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45th Anniversary Logo for Woodsworth College

45th Anniversary of Woodsworth College

Alumni
Community
November 6, 2018

The College was founded in 1974 and in 2019 we will celebrate our 45th anniversary.

Celebrate 45!

Beginnings

Woodsworth College was established on January 1, 1974.  It was founded on the efforts of students who were primarily studying part-time on the St. George campus and who wanted the same opportunities as full-time students enjoyed at the time.  The College came into being once the University decided that part-time degree students should be formally integrated as one of the Arts & Science colleges and hence we became the 7th college on campus.  

Through these student efforts and struggles, Woodsworth College became a beacon for diversity for student pathways to post-secondary education, notably through the Pre-University Program that to this day (now the Millie Rotman Shime Academic Bridging Program) offers students a chance to enter degree studies after having been away from formal education for some time.

The College is now the home to a large and diverse student body of mostly full-time students, but we still provide essential access programs and pride ourselves in being a college that seeks to constantly expand and enrich the student experience. Read more about our history here.

Alumni Reminisce

We asked alumni to contribute to alumni stories of their time at Woodsworth College.  If you would like to contribute a story, please email it to alumni.woodsworth@utoronto.ca

Here are two such stories:

As a part-time student, B.A. '71, I was very involved with APUS (Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students). I represented the part-time students on the University-Wide Committee, then meeting to plan new governing structures at U of T.

I remember as an undergrad writing a petition to the Library Council pointing out that part-time students (most holding full-time jobs or full-time young family commitments) were unable to use University libraries that closed at 7:30 pm. I personally spoke of the unfairness of the notion that part-time students were not capable of writing good essays!

It was a difficult time for adults wanting to learn!  As a graduate, it has been good to see the great progress over the years.

Clarice Henschel

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My first day, as I walked to Woodsworth, I was quite nervous. I saw a sign in the window saying: "Don't Worry, We'll Help You." And they did! Every step of the way. Subsequently, walking in front of Robarts Library I felt my head exploding with all the knowledge I was getting. I found myself marveling that no one else seemed to notice. Thanks to Woodsworth for helping me get there!

Jeri Vrieze (BA '80)

College News

amir

Cancer researcher, entrepreneur and Justin Bieber’s DJ: A&S alum Amir Alam is a man of many talents

December 9, 2024

Amir Alam’s journey to the Faculty of Arts & Science started with a bet.

As a teenager, his love for creating music was ignited one night when he saw a DJ spinning records for a raucous crowd. He struck a deal with his mother: if he got accepted to every major Canadian university he applied to, she would buy him his first set of turntables. He won the wager after fast-tracking his last year of high school and receiving an offer of admission from U of T (along with other top-ranked schools) a few months later.

Alumni
Community