International Development Studies Students' Association (IDSSA)

🎉Hey class of 2028!🎉

A huge welcome to all our amazing Froshies at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus! It was awesome meeting so many of you at the GPA Booster event. We hope you had as much fun as we did!🎓

Your journey is just beginning, and we’re here to help make it unforgettable. Whether you’re into politics, international development, or geography, the PSSA,IDSSA,GCSA have your back! 🌍📚💼

Get ready for an incredible Fall Semester—new friendships, epic adventures, and plenty of opportunities to get involved. We can’t wait to see you thrive and grow!💪

Let’s make this year one for the books! 🥳📖

Frosh Week 2024 was a blast! 🎉 Excited to welcome the rest of our students as we dive into the fall term. Meet the new IDSSA team and get ready for an incredible year ahead! 🚀 Here‘s to 2024-2025 ✨

Join IDSC11 students in the IC Atrium from 11am till 3pm where they will be showcasing their projects for UTSC Global/International Health Week!! There are four groups presenting tomorrow so come through and support 🥰

We will be leading a round table discussion about Indigenous Sustainability after viewing a short documentary focusing on this topic as part of UTCS’s sustainability week on March 2nd at 5pm in AC227🌱

Participate in meaningful dialogue while enjoying a catered meal!

Find sign up information in our bio.

A UTSC Sustainability Week event!

From January 23 till January 26 during the Battle of the DSAs, and as previously announced on our stories, the IDSSA raised money to the Scarborough Women’s Centre. We are proud to be able to contribute to such an initiative that supports and empowers women, a cause very dear to our hearts and values❤️ We want to thank everyone who donated and helped us raise these funds, you are all amazing🥰

For more information about the Scarborough Women’s Centre, their work, and how to get involved, please check their website and social media platforms.

Hey folks!! Are you excited about the Battle of the DSAs as much as we are😍🔥
Please come show your support in donating for a good cause (stay tuned in the next few days as we announce our charity🫢)!! We will have a range of products and games you can choose from ranging from savory and sweet treats to stationary items and henna!! Come through and help us win this battle for a good cause✨✨

Locations of our tabling are as follow:
- Monday 23 January from 1-3pm: Meeting place
- Tuesday 24 January from 1-3pm: IC Atrium
- Wednesday 25 January from 1-3pm: Student Centre
- Thursday 26 January from 1-3pm: Student Centre

⚠️ Cash and e-transfer (email: [email protected]) options are available. ONLINE SALES WILL BE ON TOO DURING THE FOUR DAYS (link in bio)

Hey everyone! IDSSA would like announce that we are taking part in the battle of the DSA’s (Department Student Associations ) presented by SCSU. We are one of 7 DSA’s battling to raise the most money, to donate to a charity of our choice. Please help us achieve this crown by visiting us at our tabling locations across campus to purchase snacks, food, among other things that we will be selling! We will also have online sales where you will be able to buy items of your choice and pick them up at our tabling locations✨🔥🙌🏻
We will post our location on our stories, so please come out and support from Jan 23- 26th! All proceeds will be going to a good cause. We will announce the charity of our choice on your story in the coming days🥰🥰

The SCSU, DISE Collective, Africana & Feminist Political Economy, CRC and SSHRC present "How Universities Cannot Respond To Global Crises". 🌍🌿🌼🌸

The lecture series will be hosted by Dr. Michelle Stack who is an Academic Director of the Learning Exchange located in the East End of Vancouver for the University of British Columbia. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies. Her research agenda concerns how people, knowledge and institutions are categorized, and the influence of these categorizations on our ability to grapple with inequity. Additionally, Dr. Stack is a public intellectual who uses her teaching platform as a form of activist pedagogy.

During the lecture, Dr. Michelle Stack will be discussing materials that criticize knowledge holders at institutions. Her lecture will highlight the problematic platforms that universities operate on, as well as the reason why certain individuals get paid millions of dollars on the sunshine list. Moreover, her lecture will highlight student and faculty
solidarity in the fight for free education and access to equitable resources for all.
✨Date - December 1st
Location - SL232 (Second Floor of the 📍Student Center)
🕰Time - 6pm - 8pm
🥗Food - Free Food from the new 1265 BISTRO will be served for all participants

✨Professor Networking Mixer ✨
Questions about grad school, how to get work experience, or about the GDS field in general? Attend our Professor Networking Mixer on Thursday Dec 1 from 4:30- 6:00 pm to not only have your questions answered but to get to know your professors and peers.

Hello everyone! Join BIAAG & IDSSA this
Thursday, October 27th from 6-8 pm in SL232 for a night of spooktacular fun!👻🎃🧛‍♀️

We will be having an open and honest discussion on how patriarchal systems continue to affect various aspects of
our lives, and how we, in turn, can work together to "spook" the patriarchy!

Come dressed up in your spooky and magical costumes-the best dressed wins a $20 gift card! Free pizza, treats,
photobooth, and more! 🍕🍭📸

Join us on October 20th, 2022 from 11am-1:00pm to celebrate the Festival of Lights organized by the International Student Centre! The event will take place at The Meeting Place located in the Science Wing. It will be a chance to interact with students while getting to know more about Diwali. There will be henna painting, food, etc.
See you there✨💫🌟

Hey folks! Come join us at the EESA01 midterm review session to prepare for the Introduction to Environmental Science midterm exam on Oct 20th, 2022 on-campus in SL232 (Student Center-2nd floor) 📝 Get your doubts clarified and be ready to ace the exam! Can’t wait to see you all there !

Hey folks! Come join us at MGEA01 midterm review session to prepare for the Introduction to Microeconomics midterm exam on Oct 18th, 2022 on-campus in SL232 (Student Center-2nd floor) 📝 Get your doubts clarified and be ready to ace the exam! Can’t wait to see you all there !

Hey UTSC and fellow IDS students! We are so excited to announce that we will be hosting our first IDSSA Social for the year, this Wednesday at the Charles Brown Lounge in HL from 5pm till 7pm🙌🏻❤️ It will be a chance to meet the IDSSA team, meet new people, friends, and faculty from the department as well as PLAY SOME FUN GAMES and HAVE SOME PIZZA!!

We cannot wait see you all, be many😍

Location: HL - 4th floor in the Charles Brown Lounge
Date: Wednesday, October 5th 2022
Time: 5pm - 7pm

Today, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“The day of remembrance is an opportunity for Canadians to learn about the children who did not come home from residential schools as well as the harm caused by the multi-faceted policies of assimilation of which residential schools were only one. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.”

On this day, and every other day to follow it is not only important to show your support by wearing an orange t-shirt but also by continuing to educate others around you on the issues Indigenous communities face today, and more importantly continue practising allyship.
The IDSSA humbly stands alongside our indigenous communities in solidarity🧡

Join on Friday September 30th from 2-3pm EST the student led forum!!

Undergraduate Forum: Students will shape the undergraduate forum on a central question about your education that you find important to ask peers (for example, in your courses on international development). This means defining the forum question, forum participants, and deadline for submission of their short (around 1,500 word) essays.

The link to register is here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-does-it-mean-to-study-international-development-tickets-428006237177 (you can also find it on our bio).

Join the conversation led by amazing UTSC students in GDS! Many thanks to The Miami Institute for hosting this event.

Join the Global Development Studies department at UTSC for the annual Al Berry lecture!!

The 2022 Al Berry Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Kalpana Wilson from the Geography Department at Birkbeck, University of London, on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 from 7pm – 9 pm.

The lecture title is: 'Revisiting Gender and Development in a Time of Fascisms'.

Kalpana Wilson is a Lecturer in the Geography Department at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research explores questions of race/gender, labour, imperialism, fascism and reproductive rights and justice, with a particular focus on South Asia and its diasporas. She is the author of Race, Racism and Development: Interrogating History, Discourse and Practice (Zed Books, 2012) and co-editor of Gender, Agency and Coercion (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). She has written widely on themes of international development, revolutionary social movements and reproductive justice. She is a founder member of the campaigning organisation South Asia Solidarity Group.

This will be a hybrid event.

The in-person lecture will take place in AA 112, UTSC campus.

The Zoom link to attend the lecture online is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85174440391 (you can find the link in our bio).

Be many, hope to see you there to engage in meaningful conversations❤️🙌🏻

Meet Leen (she/her), our co-director of Marketing;

- Program: IDS Co-op/ Minor in Political Science
- Year: Second year
- Hobbies: traveling, running, binge-watching Netflix, advocacy
- Fun fact: I don’t really like ice cream😬

❤️

Meet Simal (she/her), our co-director of Marketing

- Program: Major in IDS/Minor in Political Science and Public Law
- Year: Fourth year
- Hobbies: gardening, reading, painting, cooking
- Fun fact: If you want to go anywhere with me chances are I'd make you walk thousands of steps, my best mode of travel is by waking!
❤️

Meet Sabah (she/her), our Director of Academics and Peer Support;

- Program: Major in IDS/Minor in Political Science and Public Law
- Year: Fourth year
- Hobbies: reading, sketching, cooking
- Fun fact: I've recently started to write my own book hoping to publish it one day!
❤️

Meet Tegra (she/her), our director of Administration and External Affairs;

- Program: IDS Specialist
- Year: Second year
- Hobbies: Dancing, songwriting and poetry writing
- Fun Fact: I recently just ate poutine. I always hated it all my life lol 😂
❤️

Meet Vyshnavi (she/her), our vice-president:

- Program: IDS Specialist/Major in Public Policy
- Year: Fourth year
- Hobbies: Calligraphy, drawing, writing
- Fun fact: I speak 4 languages!
❤️

Meet Nashwa (she/her), our vice-president;

- Program: IDS Co-op/Minor in Political Science
- Year: Third year
- Hobbies: cooking, fitness and discovering hidden gems in Toronto
- Fun fact: I love green tea ice cream!
❤️

Meet Jessie (she/her) our president;

- Program: IDS Minor
- Year: Third year
- Hobbies: dancing, travelling, badminton, marketing, eating dessert
- Fun fact: I got a thousand pics in 2 days while travelling with friends. And I love following the wind.
❤️

Hello everyone! In the next few posts we will be introducing our executive team for this year!! The IDSSA executive team is very excited to see what this year hold for us❤️🥰 Stay tuned!!

Hello UTSC and WELCOME BACK!! We are so excited to see you all back on campus for this year and can’t wait to see you in our future events!!

Join us in welcoming this academic year at the Humanities Wing Patio on September 6th from 9am to 3pm. You will get the chance to meet the IDSSA team and learn more about our DSA!

Voting is now closed!! Thank you to everyone who was part of the process - those who applied and those who voted! A warm congratulations to our new President and Vice Presidents 🎉

To everyone who applied for a hired position: please expect an email soon regarding interview scheduling! Thank you 💚

Hi everyone, my name is Jessie Yang and I’m running for the position of IDSSA President for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. I am currently a second year student doing an International Development Studies Minor and specializing in Management and Marketing. My favourite part of the day is to make breakfast and watch Global News.

I have always been passionate about creating positive changes and giving back to the community, which is why I decided to join the IDSSA in fall 2020, working as the apprentice for the Directors of Marketing. During this 2021-2022 school year, I have worked as the Director of Marketing.

During my 2 years of working experience within the IDSSA, I have been involved in several areas such as event planning, developing, and marketing. Through these experiences, I have learned a lot about the IDSSA’s mission and running structures, I already see IDSSA as a huge family, under the respectful and equal environment, we support and empower each other, we together create changes for students in the IDS program and greater UTSC community.

Campaign points:
- Providing more opportunities and channels for IDS students to access to professional development opportunities, networking with other IDSSA from other universities, IDS alumnae/alumni, IDS field  professors, NGO organizations, and opening the window to hear students’ voice and needs.
- Bringing back more in person events, such as IDS Gala, to help strengthen the IDS community relationships and continue building connections with peers.
- Getting  more deeply involved with the local community, setting up volunteer programs to provide all students a chance to go into the field and help the community’s development, creating meaningful changes together, and gaining real-world experience.