gradschool e-News, december 2009

In Focus
Photo of Morgan Vanek

Morgan Vanek

Morgan makes a consistent effort to take advantage of all that U of T has to offer for graduate students. A regular attendee of departmental events like coffee hour, brown bag lunches and lectures series, Morgan also steps outside of her department to engage in the wider University community.

"Without question," Morgan says her most rewarding extracurricular experience was serving as a departmental steward for the TA union (CUPE 3902), which offered her a productive outlet for her desire to make her classroom a safe and accessible place to learn.

Morgan is also involved with the Centre for Women and Trans People, where she helped facilitate a peer support group on mental health and body image. She served as a departmental representative with the Graduate Students’ Union, and recommends the Office for the Status of Women to any new female graduate student because of their "fantastic" mentoring program.

Other than reading, one of Morgan’s favourite things to do on campus is to attend WIDEN: Workshops on Interdisciplinary Exchange and Novelty, a biweekly graduate student symposium where other grad students talk about their research-in-progress in an informal environment.

Morgan recommends services like the archival research workshops at Robarts Library as an efficient way for new students to become familiar with U of T’s tremendous resources and applauds the research librarians at Fisher Rare Book Library. But when Morgan needs to buckle down and work, she finds the 'lack of reliable internet access' at the Green Beanery really helpful and loves the big jugs of unsweetened iced tea at the T Cafe.

Read more student reflections

.
©2009 University of Toronto