Academic Peer Helpers (tutors) support their peers’ development of confidence with course material and learning strategies, and also encourage students to develop self-regulation strategies to thrive academically.

“It’s great that the students were able to stay where they felt safe and still found ways to engage with their peers and support fellow Ted Rogers School students,” says Sandy Carpenter, Student Success Facilitator at ASC.

Third-year Accounting & Finance student Aleenah Hassan worked as an Academic Peer Helper from Pakistan. She returned to Pakistan in May 2020 because it was an unpredictable time with the pandemic and because she started feeling homesick. While Hassan initially found it hard to manage the 10-hour time difference, by the Winter semester, she was better organized and made sure to also add in time for herself during the day.

Third-year Hospitality & Tourism Management student Casey Vo worked as an Academic Peer Helper from Vietnam. Since school was going to be online for the Fall 2020 semester and she didn’t want to pay expensive Toronto rent, she returned home in August 2020. Despite the 12-hour time difference, Vo said it was not too difficult to do her work as a tutor because she had school in the Eastern Time Zone as well.

Fifth-year Business Technology Management Co-op student Ana Paula Lima has been a Peer Academic Coach since Fall 2019. She returned home to Brazil in December 2020 to spend time with her aging mother and to escape some of the loneliness caused by the pandemic. Thankfully for Lima, there was only a two-hour time difference in Brazil, so it didn’t interfere with work or school.

“Students were going through their first year of university completely online and studying from around the world in their own unique situations. We knew that creating a community for our students was more important than ever,” says Shabnam Ahmad, Fit for Business Lead. “With the Fit for Business program, we empowered students not only with a supportive community, but also a path to achieve success right from the start of their university experience.”

The foundation of Fit for Business is the TedPack – a cohort of students that has the same courses in their first term. Dr. Cynthia Holmes, Associate Dean, Faculty and Academic, created TedPacks to help build a sense of community for first-year students.

Ahmad built on the TedPack structure by designating first-year students as TedPack leaders and adding senior students to each group as TedPack mentors. “This created the feeling of belonging which students often said was their biggest fear about the transition to university,” Ahmad explains.

In addition, through a personalized weekly FFB email – one centralized channel exclusive to first-year students – students receive communication on everything needed to navigate their first year.

And, to encourage first-year students to take advantage of the services and unique offerings available, the FFB program rewards them with TedPoints for engaging beyond the classroom. The more TedPoints collected, the more opportunity there is for students to redeem them for rewards, such as access to senior leaders’ chats and sold-out Bootcamps.

The CCHL is a national, member-driven, nonprofit association which strives to provide the leadership development, tools, knowledge and networks that members need to become high impact leaders in Canadian healthcare.

“We are excited about this collaboration with Ryerson University, who show their commitment to health leadership by committing to have the CHE as a preferred designation for their students,” says Brenda Lammi, the CCHL’s Vice President, Leadership and Professional Development.

The MHA(CC), launched in 2018, is a professional graduate program at the Ted Rogers School that addresses the demand for skilled managers in community healthcare and support. It is the first of its kind in Canada.

“We are both privileged and proud to be entering into this alliance,” says Dr. James Tiessen, MHA(CC) Program Director. “It offers terrific opportunities for our students to develop the skills required to lead changes in the community care sector and build their careers.”

Sparkle spent over two years developing patent pending technology to efficiently and economically extract banana fibre from banana stem agro-waste to make sanitary pads. These pads are made from a combination of banana fibre, bamboo fibre and corn starch, and can biodegrade in about six months after disposal. The company uses locally sourced banana fibre in India, which provides extra income to farmers each harvest. Around 800,000 hectares of banana plantations generate roughly 64 million tonnes of agro-waste there.

Coming from a technical background, Virani gained the critical business skills needed to start Sparkle through the Ted Rogers MBA program.

Before pursuing his MBA, Virani had completed a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He wanted to apply his engineering skills and knowledge to solve real world problems. He decided to do an MBA because he wanted to learn more about business before starting a social enterprise.

“Coming from a technical background, my Ted Rogers MBA equipped me with required tools in business development, sales, marketing and entrepreneurship that have helped me with my start-up, Sparkle,” he explains.

Virani believes that if every company takes at least one positive action or initiates one socially responsible campaign, we can make this world a better place. “As responsible individuals and entrepreneurs, we should aim to find innovative solutions to today’s key challenges,” he says.

“Without access to sanitary pads, millions of girls and women in low and middle income countries use less hygienic alternatives during their periods, risking infection,” Virani explains. Through Sparkle’s “Buy One, Give One” initiative, every time a customer purchases one of their pads online, the company will donate a pad to a girl in need. With access to pads, girls can participate in school, engage socially and carry out daily activities with dignity.

After adapting to the post-secondary environment, he was eager to take advantage of the varying opportunities within the university that would support his academic, professional and personal development, and allow him to contribute to and support the success of his peers.

Moghaddas fulfilled numerous student leadership roles within the Ted Rogers School, including BUS 100: Strategies for Success Facilitator, Peer Academic Coach at the Academic Success Centre and Vice-President of Marketing for the Ryerson University Co-op Students’ Association. He was also elected to the Board of Directors to represent the Ted Rogers School at the Ryerson Students’ Union and a Ted Rogers School Student Senator for the Ryerson Senate.

“Through every leadership position I fulfilled, my mission was simple: to support the academic, professional and personal development of others,” he explains. “The personal adversities I endured fueled my desire to create a significant positive impact on fellow students who have experienced similar adversities.”

“I am forever grateful for my time at the Ted Rogers School, as it taught me to embrace adversity and become resilient, and allowed me to give back to the community,” says Moghaddas.

Since Dr. Gunn had a group project in her Leading in Retail Organizations (RMG 925) course and Dr. Fels had one in her Advanced eBusiness (ITM 550) course, they gave students the option to work with students from the other class to develop a Shopify business.

“With this project, students are able to bring their diverse interests, abilities and educational and work experiences to bear on a common goal,” says Dr. Fels. “Also, the two courses are teaching different aspects of the e-commerce retail world, so students from both courses have the benefit of learning and applying those different topics from each other.”

This unique learning experience was appealing to ITM student Shafiul Mazniabin. “I chose to do this project with Retail students because of the different perspectives they bring to the table with their retail knowledge, understanding of the customer’s requirements and other creative aspects,” he says.

As far as Dr. Gunn and Dr. Fels are aware, this is the first time there has been an interdisciplinary project at the Ted Rogers School that is embedded in two different courses and is credit-worthy.

“Students need to be able to come out ready to pivot and to work in an interdisciplinary way, and what we need to provide to them is this capacity in a way that’s embedded in what they’ve learned,” says Dr. Gunn.

Eight teams of four students each (two Retail and two ITM) participated in this project. Some of the businesses created involve international snack foods, thrift shopping, watches, high-end computer parts and lip care products.

“In projects like this, we learn with others and through engagement over a period of time using hard and soft skills,” says Retail Management student Belinda Chen. “We also brush up on our leadership skills and learn to put on different ‘thinking hats’ to collaborate and problem-solve.”

Fourth-year Retail Management student and Executive Vice-President of the Retail Students’ Association (RSA), Adriana Martinez was mentored by Carolyn Hynds, Vice President of Loyalty, CRM and Analytics at Rexall Pharmacy Group during the 2020-21 academic year.

The pair met for an hour each semester, and Martinez was able to ask Hynds questions about her career journey, what working in retail during a pandemic has been like and how to navigate being a leader in the virtual working world. She applied her mentor’s advice to managing her RSA team virtually and found it highly effective. Hynds was also available for additional contact points throughout the year, such as answering questions over email.

While Martinez says she enjoys attending panel discussions and listening to industry leaders, she felt that talking to Hynds on a more personal level was an invaluable experience. “We were able to maintain engaging conversations and speak candidly with each other,” she explains.

“There is no greater honour than playing a role in shaping the next generation of retail professionals,” says Hynds. “I can credit mentors with helping me see a possible future and build the confidence needed to achieve it.”

As he pursues his trailblazing postdoctoral project, with a particular focus on the related leadership of the Canadian sport business industry, Dr. Norman will be supported and informed by an industry advisory board representing some of Canada’s leading sport organizations, partners and media properties. This includes support and collaboration with MLSE Launchpad – MLSE’s community-based organization where youth facing barriers can use sport to recognize and reach their potential.

“Dr. Norman is an emerging scholar who has led critical investigation and insights that have opened discussion toward a more inclusive sport industry,” says Dr. Bradish. “As our industry deals with challenges and change, in particular as highlighted during the past year, his unique and innovative research work will help support positive change for the Canadian sport industry.”

One of the initiatives Dr. Norman has led since starting at the Ted Rogers School is the Sport, Diversity & Race Project. The project includes a new insights panel series on equity, race and inclusion which was launched by the Ted Rogers School, in partnership with the MLSE Foundation, MLSE LaunchPad and Ryerson’s Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion (OVPECI).

The monthly series, curated by Dr. Norman, features a range of sport practitioners, including athletes, scholars, industry experts and thought leaders reflecting on a variety of topics concerning the sport industry and system: what the industry sector has done well, what needs to happen moving forward and what are the long-term implications for the shifting sport landscape.

The first edition of this panel series debuted on May 26, 2021, just after the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death. It featured a group of Canadian sport and community leaders who are championing inclusion at all levels.

The main motivator for Robeznieks’ research is the lack of support by the NCAA and its member institutions in creating equitable opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities to compete at the collegiate level. His study explored the current challenges for, and strengths of, adaptive sport at the collegiate level, opportunities for the growth of collegiate adaptive sport programming and participation and strategies for integrating with the NCAA.

“Adaptive sport is not something that has to be, nor should it be, delivered in a segregated way,” he says. “Through slight modifications of delivery, adaptive sport can be inclusive of everyone.”

As a result of Robeznieks’ research paper and prior work, he has been employed by the University of Michigan to manage their adaptive sports and fitness program and implement the recommendations from his research project.

“A goal of the program is to have adaptive sport recognized as a varsity sport at the institution, and be the first NCAA Division 1 school in the United States to officially support an adaptive sport as a varsity sport,” he says. “In the future, I plan on using what I learn from my professional and academic experiences to build an adaptive sport and fitness program at a Canadian university.”

Dr. Gedeon, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, first became involved with student entrepreneurship at Ryerson in 2006 as a faculty advisor for Enactus Ryerson, a student-led nonprofit organization that empowers students to use entrepreneurship for social change. And it was Enactus that brought entrepreneurship to the attention of the university President.

The President and Provost later approached Dr. Gedeon to create a program to motivate students and alumni to discover innovations and act on them to start new ventures. The result was the Ryerson Entrepreneur Institute (REI), which he founded in 2008.

Dr. Gedeon has grown the REI to become a global leader in co-curricular student learning. He has inspired, funded and supervised dozens of student projects around the world, including food security in Nunavut, water purification in Egypt and India and sustainability in Peru. His Enactus student teams have won over 50 regional and national entrepreneurship championships as well.

In addition, Dr. Gedeon co-founded Start Smart, Startup School and Food Innovation Hub at Ryerson, and has made significant contributions to the Science Discovery Zone and Legal Innovation Zone at the school.

“I think every university needs to find its niche,” Dr. Gedeon explains. “With the largest entrepreneurship program in the world, 10 on-campus incubators, 75 different entrepreneurship courses and among the largest entrepreneurship faculties, Ryerson can distinguish itself on the world stage in the field of entrepreneurship.”

As Chair of the Entrepreneurship Curriculum Committee for many years, Dr. Gedeon has also helped transform the entrepreneurship degree program, implement accreditation and create new courses to support social innovation, experiential learning and zone education across campus.

Dr. Gedeon says that he is honoured to receive the Chancellor’s Award of Distinction. “I originally came to Ryerson because of its focus on high-quality teaching,” he explains. “Awards like this are tangible proof that Ryerson cares about teaching, and honours and recognizes this important contribution.”