Media Releases
Below is a selection of recent press releases. For all the latest news please visit www.utoronto.ca/news
General Inquires +1 (416) 978-0100 Email media.relations@utoronto.ca
Canada’s leading Indigenous Health Conference returns to discuss inequities and solutions for Indigenous populations
Toronto, ON - The University of Toronto’s Temerty Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Continuing Professional Development is hosting the 2nd Biennial Indigenous Health Conference at the Hilton Meadowvale, May 26-27, 2016. This year, the conference will focus on how we can work together towards improving the health inequities faced by Indigenous populations and provide a forum to discuss ways to move towards reconciliation. Health Care practitioners from across the country, as well as some of the best academic minds and community…
New research by Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance provides roadmap for better infrastructure planning, explores causes of persistent cost overruns
Toronto, ON – Cost overruns and schedule delays on municipal infrastructure projects are predictable – and in some cases avoidable – according to new research released today by the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) at the Munk School of Global Affairs. In a new IMFG Perspectives Paper, Cost Overruns on Infrastructure Projects: Patterns, Causes and Cures, Matti Siemiatycki shows the causes are not merely technical. Instead, he argues, “there are deep psychological and political economic factors that also contribute…
Close to 40% of formerly suicidal Canadians subsequently achieve complete mental health
TORONTO, ON – Close to 40% (38%) of formerly suicidal Canadians have reached a state of complete mental health, not only being free of symptoms of mental illness, suicidal thoughts or substance abuse in the preceding year, but also reporting almost daily happiness or life satisfaction, and social and psychological wellbeing according to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto. The study will appear online this month in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. "We found that…
New IMFG publication provides roadmap for better infrastructure planning
Toronto, ON - On January 21, join the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) and today’s leading infrastructure thinkers and practitioners for a discussion around the release of a new paper, Infrastructure Cost Overruns: Patterns, Causes and Cures. Cost overruns and schedule delays have plagued major infrastructure projects for decades. Every year, unexpected overruns cost governments tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, and individual project managers are first to be blamed. However, this pattern shouldn’t come as…
Rise Asset Development announces $1 million in new funding from Bell Let’s Talk and RBC at the 4th annual Garfinkel Awards for Entrepreneurial Achievement
Toronto, ON – Rise Asset Development, which provides low interest small business loans, training and mentorship to men and women with a history of addiction or mental health challenges, today announced two gifts totaling $1 million from Bell Let’s Talk and the RBC Foundation. The announcement was made at an event honouring the winners of the annual Dr. Paul E. Garfinkel Awards for Entrepreneurial Achievement. “Every day we give thanks to our Rise entrepreneurs for giving us the privilege of working with…
A cultural look at moral purity: wiping the face clean
Toronto, ON - Moral people have a pure heart. Immoral acts feel dirty. Expressions that describe morality in terms of purity abound in English and numerous other languages. The idea is rooted in religions around the world as well. For example, ritual purification of the physical body symbolizes moral purification, from baptism of Christianity and mikvah of Judaism, to ablution of Islam and Buddhism, to bathing in the Ganges of Hinduism and amrit of Sikhism. Across human societies, bodily purity…
U of T computer scientist receives international award for pushing frontiers of knowledge
Toronto, ON - Stephen Cook has won the prestigious BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Information and Communication Technologies category for his pioneering and influential work on computational complexity. A University Professor Emeritus, Cook said he is “astonished” and “delighted” by the award. In his long career, he has been fascinated to see how “computer science has advanced in leaps and bounds.” World-renowned research Cook expanded on Turing’s concept of computability – what a computer can and cannot solve – to…
Rotman professor named as one of the most influential management thinkers from India
Toronto, ON – A professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has been named as one of the most influential management thinkers from India by Thinkers50 India. Dilip Soman is a professor of marketing and holds the Corus Chair in Communications Strategy at the Rotman School. A behavioral scientist with a PhD from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, he is the coordinator of the Behavioural Economics in Action research cluster. In 2015 his book,…
Order of Canada awarded to University of Toronto president, faculty members
Toronto, ON - University of Toronto President Meric Gertler has been appointed to the Order of Canada – along with faculty members Brenda Andrews, Frances Shepherd, George Baird and Kent Roach. The president received the honour in recognition of “his research in urban geography, notably for his influential studies of innovation, technology and development in cities,” the Governor General’s office said in its citation. Established in 1967, the Order recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. In a statement on its website,…
U of T librarians discover Johan Halvorsen’s long-lost violin concerto
Toronto, ON - Librarians at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music Library have discovered Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen’s violin concerto that was believed lost for over a century. Violinist Henning Kraggerud will perform the 21st-century premiere of the concerto under the direction of Bjarte Engeset in Stavenger, Norway in July 2016 as part of the International Musicological Society's annual conference. Halvorsen (1864-1935) dedicated his violin concerto to the world-renowned Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow (1890-1963). Parlow gave its first performance…