F. T. Metcalf Award holds open doors for scholars of women’s studies, history

two women students sit on couch, laughing

Established in her late father’s name, Diane King’s donation helps students afford Arts education

 

The newly established F. T. Metcalf Award supports students who are forging new paths for themselves and their families. Donor Diane King knows the value of an education – especially in the arts – firsthand.

“University opens avenues. It gives you access to people and points of view which you might not have access to through your family or community,” says King, who entered Queen’s University as an English Literature student in 1959. She worked on a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Toronto in 1964, but was hired to teach undergraduate classes at Western University before completing her degree.

The endowed scholarship, designed to help support students with financial need with a preference for students in History or Women’s Studies programs, was established by King in 2019 as a tribute to her late father, who had encouraged her to attend university despite not having gone himself. Her daughter Sarah, a UTSC faculty member for the past 18 years, inspired her to set up the scholarship at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

“Sarah works with many students who are the first people in their family to go to university,” says King. A significant proportion of UTSC students are first-generation university students, many of whom are newcomers to Canada, or the children of immigrants.

“That was not my experience,” says King, whose grandparents arrived from England in the early twentieth century. “I was the first person in my family to go to university, though. That was something I could relate to.”

The payout of King’s investment in students’ success is matched 1:1 by the University through the Boundless Promise program. The first scholarships were awarded to two students in 2020, including third year Women and Gender Studies major, Andrea Davina Ramdeo.

“This year has been tough and receiving this award truly showed me there is always good to come,” said Ramdeo, who aspires to becoming a teacher herself.  

“My undergraduate experience changed my life. I hope that helping these students will help to make their lives richer.”

“One of the things I didn’t expect, that I’ve heard from the students, is that it’s nice to get some money because it encourages you. It shows someone believes in you. My undergraduate experience changed my life. I hope that helping these students will help to make their lives richer,” says King of the impact she hopes the award will have.

King especially wanted to support students pursuing an education in the Arts.

“It is sometimes difficult to make a case for studying the Arts today,” explains King. “Your family may not understand your desire to do that rather than studying subjects which will enable you to join a profession or to work in business. But I feel the arts are important. Reading English and History, taking courses in Philosophy or Psychology, Economics or Politics, listening to lectures, writing papers, learning how to analyze arguments and to think critically about what you read enables you to look at what’s happening in the world around you differently, to put it in a broader context.”

As an endowed scholarship, the F. T. Metcalf award will be able to support students in the arts in perpetuity. King feels her businessman father would approve, as “giving someone an education pays enormous dividends, both for the person and for society.”  

 

Photo: Two UTSC students (David Lee)