Latest News
Alum Albert Tai’s entrepreneurial journey
Alumnus Albert Tai’s Hypercare startup was featured in the Globe and Mail this week as one of four U of T startups that are solving global challenges with innovative solutions. Tai, who graduated from the Faculty of Information in 2017, launched Hypercare that same year, together with Dr. Joseph Choi, an emergency physician and assistant […]
MMST students, alumna contribute to Governor General’s Award-winning exhibit
Students from the Museum Studies capstone course (2022/23) played a key role in creating an exhibit that has just been named winner of the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming. Grace Kovacs, Hanjia Li, Abera Rajendran and Marie Song helped put together “Standing in the Doorway: Lived Histories and Experiences of the Chinese Community”. The exhibit drew on new oral histories, loaned […]
Alumna’s gift will help students get the boost they need
Studying at the Faculty of Information changed the trajectory of Esther Wan’s life. Now, she wants to help today’s students reap the kind of benefits she did There are many ways that attending the Faculty of Information, then known as the Faculty of Library and Information Science or FLIS for short, changed Esther Wan’s life. […]
Alumni Thesis: African American Ancestry Reveals
As Black History Month wraps up, we talk to Faculty of Information alumna Halle Fetwi Imam, who wrote her 2022 Master of Information thesis on the phenomenon of African Americans taking consumer DNA tests to discover their ancestry and then revealing the results in online videos. What first piqued your interest in this topic? I […]
Faculty of Information volunteers honoured at 2023 Arbor Awards
The University of Toronto held a ceremony to honour the 2023 Arbor Award recipients, recognized for their exceptional and longstanding volunteer service. The Faculty of Information is particularly grateful to the following individuals for giving generously of their time, energy and expertise to benefit Information students. Haley Sharpe Design (Kate Aitchison, Carolina Garcia, Orysia Goddard and […]
Success Story: Human-Centred Data Science grad takes on AI governance role
When Lorena Almaraz was working in the non-profit sector, she kept hearing about the need to be data driven, but, at the same time, she saw a major contradiction – almost no one had the staff or resources to actually be data driven. The more Almaraz explored the problem of using data properly and making sense of […]
In Memoriam: Dean and Professor Emerita Ann Schabas (1926 – 2023)
When colleagues, friends and family of the late Ann Schabas reflect on her career and scholarship, the picture that emerges is one of a woman who was quietly ahead of her time. Before she took up library science, Ann Schabas earned two degrees in physics, an unusual choice for a woman at the time. But […]
Death of Professor Emerita Nancy Williamson
Known as a generous and open-spirited colleague as well as an outstanding scholar, Professor Emerita Nancy Williamson passed away in Toronto on December 3rd. While Professor Williamson retired from what was then the Faculty of Library and Information Science almost 30 years ago in 1994, she would regularly visit her office on the sixth floor […]
Sustaining lifelong passions with a legacy gift
An alumna’s generous donation supports research and innovation in cultural heritage Joyce Sowby spent her long life actively engaged with books, art and history so it’s fitting that the unrestricted gift she left to the Faculty of Information will go to support its GLAM Incubator, whose mission is to work with community partners to address […]
Launching the Eric Yu Human-Centred Systems Design Award
To mark the retirement of Professor Eric Yu, a distinguished scholar who’s had a major influence on the field of information systems and human-centred design, the Faculty of Information has established a new award for Master’s and Doctoral students. This award will recognize outstanding work in advancing human interest in the design of technology systems […]
Alumni Profile: Tracking the path of a serial entrepreneur
The latest venture for Mike Borg (Class of 2012) is a company that uses microscopic barcodes made from baker’s yeast to trace products in the food supply chain A self-taught software developer, Mike Borg arrived at the Faculty of Information looking to take advantage of the technical courses in the information systems and design curriculum […]
Faculty launches Lynne C. Howarth Award in honour of esteemed professor and former dean
To mark the retirement of Professor and Dean Emerita Lynne Howarth, the Faculty of Information has established a new award for master’s students researching or doing volunteer work to design and deliver information services to underserved communities. The topic is of special interest to Professor Howarth, whose recent research involved building community in settings where […]
Faculty’s Grant for Black or Indigenous students attracts a wide range of donors
When UofT’s fundraising team contacted alumna Sandra Sualim for a donation to their 2022 annual campaign, she told them the initiatives they were promoting were important but not for her. Instead, she asked, “Do you have any bursaries for Black or Indigenous youth? Not a scholarship but a bursary, not grade-based but more financial need […]
Museum Studies alumna wins fellowship at Smithsonian
Having been encouraged to think big by her Museum Studies professors, Emily Berg (class of 2018) decided to take a chance earlier this year and apply for the competitive Kress Interpretive Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. She was not only granted an initial interview, but made it to the […]
Alumnae fund timely new scholarship in health and biomedical information
Twin sisters with a lifelong interest in health and science give back to inspire future leaders in health information While the timing may make it look like the Faculty of Information’s newest scholarship, the Elizabeth Reid and Marilyn Hernandez Graduate Scholarship in Biomedical/Health Information, was inspired by the global pandemic, the award was actually in […]