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Message from the Vice-Provost
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With the fall term now in motion, I hope you’re experiencing the renewed sense of energy that the return of students brings. This month, I’m excited to share the call for the 2025–26 teaching award nominations, new funding opportunities, and the upcoming Forum on Experiential Learning on October 15. And new this newsletter, our With Thanks column offers a chance to pause and recognize the many colleagues who help move our community forward. Read on to discover these highlights and more university happenings that are shaping our academic community this season.
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Teaching Awards & Grants
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Teaching Awards: Call for Nominations and Upcoming Workshop
Supporting a teaching award nomination? Join our workshop, The Path to Recognition: Crafting a Compelling Teaching Award Nomination on November 27 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. via MS Teams. This session is intended for academic administrators and University staff involved in the nomination process.
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LEAF+ on Civil Discourse: Call for Applications
Applications due Monday, November 3
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The Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, and the School of Graduate Studies invite proposals for LEAF+ projects that foster civil discourse in undergraduate or graduate curricula. LEAF+ is a special funding opportunity to support innovative teaching and learning projects that align with an emerging University of Toronto priority. Projects should explore, expand, or reframe civil discourse, encouraging respectful dialogue, empathy, critical engagement, and shared inquiry across differences in classroom and curricular settings.
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Graduate Education Innovation Fund: Call for Applications
Applications due Thursday, November 6
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The Graduate Education Innovation Fund (GEIF) is designed to enhance the learning experience of graduate students by supporting projects that introduce positive, innovative changes in the design and delivery of graduate education. GEIF focuses on several priority areas, including experiential learning, interdisciplinary learning, technological innovation, Indigenous and diverse cultural ways of knowing, decolonization, anti-oppression, and anti-racism pedagogies, professional development, and public scholarship. Five seed grants of $5,000 will be awarded to graduate faculty members seeking to implement innovative educational practices in their teaching or curriculum.
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Learning & Education Advancement Fund (LEAF) in the News
Language is Material, a LEAF initiative led by Professor Claire Battershill from the Department of English, Faculty of Arts & Science, and the Faculty of Information, was recently featured in Arts & Science News. The project focuses on teaching creative writing that connects hands-on practices in book-making and publishing with writing and literary creative practice.
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Teaching & Learning
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Reconciliation in Practice: A Learning Community for Faculty and Staff
Wednesday, September 26, 12:10-1:00 p.m. via Microsoft Teams
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The Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation's Reconciliation in Practice: A Learning Community for Faculty and Staff is a monthly professional learning series that offers a reflective and supportive space for faculty and staff who wish to engage more meaningfully with reconciliation in their teaching, research, service, and daily practices. Each month, participants are introduced to a concrete, accessible strategy drawn from reconciliation-focused resources and scholarship.
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Community-Engaged Learning Course Development Workshops
Series Dates: October 21, November 11, November 25, 2025 from 9:30–11:00 a.m. via Zoom
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The three-part CEL Course Development Workshop series for faculty offers an overview of the fundamentals of CEL pedagogy and practice, support for designing a CEL course, and practical strategies for working respectfully with community partners. This series is offered virtually in the fall, and as a half-day, in-person intensive in the spring.
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Experiential Learning
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Forum on Experiential Learning
Convened three times a year and co-chaired by the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education and the Vice-Provost, Students, the Forum on Experiential Learning (FEL) supports academic and non-academic administrators and staff. Building on the expertise of divisions and units in experiential learning, the FEL shares internal and external developments in the experiential education landscape, informs local and institutional strategic priorities in this area and creates conversation and community among EL practitioners at the University. New this year, based on community feedback, 30 minutes will be reserved prior to each FEL to provide in-person attendees with an opportunity to connect with each other. Coffee and tea will be provided.
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The 2025-26 meetings will be held in a hybrid format with in-person meetings at the Governing Council Chambers (October/February) and at UTSC (May, location TBD), as well as online via Microsoft Teams
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- Wednesday, October 15, 2025 from 2:30-4:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, February 3, 2026 from 10:00-11:30 a.m.
- Tuesday, May 5, 2026 from 2:30-4:00 p.m.
The FEL has an open call for new members; those interested in joining can complete the FEL membership form.
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CEL Staff Network Kick-Off: CEL Café
Thursday, October 9, 9:30-11:30 a.m. via Koffler House, St. George Campus (569 Spadina Crescent)
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Are you a staff member who supports Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) or community-partnered Experiential Learning? Join the Centre for Community Partnerships and the CEL Staff Network to kick off the year in person. Catch up with your tri-campus EL/CEL colleagues over coffee and learn more about each other’s work. Bring your challenges, and leave with insights!
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Generative AI
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Register for the next AI Roundup - Emerging Trends
Thursday, October 16, 12:00-1:00 p.m. via Microsoft Teams
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Please note: If you usually register and will not be continuing in your appointment for the upcoming academic year, please advise our office of new administrators to be invited and share this link with colleagues in your unit who might be interested in attending on your behalf.
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Each month, Vice-Provost Susan McCahan hosts a session intended to sort through the vast amount of information about AI advances, sharing a few key items of interest to the U of T community. The hope is that it will help people stay abreast of emerging changes that will potentially impact work at the institution. The recording and links from previous AI Roundups can be found on our SharePoint site. All U of T faculty, librarians and staff who would find this content helpful are welcome to attend.
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With Thanks
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The Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, is guided by consultation and collaboration with the University community. Every so often, this column will be our opportunity to share thanks and recognize those who have helped us move forward together.
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Over the past year, Professor Daphne Tan, Associate Dean, Academic & Student Affairs, Faculty of Music, has worked closely with our office on a wide range of initiatives including teaching grants and awards, student success, curriculum planning and equity, diversity and inclusion. In each of these areas, she has brought a thoughtful perspective that has informed conversations and strengthened the work on behalf of the Faculty of Music.
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