Professor Linda Munk Scholarship fuels Matthew Molinaro’s vision for Black and diaspora studies

Mar 9, 2026

*Matthew Molinaro is the 2024–25 recipient of the Professor Linda Munk Graduate Futures Scholarship.*

Matthew Molinaro is exploring the literatures and histories of the African diaspora, Caribbean and Americas in the Department of English, thanks to the Professor Linda Munk Graduate Futures Scholarship.

“The scholarship made it possible for me to fully concentrate on my work,” Molinaro says. “I could seamlessly write, think, read and do my research without distractions – and then come into the classroom as my full self.”

The scholarship is awarded each year based on academic merit to one full-time incoming master’s student and is crucial for recruiting top students like Molinaro to the department. Receiving the generous scholarship as the 2024–25 recipient made Molinaro’s decision to attend U of T an easy one.

For Molinaro, the scholarship represents more than financial support – it’s a vote of confidence in his path forward as a scholar. “The award is such a sincere and heartfelt investment into my graduate career,” Molinaro says.

Parallels between Munk’s work and his own

Molinaro, who joined the English PhD program after completing his MA, received news of the award as he was wrapping up his undergraduate degree at McGill University in 2024. He welcomed the invitation to return to his hometown and begin graduate work at U of T.

As he learned about the scholarship, Molinaro saw parallels between Professor Emerita Linda Munk’s work as a journalist and his own. He was struck by Munk’s courage in reporting from behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, the speed with which she completed her PhD and her incredible tenure as a professor.

“Her standards reminded me of my best professors, who are extremely rigorous and ultimately changed the course of my life – professors who inspired my appreciation for poetry, literature, American studies and the entire discipline of English,” Molinaro says. “I am honoured to receive this award in her name.”

Molinaro brings together a wide range of interdisciplinary interests in his graduate work, including aesthetics, critical theory, gender and sexuality, racial capitalism and radical spatial practices.

Beyond the Department of English, his studies throughout his master’s degree and PhD involve collaborating with the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies, the Women & Gender Studies Institute and the Department of History.

“The English department is so flexible,” Molinaro says. “They give you the space to develop your interests on your own terms. I felt that trust immediately.”

Paying it forward as a PhD student

Molinaro values U of T for the interdisciplinary work taking place at the Department of English and across the entire tri-campus. Even before he started at the university, he was aware of the important contributions of scholars like Professor Larissa Lai, the Richard Charles Lee Chair in Chinese Canadian Studies and Assistant Professor Angelica Pesarini from the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies.

“There are a lot of important questions and scholarship happening at U of T about race, gender, sexuality and nation that I just haven’t seen in the Canadian context,” Molinaro says.

Classes with Lai and Pesarini and work with his mentor in the Department of English, Associate Professor Karina Vernon, inspired him and helped shape his research interests.

“I want to advance Black studies, the study of African diaspora literature and the humanities however I can – even if it’s in my own small way as a PhD student.”

By Coby Zucker