weather in the Canadian Arctic. She’s now focused on the intersection of climate change and public health. Her current research project seeks to create climate-dependent models of malaria transmission in Cameroon.

She has been involved in sustainability and other causes. At Victoria College, she served as the sustainability commissioner on the Students’ Administrative Council and a student member of the Board of Regents. She also co-founded the student community garden and volunteers at The Common Table, a drop-in program that supports individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty.

“Congratulations to Amy and Noah, both from Victoria College, on being named Rhodes Scholars,” said Antoinette Handley, acting dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science and professor in the department of political science. “Their academic achievements and commitment to leadership and civic engagement are a testament to their hard work and vision.

“We’re incredibly proud to have them represent both Victoria College and the Faculty of Arts & Science at Oxford, and we look forward to the many ways they’ll continue to make a difference.”

McEwen, meanwhile, said Rudder and Mann exemplify the potential that U of T’s younger generation of budding scholars hold in tackling important challenges.

“Both students share a passion for people and embody the multidisciplinary approach needed to address the ‘wicked problems’ of the world – complex issues requiring insights from multiple disciplines,” McEwen said.

“They are curious but compassionate people who will challenge existing frameworks for a better tomorrow. When you meet either of them, you understand that you are with someone who is going to continue to do amazing things.”

Canada Post stamp honours the late Norman Jewison, one of the country's most celebrated filmmakers

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 13:00:56 +0000

Canada Post stamp honours the late Norman Jewison, one of the country's most celebrated filmmakers

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 08/27/2024 - 09:00

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(source photo by Peter Bregg for HELLO! Canada)

Joe Howell

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Alumni

Faculty of Arts & Science

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A U of T alumnus, Jewison served as chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto from 2004 to 2010

Canada Post recently honoured acclaimed Canadian filmmaker – and University of Toronto alumnus – Norman Jewison with the recent release of a commemorative stamp.

Jewison, who died in January at age 97, was one of Victoria College’s most distinguished graduates. He was nominated for best director three times at the Academy Awards: for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Moonstruck (1987).

He also served as chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto from 2004 to 2010, with the Jewison stream of Vic One, the award-winning first-year program at Victoria College, named in his honour.

“As Canadian as maple syrup, as Canadian as a Prairie sunset, and now we have as Canadian as Norman Jewison on a stamp – which may be the winning entry,” said comedian Rick Mercer during an unveiling event on July 24.

The event was hosted by the hosted at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC), which was established by Jewison in 1988 and serves as an incubator for Canadian film talent.

Mercer, who was joined at the launch by director and U of T alumnus David Cronenberg, later told CBC News that Jewison was a “class act” who “believed in young people.”

Cronenberg, meanwhile, told the audience that, “When saying goodbye, [Jewison] would always say ‘stay strong,’ because he knew how much strength you needed to do what we did.”

Paul Gooch, a professor emeritus of philosophy who was president of Victoria University during Jewison’s time as chancellor, was among the attendees at the unveiling.

“It was quite joyful because Norman was such a wonderful guy and people wanted to tell stories about his life,” said Gooch. “All of the speakers referred to the fact that he was a storyteller and didn’t want to preach, despite being very concerned about social justice issues.

“He was great on human follies and the prejudices that we have.”

Gooch recalled Jewison’s remarkable support of young people. “As chancellor, he loved to interact with the students,” said Gooch. “He had something he did occasionally called ‘chat with the chanc,’ where he would have a group of students over to his place on Gloucester Lane and just sit around talking.”

Professor Emerita Pauline Thompson and Professor Emeritus Paul Gooch (supplied image)

Jewison is the fourth Victoria College graduate to be recognized with a stamp by Canada’s postal service in recent years, joining Margaret Atwood, Northrop Frye and Donald Sutherland. He was closely involved with the stamp’s creation and personally chose the image, which was taken at the CFC in 2007 by Peter Bregg for HELLO! Canada.

“After the photo appeared in Hello!, Norm called me up and asked if he could use it elsewhere,” said Bregg. “I said, ‘Yes,’ with pleasure. For three or four years after that he’d send me a litre of maple syrup from his farm as a thank you, which I found quite sweet, no pun intended. I’ve seen the photo everywhere since then.”

“Because the launch event was held at the CFC, the post office had the idea to let people recreate the original photo,” added Bregg. “You got a five-by-seven-inch print of yourself in Norm’s seat taken from the same angle.”

Jewison’s commemorative stamp is now available online and at Canada Post locations across the country.

Tributes pour in for Hollywood legend – and U of T alumnus – Donald Sutherland

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:03:35 +0000

Tributes pour in for Hollywood legend – and U of T alumnus – Donald Sutherland

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 06/25/2024 - 15:03

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Alumnus, honorary degree recipient and iconic film actor Donald Sutherland (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

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Victoria College

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“Few actors were in as many artistically significant films all through their lives, decade after decade, or were as integral to the medium’s success and longevity”

Donald Sutherland’s recent death has sparked a global outpouring of tributes remembering the actor as a shape-shifting performer whose range spanned roles in M*A*S*H, the Hunger Games, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Six Degrees of Separation.

The University of Toronto alumnus’s son, Kiefer Sutherland, announced the news in an Instagram post last week.

“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film,” the younger Sutherland wrote.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kiefer Sutherland (@kiefersutherland)

Critic Matt Zoller Seitz concurred with this assessment in an article for Vulture, the pop culture arm of New York Magazine: “Few actors were in as many artistically significant films all through their lives, decade after decade, or were as integral to the medium’s success and longevity.”

The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail and CBC were among the other news outlets around the world that published tributes to Sutherland as a stalwart onscreen presence.

Donald Sutherland seen in his 1958 graduation photo (photo from Torontonensis)

Before he became a silver-haired icon of the silver screen, Sutherland honed his acting skills at U of T, where he graduated from Victoria College in 1958, laying the foundation for a prolific Hollywood career.

Born in Saint John, N.B., on July 17, 1935, Sutherland first became enchanted with performing after seeing a magic show in a church when he was 10. By age 14, he was a part-time DJ on CKBW-FM, a local radio station in Bridgewater, N.S.

Yet, his father urged him to pursue a steady vocation – so he enrolled in U of T’s engineering program. Sutherland chose U of T “because of its well-known reputation, as well as its remarkable theatre program,” wrote Tiffany Leung for the U of T History Society in 2016.

Though he had apparently never seen a theatre play prior to enrolling at Victoria College, Sutherland would prove to be a natural. He became a member of the UC Follies comedy troupe and received excellent reviews from both the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail for his role as Stephano in a Hart House production of The Tempest.

Sutherland later said of Hart House Theatre: “It’s a theatre with arms that embrace you, comfort you, push you, applaud you. It gives birth to people who make theatre. It nurtures them. It guides them. It sets them free and they wear the mantle of that theatre for the rest of their lives.”

Donald Sutherland, centre, performs in The Tempest (photo courtesy of U of T Archives)

He went on to win best actor at the Inter-Varsity Drama Festival for his role in a 1958 Victoria University production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit; the win coincided with his completion of a dual degree in engineering and drama. Buoyed by his success on stage at U of T, he travelled across the Atlantic to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

His big break came in 1967 when he was cast as a last-minute replacement in the war film the Dirty Dozen, according to IMDB. Sutherland’s extraordinary career on stage and in television and movies would go on to span seven decades and more than 190 acting credits.

His accolades included a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globes, an Honorary Oscar Award, induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame and being named a companion of the Order of Canada. He received an honorary doctorate from U of T in 1998 in recognition of his acting and his championing of social issues.

Sutherland maintained ties with his alma mater throughout his life, including lending his voice to a 2019 U of T recruitment video.

Steffen Reinhart, assistant director of recruitment and admissions communications, recalls thinking Sutherland would be “out of reach” – but says he agreed and recorded the audio remotely.

“It was a mainstay in our recruitment work for many years, with many students doing a double take when they realized they were hearing President Snow [from the Hunger Games] tell them about all the opportunities at U of T,” Reinhart says.

News of Sutherland’s passing was met with a deluge of tributes from members of the U of T community.

Canadian literary luminary Margaret Atwood, whose time at Victoria College overlapped with Sutherland’s, mourned his passing on X. “He went to Vic in Toronto. He was a great actor even then,” she posted.

(L-R) Donald Sutherland, Hal Jackman and Norman Jewison at U of T convocation in 1998 (photo by Lisa Sakulensky and Steve Frost courtesy of Victoria University Library, U of T)

Wendy Cecil was chair of U of T’s Governing Council when Sutherland earned his honorary degree in 1998.

“When he received his honorary doctorate, every woman wanted their picture taken with him,” she said. “I’ve always remembered how he started his speech. He took the podium and shouted, ‘If you smoke, stop now!’

“He was a compelling orator and made an impression on everybody there.”

Anne Tait, who also overlapped with Sutherland at Vic, said she had the pleasure of working with him professionally later in life. She also recalled Sutherland performing at The Alumnae Theatre, a company founded by female U of T graduates in 1918.

“Donald was in A Dream Play by August Strindberg when we produced it at our Coach House on Huntley Street,” she said. “To play the ‘voice from heaven,’ Donald had to get into to the apartment above the stage and speak through its heating vent to the audience below.

“Truly a voice from above.”

– With files from Adina Bresge

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Joe Howell

Joe Howell

Changemakers: U of T students awarded prestigious Rhodes Scholarships

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Canada Post stamp honours the late Norman Jewison, one of the country's most celebrated filmmakers

Tributes pour in for Hollywood legend – and U of T alumnus – Donald Sutherland