Alumni & Friends

 

From Professor Simon Coleman, Chair of the DSR Alumni Committee

 

Simon Coleman
Professor Simon Coleman

Greetings, DSR alumni! We are delighted to welcome you to our website and to bring you up to date with the department’s alumni activities.

The DSR celebrates its 50th birthday in 2025-6, and over the course of those five decades we have seen a long line of undergraduate and graduate students go on to successful careers both in religion and a whole host of other fields. We hope that you, our alumni, feel connected with that history, but we are also keen for you to be involved in the present and future of the DSR.

As a department, we have been working hard to create a more intimate community of learning, teaching and conversation within the university. We are developing physical spaces for undergraduates as well as graduates to gather within the DSR, and we host a variety of events (seminars, public talks, parties) to foster contacts among all who have a relationship with our teaching, research and outreach.

Alumni are an integral part of our community, and it is invaluable for our current students, both undergraduate and graduate, to connect with you to learn from your stories of life after the DSR. Above all, we want to show you that, as DSR alumni, you are remembered and appreciated, and we would very much like to see you remain involved with the life of the DSR, and the University of Toronto. 

We send out a regular digital newsletter that includes news of alumni achievements and current profiles. Alumni are regularly invited to contribute to classes, professional development sessions and career seminars, and we continue to develop still closer links with our undergraduate and graduate student associations. 

We have also instituted an annual Alumni & Friends Lecture, and it would be wonderful to see you there. Mindful that our alumni are spread far and wide, we offer this lecture in hybrid format so that you can join us online if you are unable to attend in person.

It is always such a pleasure to hear from you, so please do be in touch and bring us up to date with what you've been doing since you studied with us!