Woodsworth student & recent alumna win 2025 Undergraduate Awards of Excellence in Economics

Recent Woodsworth alumna, Keyi Fan, and current Woodsworth student, Wanying Yang, won the 2025 Undergraduate Awards of Excellence in Economics. The 5 March ceremony at Max Gluskin House recognized the winners of 22 awards with a total value of $35,979.84 in prize money. Award recipients were celebrated for coursework completed during the 2023-2024 academic year.  Donors Robert Douglas, Louise Harris, Ilana Hosios, and Patricia Higgins attended the celebration to present certificates to recipients.  

The Arthur Hosios Scholarship in Economics 

This scholarship was named in honour of Arthur Hosios, former chair of the department. Established by the family and friends of the late professor, the scholarship is held by one or more students based on an original research paper submitted as part of the requirements of a 300 or 400 level economics course taken at the St. George campus. The applicants' work is evaluated based on originality and presentation. There are two awards - one each for the winning paper and the runner-up.  

The 2025 Hosios Scholarship winner, Keyi Fan, returned to Toronto from Boston to pick up her prize at the ceremony. Now a master’s student at the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy, Keyi is continuing the work she started at the Department of Economics in ECO499 examining the impact of Ontario’s greenbelt on surface water pollution.  

“I really appreciate the education I received here,” Keyi, an alumna of Woodsworth College, said at the ceremony. “I think it was focused on common human values that we see worldwide. I especially appreciate the people I met who love doing research.” 

Keyi’s paper In the Ontario Greenbelt’s Green-keeping: Evaluation of its Impact on Surface Water Pollution and Environmental Conservation is accepted for presentation at the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Summer Conference at the end of May. 

The Banker's Scholarship in Economics 

This award was established with gifts from the Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Royal Bank of Canada, and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1891. It goes to the student with the highest standing in the intermediate macroeconomics course sequence. It is awarded based on academic merit and financial need.  

The 2025 winner is Wanying Yang, a statistical sciences specialist and economics major with Woodsworth College, who plans to pursue a graduate degree in data science.