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. To study at the University of Toronto, she traveled beyond the Rockies for the first time, leaving behind her hometown of Vancouver. Once in Toronto, she revelled in the energy and excitement of the city while, on campus, she found intellectual stimulation in her courses and met her future husband.

After graduation, Wan benefited from her FLIS mentors’ guidance and the range of career opportunities Toronto offered, working downtown and then returning to a librarian role at U of T. Later, when she lived and worked in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and San Francisco, Wan was able to take advantage of the U of T network she had forged as well as the university’s international reputation.

“I really feel very strongly that had I not gone to FLIS, the trajectory of my life would have been very, very different,” says Wan, who graduated in 1991 with a Master of Library Science degree. “From the get-go, it just spun me into a different orbit.”

Decades later, with children in the thick of the university experience, Wan found herself thinking about the differences between her generation’s educational challenges and those of the current generation. “It was not easy when we were students, but it just seems harder now,” she says pointing to examples such as the ever-increasing cost of living and the difficulties of finding suitable housing. “Whether one has the resources to draw from or not can really impact a student’s decision to go and explore or to excel at their chosen pursuits.”

With all that in mind, Wan was interested in donating to a fund that could assist students who, for whatever reason, need additional financial support during their studies. Her generous donation has enabled the Faculty of Information to establish the Faculty of Information Student Aid Fund, a general discretionary award fund, which will allow the Faculty to allot funds quickly and in a flexible manner to students with a wide variety of needs including first generation students.

Registrar and Assistant Dean Andrea McGee says, “This new fund is ideal because it will enable us to help a wide range of students with the least amount of bureaucracy possible. That could mean everything from giving a student the opportunity to go to a conference thanks to a little extra funding or it could be helping an international student who doesn’t fit into the current provincial guidelines of need.”

Dean Javed Mostafa says he is keen to see this important new fund grow. “Having students from across Canada and the world is a great asset for the Faculty of Information. I’m especially proud that this fund is available to support all our students and their unique needs and aspirations.”

Wan, who now lives in the San Francisco Bay area and works in Special Collections at Stanford University, hopes the new fund will have broad appeal to potential donors, who can contribute what they can afford with no minimum threshold. “My parents’ support and encouragement helped me make a decision that changed my life, both professionally and personally,” she said. “I hope that by helping to establish this fund, students who might otherwise be held back by financial constraints will be able to make similarly impactful decisions.”

To make a donation or to learn more about the Faculty of Information Student Aid Fund, please visit our giving page or contact Stephanie Sim at stephanie.sim@utoronto.ca.