Cheryl Regehr reflects on a decade as provost, the invaluable role of alumni and donors – and her hopes for the Defy Gravity campaign
Nov 15, 2023
After a decade as vice-president and provost of the University of Toronto, Cheryl Regehr (MSW 1980, PhD 1995) – former dean of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, author and leading scholar on mental health and trauma – will return to full-time research and teaching at the end of the year. As she prepares to pass the baton to Trevor Young, former dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Regehr reflects on how the university has changed during her time as U of T’s chief academic officer, the indispensable role of donors and alumni, the impact of the Defy Gravity campaign, and what she’s looking forward to next.
What will you miss most about your time as provost? What are you most proud of?
It’s been such an immense privilege to serve as provost over the past decade. Being in this role as chief academic officer has allowed me to really get to know the University of Toronto community. We have the most amazing students – intelligent, creative, ambitious and hopeful – who come to study with us from all over the world. I have learned so much from them over the years. They give me tremendous optimism for the future. Our faculty and researchers are brilliant scholars and dedicated teachers. Our librarians are breaking new trails in information management and access. And our staff are devoted individuals who bring so much talent to the institution across all three of our campuses. Really, I will miss the variety that comes with this role – every single day has been a fascinating opportunity to learn and contribute.
It’s been such an immense privilege to serve as provost over the past decade. We have the most amazing students – intelligent, creative, ambitious and hopeful – who come to study with us from all over the world.
We have collectively achieved so much at U of T over the last decade. One particular point of satisfaction for me has been our increased focus on teaching excellence. We implemented professorial ranks for teaching stream faculty in 2014, highlighting our commitment to teaching excellence. We also launched new teaching awards and fellowships and implemented a new teaching certificate in collaboration with the U.S.-based Association of College and University Educators. And we have created funding streams to support teaching innovation through seed grants and pilot projects.
It’s been such an immense privilege to serve as provost over the past decade. We have the most amazing students – intelligent, creative, ambitious and hopeful – who come to study with us from all over the world.
Students can now access expanded experiential learning opportunities to see their academic lessons in action, and they can travel the world through more international learning opportunities such as summer abroad. As evidence of our success, U of T has ranked in the top 15 worldwide for the past six years – and first in Canada since 2011 – in the Times Higher Education rankings for the employability of our graduates, based on a worldwide survey of employers. They clearly see how amazing our students are and the value of what they’ve learned here at U of T!
How have you seen U of T change over the past decade?
Over the past decade, U of T – like the rest of society – has had to wrestle with some of its demons in a profound and challenging way. We have seen that it is not enough to be academically excellent or to lead the way in global rankings or the number of Canada Research Chairs we have. These are important and gratifying, of course, and demonstrate the incredible talent here. But I have also been focusing on the responsibilities we have as an institution – which, for a variety of reasons, we may have fallen short on in the past. Along with the president and my fellow vice-presidents, we’ve been trying to rectify those issues by explicitly embracing the values of an inclusive and caring community.
Elder Andrew Wesley (left) presents U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee’s final report to Provost Cheryl Regehr (centre) and President Meric Gertler (right). Photo by Johnny Guatto.
We’ve also furthered the goal of ensuring that U of T is a place of belonging, possibility and growth for all our community members, no matter what their background. We have been growing the number of students, staff, faculty and librarians from underrepresented groups at all levels of study and all ranks. For example, I instituted a special fund to hire Black and Indigenous faculty members, which has resulted in 190 new colleagues across all faculties and campuses.
We’re also improving our physical spaces to make libraries, residences, study halls and other facilities more welcoming, accessible and responsive to the needs of today’s students. So, while I know we still have work to do, I think we are really embedding caring and inclusivity into the fabric of the university. That’s something I’m very proud of.
You’ve always dedicated yourself to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion, with a focus on mental health and underrepresented students. What are some of the most important advances you’ve seen in these areas at U of T?
I’m extremely proud of the work we have done on student mental health. Youth today are under immense pressure, and the pandemic exacerbated some of those stresses, with an increase in mental health distress reported among this population, including our student body. In response to this, we’ve completely redesigned our mental health services to try to make sure that students who are struggling can get the assistance they need more quickly and responsively.
I think we are really embedding caring and inclusivity into the fabric of the university. That’s something I’m very proud of.
As part of the redesign of our services, students can now access mental health support quickly through telephone and virtual support, as well as through same or next-day in-person counselling services. We’ve also established a partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the country’s leader in mental health research and care, that supports students with complex mental health concerns.
I think we are really embedding caring and inclusivity into the fabric of the university. That’s something I’m very proud of.
Breaking down barriers to access U of T has also been a priority for me. We have dramatically increased the number of access and outreach programs at the university over the past five years – from 30 in 2018 to over 135 in 2023. These programs encourage students from underrepresented communities to see themselves at U of T and, once they are here, offer supports to help them succeed.
At the launch of Inlight, an Institutional Strategic Initiative and a featured initiative of the Defy Gravity campaign that aims to improve student mental health. From left to right: Linda Johnston, Cheryl Regehr, Michael Tibollo and Kristin Cleverley. Photo by Dewey Chang.
A sometimes-overlooked barrier is the problem of coming to a place and not seeing anyone who looks like you or comes from the same background. As part of our pursuit of excellence through diversity, we have been actively working to attract staff, faculty and librarians from underrepresented communities to build their careers at U of T. In addition to the faculty hiring fund I mentioned earlier, we have created the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Black and Indigenous scholars, aimed at increasing the pool of early researchers for future faculty positions here and elsewhere. All these efforts offer students more diverse role models they can look to for guidance.
These themes feature in the Defy Gravity campaign, which is built on a framework of inclusive excellence. What does inclusive excellence mean to you?
For me, inclusive excellence means that everyone belongs here at U of T. There is a place for people of all backgrounds, who are valued for their unique contributions to our community and to society. Excellence also means having a plethora of voices and perspectives to drive innovation and inspire creativity. It means giving people from all backgrounds the opportunity to excel and reach their potential so that as a society, we can grow.
Our donors help in so many ways – from legacy donations to support new facilities and research hubs, to contributions that help deserving students from underrepresented backgrounds to attend U of T, to donations that fund student life initiatives like clubs and co-curricular education, or that improve spaces for study and recreation on our campuses. Donor support infuses all aspects of life at U of T and makes an incalculable difference.
What role does donor support play in your mission to open doors for underrepresented students?
Donor support is hugely important. U of T promises that no domestic student should be unable to attend U of T because they can’t afford it. Helping students cover the costs of university through donor-sponsored scholarships and bursaries is critically important to fulfilling that promise.
Initiatives like the construction of Indigenous House at our Scarborough campus, the establishment of law access bursaries that ensure law school is accessible to students from disadvantaged or racialized backgrounds, or the establishment of the Black Research Network that amplifies and supports world-changing research by Black scholars and offers young Black students role models within our faculty – these are all supported by our donors and make a real difference to opening doors for underrepresented students.
A rendering of Indigenous House, which will be located at U of T Scarborough.
Donor support also helps us create new learning opportunities for students – through sponsorships of path-breaking faculty research that provides research opportunities for students and through initiatives such as those that provide experiential learning and foster entrepreneurship. U of T always strives to inspire students to explore their passions and take their learning in new directions. The more ways we can develop to do this, the better.
The past decade has been one of change across all three campuses, with new buildings and upgrades to existing spaces. What does donor support mean for infrastructure at U of T?
The built environment is a critical and lasting part of the university’s commitment to inclusivity and the student experience. We want students from all backgrounds to feel at home here: welcomed, understood and an essential part of our community. Donor support helps us construct new buildings that are physically accessible and revitalize spaces in order to bring students together for study or just “chill time.”
The Maanjiwe nendamowinan building at U of T Mississauga opened its doors in September 2018.
U of T’s ability to continually innovate, to conduct groundbreaking research, to attract the world’s top scientists and scholars depends in some part on our facilities. Fostering important new research often requires state-of-the-art facilities – labs, equipment, specialized devices. Likewise, providing students with a world-class education calls for important upgrades to our classrooms and other learning spaces. Donor contributions enable so many of these infrastructure projects and are vitally important to all parts of our mission to be an internationally important research university that provides undergraduate, graduate and professional programs of the highest quality.
Another goal of the Defy Gravity campaign is to support research that tackles the most urgent issues of our time. How does donor support facilitate research at U of T?
U of T is fortunate to have an immense wealth of truly talented and visionary researchers across the sciences, social sciences and humanities. Donor support for research and for research facilities enables us to tackle more of the critical issues that face our societies today and to continue to attract brilliant faculty to the University of Toronto to work on the world’s most vexing problems.
Donor support for research and for research facilities enables us to tackle more of the critical issues that face our societies today and to continue to attract brilliant faculty to the University of Toronto to work on the world’s most vexing problems.
We are absolutely grateful for the public funding that our research receives through programs like the tri-council agencies and the Canada Research Chairs program. But we couldn’t do what we do without the additional support of donors, who have been instrumental in this work. For example, our donors sponsor laboratories to study cancer drugs and other biomedical interventions; a research consortium that is working on developing high-impact clean energy solutions to climate change; an institute to explore and harness the potential of big data to revolutionize understandings of human health, predict future pandemics, and model the impacts of carbon emissions on the global atmosphere; and a collaborative research program that tackles the issue of student mental health – to name but a few.
Donor support for research and for research facilities enables us to tackle more of the critical issues that face our societies today and to continue to attract brilliant faculty to the University of Toronto to work on the world’s most vexing problems.
One of Defy Gravity’s goals is to encourage 225,000 alumni to engage with the university one million times collectively. What does this goal mean to you? What role do alumni play in the life of the university?
I am so proud to be a U of T graduate. U of T is where I gained my master’s degree, developing the expertise I needed to build a career as a social worker. I worked with individuals who had experienced trauma and survivors of sexual assault and found that the knowledge I gained from my degree was truly invaluable. I returned to U of T for my doctorate, which gave me the tools, connections and support to delve into research and work on some of the big questions I began thinking about while doing my master’s and working in the community.
For me, I think contributing to U of T – in my case through academic service as dean, vice-provost and finally as provost – has been important because I believe deeply in the life-changing potential of education and of research. As an alumna of U of T, I want the best for this institution, and I want to see it – and our students – succeed and make a real difference in society.
Our alumni give us our history – and in the way that they support our students and our community, they are also our future.
Having spent many years here as faculty and as a university leader, I have seen how at U of T, our alumni are our family. They are the people who know our quirks and our strengths and want the best for our students. They are the collective memory of all that the university has been over the years and U of T’s ambassadors in other countries. For our students, staff and faculty, they are our role models. They show what is possible and set goals for achievement. They are our heroes. Our alumni give us our history – and in the way that they support our students and our community, they are also our future.
Our alumni give us our history – and in the way that they support our students and our community, they are also our future.
What’s your pitch for getting involved at U of T as a donor or an alumni volunteer?
U of T’s St. George campus. Photo by David Lee.
Get to know U of T again! We are doing amazing things – driving innovation, building community, focusing on caring for our students, and always, always working on making our world a better place. Be a part of the energy and help make the positive change that our world so dearly needs.
As a donor, you can contribute to student experience or faculty research by funding a scholarship, sponsoring a room or capital project, or supporting a student or research initiative. There are also lots of ways to make a difference to the university through volunteering. Students benefit so much from hearing about the experiences of our alumni, and there are so many opportunities to get involved as a mentor or guest speaker. You can also contribute by helping us keep in touch with our alumni around the world as a class champion or member of your local alumni chapter.
What do you hope the legacy of the Defy Gravity campaign will be for the university?
I hope it will bring our alumni and donors together to provide the foundation for a new era of problem-solving that will enable U of T to play a key role in meeting the challenges that our societies are facing. The campaign has seven main areas of focus – enabling healthy lives, building inclusive cities and societies, creating a sustainable future, sparking creativity and culture, driving scientific discovery, powering innovation and entrepreneurship, and supporting student success. I would love to see us making significant developments in all of these areas. We have researchers working in so many areas of tremendous importance right now – climate change, global conflict, mental health, renewable resources – to name only a few. My hope is that the Defy Gravity campaign will raise awareness of the many, many ways that U of T contributes to our local and global well-being and that the generosity of donors will allow us to meet and exceed our tremendous potential in research and education now and in the future.
Cheryl Regehr’s advice for new students at U of T
Be kind – to others and to yourself.
Keep learning – education is such a privilege and is the seed for unlimited growth.
Believe in yourself – you are part of a brilliant and creative community, and you belong here.
What’s next for you?
While I have continued to do research while I’ve been provost, I’m looking forward to focusing even more on this. In my work, I focus on topics such as the impact of workplace stress and trauma on decision-making, especially in emergency services and health-care professions. I’m also very interested in studying cyberviolence against professionals serving the public, a phenomenon that is sadly becoming more common. This work is with partners at both U of T and other universities. I look forward to beginning my post-provost time in the U.K. as a visiting professor at King’s College London.
Cheryl Regehr’s advice for new students at U of T
Be kind – to others and to yourself.
Keep learning – education is such a privilege and is the seed for unlimited growth.
Believe in yourself – you are part of a brilliant and creative community, and you belong here.
