The Arbor Awards are the University of Toronto’s highest honour in recognition of exceptional and longstanding volunteer service. Recipients are essential to advancing U of T as one of the world’s great institutions of higher learning and advanced research. They provide volunteer supports that span everything from governance and academic programming to experiential learning and mentorship, among other valuable contributions.
These are the Faculty of Information’s very deserving 2024 recipients, who were celebrated for their service at a reception last month.
Jennifer M. Boucher
Jennifer joined the Faculty of Information Alumni Association in 2019 and has served as vice-president and president. Under her leadership, the association actively upheld its mission of promoting alumni and supporting students, including during the pandemic when hosting events and connecting students to alumni was a challenge. Now as past-president, she offers valuable counsel to the current executive and represents the association at the College of Electors.
Chris Ferguson
Since 2010, Chris has made a tremendous impact at the Faculty of Information. He has collaborated with faculty members on design innovation research, and incorporates career development opportunities into mentoring design students. Chris’s additional contributions include spearheading a proposal to University Health Network that netted a $135,000 grant for student internships. He also enhances students’ learning through his close involvement with cutting-edge research groups.
Alexia Loumankis
As a U of T librarian, Alexia brings expertise and institutional knowledge to the Faculty of Information Alumni Association. A volunteer since 2018, Alexia has served as both Chair and member of the Grants and Awards Committee, promoting grants to students, managing submissions, and maintaining communication with the faculty. Her contributions have significantly enhanced the alumni association’s ability to support students and foster a strong alumni community.
Featured News

Decolonization in action: A Museum Studies example
Museum Studies lecturer Bruno R. Véras helped the Faculty of Information play a key role in a recent decision by Harvard University to repatriate two human skulls to Brazil, including one believed to belong to a Muslim rebel who took part in an important slave revolt in 1835. Véras, who is Brazilian himself, first became […]

Museum Studies students take capstone work from classroom to the world
It’s Capstone season! And the Master of Museum Studies (MMSt) program is delighted to show off their students’ capstone projects. In their full-year capstone projects course, teams of MMSt students collaborate with partners from the cultural and heritage sectors on a variety of exciting and innovative projects. The partners propose the project idea and outcomes, […]

BI student wins leadership award after finding her niche at Faculty of Information
It was love at first course for Sehar Bajwa when she switched to the Bachelor of Information (BI) program from engineering where she had completed her first two years of study at U of T. After two years in a purely technical environment, she realized it was stifling her creativity. “I looked at myself in […]

In Memoriam: Professor Twyla Gibson (1954 – 2024)
Friends and Colleagues remember Twyla Gibson as an interdisciplinary scholar whose information interests ranged from Plato to Marshall McLuhan While she came to academia later in life than usual, Twyla Gibson, left a big imprint, including at the Faculty of Information, where she held an assistant professor appointment from 2007 to 2011. Gibson was […]