Innis College
Encyclopedia
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. It is one of the University of Toronto's smallest colleges in terms of size and the second smallest college in terms of population with approximately 1870 registered students. It is located in the campus' historic west end, directly north of Robarts Library
Robarts Library
The John P. Robarts Research Library, commonly referred to as Robarts Library, is the main humanities and social sciences library of the University of Toronto Libraries and the largest individual library in the university...
, and is named after prominent University of Toronto political economist Harold Innis
Harold Innis
Harold Adams Innis was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory and Canadian economic history. The affiliated Innis College at the University of Toronto is named for him...
.
The College includes a fully equipped cinema known as Innis Town Hall, which hosts numerous film festivals, free film screenings, and a variety of other cultural events. It also serves as a venue for Hot Docs, which is North America's largest documentary film festival.
History
Originally designed to be a wing (now Wetmore Hall) onto New College, Innis College was founded separately in 1964 as the second non-federated college to be formed under the University's administration.Although initially located at the Macdonald-Mowatt house on St. George Street, the College has since relocated to a building on Sussex Avenue that incorporates a substantial Victorian home into a functional modern structure designed by Jack Diamond
Jack Diamond (architect)
A.J. "Jack" Diamond, OC, O.Ont is a Canadian architect.Born in Piet Retief, South Africa, he received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Cape Town in 1956. He received a Master of Arts degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University in 1958...
and Barton Myers
Barton Myers
Barton Myers, FAIA is an American and Canadian architect and president of Barton Myers Associates, Inc. in Los Angeles, California....
.
Vladimir House, the first Innis residence located at 651 Spadina Avenue, was replaced by a larger, modern residence in 1994.
Innis was also the first University of Toronto college to host an open pub (1975) and the first one to sport an equity split between faculty and students on its governing council.
The current Principal of Innis College is Janet Paterson. The current Innis Registrar is Donald Boere.
Governance and Services
As mentioned, Innis College was the first college at the University of Toronto to have parity between students and faculty on its governing council. The main governing body of Innis College is the Innis College Council and operates under the Governing Council of the University of Toronto. The College Council is made up of students, administration, and other interest groups including the members of the later life learning program, and the alumni association to name a few. The council has many boards including boards on academic affairs, college affairs, student affairs, and community affairs. It is the job of the council to exercise the college's autonomous rights granted to them by the University and therefore oversees admissions, awards, and academic programs offered by the college.The students of Innis College as well as the engineers living in the Innis Residence are members of the Innis College Student Society (ICSS). The ICSS is represented by a governing body that offers student services, as well as social events held by the college. The governing body of the ICSS is made up of an executive body, student representatives, and operations directors, all of whom are students.
Innis College is home to the Cinema Studies Student Union and the Urban Studies Student Union; the representative unions of students enrolled in Cinema Studies and Urban Studies programs.
Innis College is watched over by an administrative staff consisting of the Principal's Office and Registrar's Office, as well as the Innis Town Hall and Innis Library staff.
Innis College houses a student-run newspaper called the Innis Herald which releases monthly issues to the University of Toronto community.
Academic programs
All students of the College are enrolled in the Faculty of Arts and ScienceUniversity of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science
The Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto is one of Canada's largest and most prestigious arts and science teaching and research institutions. With almost 22,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students, Arts and Science represents over half the student population on the...
. Innis College also hosts several programs in the faculty, which are:
- Cinema Studies (Innis is home to the Cinema Studies Institute, which not only offers the undergraduate program, but also a one-year graduate program leading to an MA.)
- Urban Studies
- Writing and Rhetoric (Minor)
Innis College students are welcome to enrol in any program within the Faculty of Arts & Science, and any student in the Faculty may enrol in one (or more) of Innis' programs.
The College formerly hosted the Environmental Studies
Environmental studies
Environmental studies is the academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. It is a broad interdisciplinary field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them...
program before it was relocated to the University's Centre for Environment.
Students
A student studying at Innis College is a member of the University of TorontoUniversity of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, the Faculty of Arts and Science
University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science
The Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto is one of Canada's largest and most prestigious arts and science teaching and research institutions. With almost 22,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students, Arts and Science represents over half the student population on the...
, and Innis College. The representative body of Innis Students is the Innis College Student Society (ICSS). The student society is a mandatory membership student group which receives its funding through a dedicated student levy
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
collected by the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. Both Innis Students and engineering students
University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering is an academic division of the University of Toronto devoted to study and research in engineering. Founded in 1873 as the School of Practical Science, it is still known today by the longtime nickname of Skule...
living in the Innis Residence have this levy
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
collected from them and are therefore members of the ICSS.
The ICSS holds elections twice a year; once in March at the end of the school year to elect the following year's council and once in September at the beginning of the school year to fill vacancies and elect first year student representatives. The ICSS conducts its elections using a preferential voting
Preferential voting
Preferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank candidates in order of relative preference. For example, the voter may select their first choice as '1', their second preference a '2', and so on...
electoral method.
The ICSS Governing Body meets every two weeks during the academic year in open meetings where members of council, as well as members of the society are invited to deliberate on various issues. The deliberative proceedings of the ICSS government are conducted under Robert's Rules of Order
Robert's Rules of Order
Robert's Rules of Order is the short title of a book containing rules of order intended to be adopted as a parliamentary authority for use by a deliberative assembly written by Brig. Gen...
.
The ICSS is steered by an executive committee consisting of a President, an Executive Vice-President, a Vice-President Internal, and a Vice-President Finance. The remainder of council is made up of directors responsible for council's operations (social activities, athletics, marketing, etc.), as well as student representatives representing various constituencies including first year students, non-residence students, and the graduating class. The direction and priorities of council are steered by the executive committee however each individual portfolio (social, athletics, etc.) has relative autonomy to make their own decisions when planning events and activities.
The office of the Innis College Student Society is located inside Room 107 of the Innis College main building at 2 Sussex Avenue. The current President of the ICSS is Alex Heuton, the current Executive Vice-President is Aman Chohan, the current Vice-President Internal is Parmveer Singh, and the current Vice-President Finance is Mary Stefanidis.
Innis Residence
The Innis Residence is a modern apartment-style building with seven stories, located across the street from the College at 111 St. George Street. The building consists of four floors that form a U-shape around a courtyard, and two 3-story towers above them, on the north and south sides of the building. The building is suite-style - each suite contains a common kitchen, common living room, two shared bathrooms and 4-5 bedrooms. There are 327 spaces available for students in the building, which roughly consist of 60% first-year students and 40% upper-years. A number of spaces are also reserved for students from the Faculty of Applied Science and EngineeringUniversity of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering is an academic division of the University of Toronto devoted to study and research in engineering. Founded in 1873 as the School of Practical Science, it is still known today by the longtime nickname of Skule...
.
The residence consists of six social communities known as houses. The houses are First House (named because it is located on the first floor of the building), Devonshire West House (named after the street that backs the residence to the east), Taddle Creek House (named after a creek that flows through Toronto), Vladimir House (named after the original Innis residence building), North House (named because it is located in the building's north tower), and Ajax House (named after a University of Toronto satellite campus that used to exist in Ajax, Ontario). These social communities hold inter-residence competitions to build unity and add to the student experience. Each house is overseen by a Residence assistant. There are also two resident Dons who each oversee three of the Residence Assistants. The residence also hires a Residence Life Coordinator, a Dean of Residence, and a front desk staff that offers 24 hour security to the building. The residence is also home to a student-run Residence Council.
The Innis Residence was the first university residence in North America to be wired for Internet access. The current Dean of Residence is Tim Worgan.
Notable alumni
- Alan BernsteinAlan BernsteinAlan Bernstein, is the inaugural executive director of the , an alliance of independent organizations around the world dedicated to accelerating the development of a preventive HIV vaccine.As Executive Director, Dr...
- Founding President, CIHRCanadian Institutes of Health ResearchCanadian Institutes of Health Research is the major federal agency responsible for funding health research in Canada. It is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada. It aims to create new health knowledge, and to translate that knowledge from the research setting into real world...
& Executive Director, Global HIV Vaccine EnterpriseGlobal HIV Vaccine EnterpriseThe Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise is an alliance of organizations formed to accelerate the search for an HIV vaccine. Initially proposed in Science magazine in 2003 and developed by scientists, health experts and policy makers, the concept of the Enterprise received support from the G8 the... - Jessi CruickshankJessi CruickshankJessica Shaia "Jessi" Cruickshank is a Canadian television personality. She is the former co-host of MTV Canada's program The After Show and its various incarnations including The Hills: The After Show and The City: Live After Show with co-host Dan Levy...
- Canadian television personality; former co-host of MTV CanadaMTV CanadaMTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel devoted to talk, lifestyle and documentary programming.MTV is owned by Bell Media, with its name licensed from the American channel of the same name, which is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom.The channel launched as talktv...
's The After ShowThe After ShowThe After Show is the blanket title for several talk shows currently or previously aired by the Canadian version of MTV, originally connected to reality series it airs such as Laguna Beach and The Hills... - Ron MannRon MannRonald "Ron" Mann is a Canadian documentary film director focusing primarily on aspects of Canadian and American popular culture. He does most of his work through his company Sphinx Productions, while also running a film distribution company on the side called 'FilmsWeLike'. Mann has also put...
- President, Sphinx Productions; Filmmaker of such films as Comic Book ConfidentialComic Book ConfidentialComic Book Confidential is an American/Canadian documentary film, released in 1988. Directed by Ron Mann and written by Mann and Charles Lippincott, the film is a survey of the history of the comic book medium in the United States from the 1930s to the 1980s, as an art form and in social...
, Poetry in MotionPoetry in Motion (film)Poetry in Motion is a 1982 documentary directed by Ron Mann featuring contemporary North American poetry and music. Featured are some of the Black Mountain poets, Beats, minimalist poets, and avante-garde poets.-Featured artists:*Helen Adam...
and Go FurtherGo FurtherGo Further is a documentary film by Ron Mann starring Woody Harrelson and a group of other environmental activists riding around in a large, bio-fueled bus. The tour was called the Simple Organic Living Tour and it was produced by cause-related marketers The Spitfire Agency... - Stephanie SavageStephanie SavageStephanie Savage is a Canadian screenwriter and television producer. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series, Gossip Girl from the novel series, and being an executive producer of the Fox series The O.C....
- Executive Producer & Creator, Gossip GirlGossip GirlGossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite... - Linda SchuylerLinda SchuylerLinda Schuyler, CM is a Canadian television producer involved in the creation of the Degrassi series and Instant Star series of teen programs...
- Executive Producer & Creator, Degrassi franchise - Jay BahadurJay BahadurJay Bahadur is a Canadian journalist and author. He became known for his reporting on piracy in Somalia, writing for The New York Times, The Financial Post, The Globe and Mail, and The Times of London. Bahadur has also worked as a freelance correspondent for CBS News and he has advised the U.S....
- Journalist and author, The Pirates of SomaliaThe Pirates of SomaliaThe Pirates of Somalia is a non-fiction book by Canadian journalist Jay Bahadur about his experiences and observations living among pirates in the autonomous region of Puntland during the recent upsurge in Somali piracy. An advance excerpt appeared in a May 2011 edition of The Guardian... - Jeffrey Ian Ross - Criminologist, University of Baltimore
- Jeffrey G. Rubin - Author and Former Chief Economist, Canadian Imperial Bank of CommerceCanadian Imperial Bank of CommerceThe Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in Toronto, Ontario. CIBC's Institution Number is 010, and its SWIFT code is CIBCCATT....
- Libby Znaimer - Freelance journalist
- Jared Bland - Managing Editor, The WalrusThe WalrusThe Walrus is a Canadian general interest magazine which publishes long form journalism on Canadian and international affairs, along with fiction and poetry by Canadian writers. It launched in September 2003, as an attempt to create a Canadian equivalent to American magazines such as Harper's, The...
- Brett Hendrie - Managing Director, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
- Jonathan T. Fried - Ambassador, Canadian Embassy in Japan
- Jonathan Lister - Managing Director (Canada & Latin America), LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
- Mark Weisdorf - Managing Director (Infrastructure Investments), J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc
- Larry Wasser - President, L W Capital Corporation & Genuity Capital
- Alan Whitten - Superior Court Judge, Ontario High Court
For more detailed biographical information on distinguished Innis alumni, visit the Innis College Alumni Network
Notable Faculty, Past and Present
- Peter H. RussellPeter H. RussellPeter H. Russell is a writer and Professor Emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, Canada, where he taught from 1958-1997. He was a Member of the Toronto Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi. He was the Principal of Innis College, at the University of Toronto, from 1973 to 1978...
– Canadian Constitutional Scholar, helped write the South African Constitution. - Joe MedjuckJoe MedjuckJoseph Medjuck is a Canadian-born film producer in Hollywood.Medjuck was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is a graduate of McGill University, and the University of Toronto where he also taught for twelve years...
– Film Producer (GhostbustersGhostbustersGhostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
, Up in the AirUp in the Air (film)Up in the Air is a 2009 American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and co-written by Reitman and Sheldon Turner. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name, written by Walter Kirn. The story is about a corporate downsizer Ryan Bingham and his travels...
, Kindergarten CopKindergarten CopKindergarten Cop is a 1990 American comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough police detective, who must go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch drug dealer Cullen Crisp , before Crisp can get to his...
, BeethovenBeethoven (film)Beethoven is a 1992 American family comedy film, directed by Brian Levant and starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. The film is the first in the Beethoven film series....
, DisturbiaDisturbia (film)Disturbia is a 2007 American thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and executive produced by Ivan Reitman. It is an updated version of Alfred Hitchcock's classic film Rear Window...
) - Sir Ryo Matsuzawa - Musician
- Glynis Starrunner - 1980s pop musician and former Toronto city counciller.
- Josef ŠkvoreckýJosef ŠkvoreckýJosef Škvorecký, CM is a leading contemporary Czech writer and publisher who has spent much of his life in Canada. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country...
- writer