Dear IDS Community – Students, Staff, Faculty:

A warm welcome back as we begin this new academic year, 2019-2020. I would especially like to welcome all of our new students in the Specialist, Major, and now our new Minor programs in IDS who are joining us for the first time.

CCDS and the IDS programs offer you a unique four/five year opportunity to learn about conditions of poverty, inequality, and oppression that continue to prevail in our world, and to develop the kind of critical thinking and analytical skills that will propel your careers forward and give you the tools to seek viable, sustainable and just solutions to the challenges we all face. This is worthy end-point – but to get there, you will need to work hard, be willing to learn from the excellent professors you will encounter throughout your time at UTSC and, perhaps most importantly, not be afraid to ask critical questions.

Of course, being a student is not all about studying! It is also about learning outside of the classroom, having fun, and looking after yourselves. To help you with this, we have a wonderful and vibrant IDS/CCDS community and I encourage you all to get involved. There are always a wide array of activities outside of the classroom available to you all – from our IDS Potlucks (see below), to the activities of the IDS Student Association (check out the IDSSA link on this website), to the very professional student-run International Development Conference (IDC) that will take place in the Winter term, to the talks, seminars, and lectures hosted by the Centre for Critical Development Studies, the administrative home of the IDS programs (see below). We want this to be a vibrant intellectual home for all of you – but it can only be so if you take the courage to get involved, come to our events, and take advantage of the opportunities that await. See below for some of the highlights...

In closing, I wish you all an excellent 2019-2020. I hope I will have the chance to meet you all!

Paul