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Navi Dhanota

Navi Dhanota

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FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • HBA 2003 Innis College
Inside the Classroom

Switched programs from: Psychology

Outside the Classroom

  • Registered with Accessibility Services and developed the lived experience of being a student receiving accommodations while struggling with mental health. These became useful credentials.
Further Education

Career Description

  • Accessibility consultant, George Brown College
  • Accessibility consultant (varying roles, incl. institutional policy review)
  • Successful in personal activism, which involved changing the requirements to disclose a diagnosis when registering with post-secondary accommodation offices.
In the Media

“My advice, for current students, would be to stop trying to find your calling/passion. I realize this may sound counter-intuitive— I used my lived experience to identify small projects I wanted to work on and things I wanted to change. I used these small initiatives as a platform to springboard my career.

Follow what interest you (this could be a class you are good at, subject matter that is easy to read, or even the the issues that you find most difficult). With that, will come passion. Showing genuine motivation in your field is what will distinguish you from the pack.“

 

Kenneth Godevenos

Kenneth B. Godevenos

FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • BA 1969 University College
Inside the Classroom

Outside the Classroom

Further Education

  • BEd, 1971
  • MBA, 1981
  • Postgraduate education: Guidance and human resources
Career Description

  • Teacher, English, Journalism, Guidance Counseling (3 years)
  • Human Resources, Ontario Hydro: recruitment, labour relations, strategic planning, compensation and benefits, organization development, etc. at various structural levels
  • (first) Director, Policy & Research, Pay Equity Commission, Ontario Ministry of Labour (secondment)
  • Director, Compensation & Benefits, Rogers Communications Inc
“Join appropriate and relevant associations related to your choice of field(s). Become a member, volunteer, get on committees, work your way up the ladder as far as possible in those organizations. Take advantage of the opportunity to speak or present at their conferences, etc. Become well known. Write articles for their magazines. Teach their courses. Then when you’re ready, stop working for others and work for yourself.”

 

Zena Werb

Zena Werb

FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • BSc 1966 University College
Inside the Classroom

Alongside the Classroom

  • Senior Thesis, Biochemistry Lab (project series)
Outside the Classroom

  • Laboratory work (during 3 summer sessions) in Geophysics and at the Ontario Cancer Institute
Further Education

Career Description

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge UK 1971-73
  • Research Scientist, Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge UK 1973-75
  • Assistant Professor, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover NH 1975-76
  • Assistant Professor 1976, Associate Professor 1980, Professor 1983, University of California, San Francisco
  • Visiting Professor, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Univ. of Oxford, UK, 1985-86
  • Visiting Professor, Institute Curie, Paris, France, 1998
  • Visiting Professor, Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany, 2006-08
  • Associate Director for Basic Science, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF, 2016-present
“Get as much experience in different fields as possible. Take time to enjoy life.”

 

Cynthia Good

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FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • BA 1974 University College
Inside the Classroom

Alongside the Classroom

  • Research assistant for Professor
Outside the Classroom

  • Very involved in theatre at UC and Hart House
  • Worked at Robarts Library
Further Education

  • Masters – 1975
  • Incomplete PhD (all but dissertation)
Career Description

  • Interrupted Ph.D when employed by a small independent publishing house
  • 4 years later hired by Penguin Books Canada to start Canadian publishing program
  • Remained at Penguin for almost 21 years. Left after becoming President & Publisher
  • Hired by Humber College to set up a publishing program there, ran the program and taught for 10 years
  • Continued part time for 2 years at Humber, originating and organizing conferences and workshops for writers
  • Now continue with some workshops, facilitate book clubs, and do a variety of volunteer activities
“Learn widely and develop a disciplined mind.
Study philosophy.Learn and be able to use languages beyond English.
Despite the fact that I have had an extraordinarily satisfying career, I still wish I had completed my Ph.DEnjoy the friendship, the stimulation and the drama of university life.”

 

Justine Laboni

Justine Iaboni

FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • HBA 2008 St. Michael’s College
Inside the Classroom

Switched programs from:

Outside the Classroom

Further Education

  • MA, Cinema Studies, 2008-09, University of Toronto
Career Description

  • Launched a blog in 2009 and grew it into one of the top fashion, travel, beauty and lifestyle blogs in Canada.
  • Attended fashion weeks in Toronto and NYC writing for fashion publications.
  • Invited on press trips around the world working with tourism boards, hotels, local organizations, airlines, and many other brands.
  • Lectured at U of T and Ryerson on many occasions about her career.
  • Featured in magazines such as Toronto Life and Fashion.
  • Helped to forge the influencer industry in Canada by working with brands such as Unilever, American Express, PANDORA, Cadillac Fairview, Coach, Bayer, Nordstrom, etc.,
  • Mentored new bloggers starting out in the industry at Blogging Conferences
  • Volunteered with Filling the Gap TO
  • In 2017, left the blogging world to pursue her true passion: music and the arts.
  • Released an album in 2017
  • Writes a weekly spiritual newsletter based on the teachings of Wayne Dyer, Gabrielle Bernstein and Marianne Williamson targeted at women who are looking for guidance in their lives, and trying to find ways to work past limiting beliefs.
“I would tell myself that I CAN DO IT. That I am enough. I would tell myself that the world isn’t against me and that I am valuable. I would tell myself that you can have your cake and eat it to; that the limiting beliefs we’ve been passed down through our parents, social constructs, media, are not objective truth. We can choose the life we want to live. The how doesn’t matter. Sometimes having blind faith is the greatest gift you can give yourself, and you don’t have to “do it” the way that the mainstream does. I have always been a deep, feeling person and neglected that part of myself during undergrad. I repressed my inner dreamer for fear of not fitting in and fear of failure. The world has taught me so much, outside of school. I wish I had someone to impart real world knowledge onto me when I was in University. I wish I had someone to tell me that everything is going to be OK, that I CAN DO IT, whatever I dream of, no matter how silly or unconventional – I can achieve it.”

 

Carol Nash

Carol Nash

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FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • HBA 1980 University College
Inside the Classroom

Switched programs from:

Outside the Classroom

Further Education

  • PhD, Philosophy of Education, University of Toronto, 1989
  • MA, Philosophy of Education, University of Toronto, 1984
  • BEd, Secondary Education, Business Studies, University of Toronto, 1981
Career Description

“Believe in your dreams.
Do what you love.
Take opportunities as they come.
Concentrate hard when you work.
Think about who you were, who you are now and who you want to become.
Check your work many times with fresh eyes.”

 

Paul Walker

Paul Walker

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FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • BA 1961 University College
Inside the Classroom

Outside the Classroom

  • Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (Became president at the all-campus level for final year)
  • Hart House Glee Club
  • Led and played piano for a noon-time sing-along at Hart House weekly in third and fourth year
Further Education

  • MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary
Career Description

  • Student minister for three full summers: Kitimat, BC; Bradalbane, PEI; and Wabush, Labrador
  • Worked in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley with high school and junior high students for Inter-School Christian Fellowship
  • Ordained as a Presbyterian minister and served in three different congregations, 3rd in Vancouver
  • Worked 2 years founding and teaching at a Christian School in Vancouver
  • Remainder of worker years served as Chaplain in two different hospitals
“Enjoy the friends made on and off campus, but keep the focus on doing an excellent job on the studies.”

 

Chester Sadowski

Chester Sadowski

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FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • BA 1957 University College
Inside the Classroom

Outside the Classroom

  • Polish Students’ Club
  • Chemistry Club
  • House League Basketball
Further Education

  • University of Toronto PhD in Chemistry 1961
  • Colorado University Department of Chemistry Post-Doctoral Fellow 1961/62
Career Description

  • 1957 to 1961 Post Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto
  • 1961/62 Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., U.S.A.
  • 1962 to 1967 Defence Services Scientific Officer, Defence Research Board, Valcartier, Quebec
  • 1967 to 2002 Professor, Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto
  • 1973/74 Sabbatical leave at NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA
  • 1981/82 Sabbatical Leave, University Chemical Laboratory, University of Cambridge, U.K.
  • 1982/83(?) Vice President of York University Faculty Association (YUFA) during certification and member of (YUFA) Tenure and Promotion Committee preparing the T&P section of the first collective agreement
  • 1989/90 Associate Dean, Atkinson College, York University
  • 1995/96 Sabbatical Leave, Department of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Oxford, U.K.
  • 2001/02 Sabbatical Leave, Department of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, U.K.
  • 2005, 2006 Research, University Chemical Laboratory, University of Cambridge, U.K.
    July 1,1995 to December 31, 1999 Chairman of Chemistry, York University
  • Served on numerous departmental, faculty and university committees, including T&P, University Senate, Nominations, Examinations and Academic Standards, etc.
“I worked very hard and strove to meet the highest levels of academic performance. I was poor and could not socialise as much as I wanted to, but nevertheless I might have extended my extra-curricular interests a bit more.”

 

John Toffoli

John Toffoli

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FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • HBSc 2005 University College
  • HBA 2013 University College
Inside the Classroom

HBA degree

HBSc degree

Switched programs from:

Outside the Classroom

  • Vice President, Microbiology Undergraduate Students’ Association (Defunct)
Further Education

Career Description

“If there’s something that you really want to do but are scared of how long it will take, or how much money it’s going to cost, or how far it will set you back, just forget all of that and go for it. None of those concerns that seem really important when you’re working on your undergraduate will matter in five years. Find your passion, and go for it with everything you have.”

 

Christina Luckyj

Christina Luckyj

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FacetDescription
Graduation Year

  • BA 1978 University College
Inside the Classroom

Alongside the Classroom

  • Studied in Quebec for over a year
Further Education

Career Description

In the Media

“Do as many extracurricular things as possible, and especially take any opportunities to study elsewhere.”