Meet the 2020-2021 Innovation Hub Team!

Betelehem outdoors, smiling to the camera
Betelehem Gulilat, Writer & Editor

This year at the Innovation Hub we are excited to continue our work for students by students with our largest and most diverse team yet! Like many, we have adapted to the “new normal” by re-directing our team into a collaborative virtual space to help keep our momentum going through the coming year. Despite these uncertain times, our multidisciplinary team continues to mirror the diversity of the University of Toronto community and is expanding to support our growing number of projects.

Join the Design Thinking Experience Program!

Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Leader
Charis Lam, Writer

In January 2020, the Innovation Hub and the Centre for Learning, Leadership & Culture will launch a Design Thinking Experience Program for students and staff. Building on the success of the Innovation Hub’s student-exclusive design thinking bootcamps, this program will continue to address challenges in the student experience at UofT while providing participants with hands-on training in design thinking; moreover, it will bring staff and students together to encourage dialogue and broaden perspectives on what is possible at UofT.

Meet the Team—Fall/Winter 2019/20

Charis Lam, Writer

This academic year brings new and returning faces to the Innovation Hub. As always, we have assembled a team with diverse disciplines and interests but a shared excitement for the work we’ll do, including:

  • Working with the Presidential & Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health,
  • Improving the experience of student parents with the Family Care Office,
  • Creating ideas for space redesigns with the Transforming the Instructional Landscape Project & our Kinesiology and Physical Education partnership,
  • Gathering student feedback for the Division of Student Life,
  • And partnering with Rotman I-Think.

The Innovation Hub: Our Vision for 2019–20

Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Leader

At the Innovation Hub, we are what we do. We commit ourselves to community growth through prototyping and iteration, not only in the design projects we take on, but also in designing our own work processes. By being responsive to the changing needs of the community—both internally, within our own team, and externally, with our project partners—we continually improve our practices.

The Innovation Hub is Hiring!

Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Leader

As we look forward to the new school year, the Innovation Hub is excited to assemble a team for our upcoming and continuing projects. We want to offer our potential team members the opportunity to both contribute to the university and learn new skills: we’re looking for dedicated students who are interested in improving campus life by focusing on student needs, and we’re also offering those students training and hands-on practice in human-centred design. We hope to put together a diverse team that enjoys the challenges of our work!

Read below for job descriptions, and go to the Career & Co-Curricular Learning Network work study job board to learn more and apply.

Meet the Team—Summer 2019

Charis Lam
Writer

How can we make Convocation more accessible? What makes a classroom great? What support do student parents need? How can staff and students work together to create effective programs?

These are some of the questions driving this summer’s Innovation Hub team. We’ll answer them by listening to the stories of students and staff, shining a searchlight on how they interact with the university—in lecture, at Convocation, at work—and how the university can reach out in response.

The Innovation Hub is Hiring for Summer Work-Study Positions!

By Kaitlyn Corlett, Project Assistant and Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Projects Officer

Kaitlyn CorlettPhoto of Julia

Now that the winter term is coming to a close, it’s time to consider some exciting opportunities at the Innovation Hub for the summer 2019 term. The Innovation Hub offering a wide range of work-study positions open to all students who meet the eligibility requirements. These positions offer opportunities to work with various areas at the University of Toronto in team-oriented environments that are supported by innovative, design-thinking practices.