Professor Meric Gertler
President, University of Toronto

invites University of Toronto alumni and friends to attend a reception, featuring a special presentation:

Thinking Out Loud Together, On and Off the Page

with

Professor Randy Boyagoda
Vice-Dean, Undergraduate
Professor English Department
Faculty of Arts and Science
Provostial Advisor on Civil Discourse
University of Toronto

and

Jennifer Szalai
Nonfiction Book Critic, The New York Times

Why has it become so difficult to disagree with each other and what can we do about it? In this panel discussion, The New York Times book critic Jennifer Szalai (HBA 1999 VIC) and University of Toronto advisor on civil discourse Randy Boyagoda (HBA 1999 TRIN) explore the state and stakes for civil discourse in books and culture, in campus life, and broader public life itself.

Professor Randy Boyagoda

Novelist and professor Randy Boyagoda is the university’s advisor on civil discourse.

He is the author of six books, including four novels, and regularly contributes opinions and reviews to publications including the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Financial Times of London, and the Globe and Mail. A past president of PEN Canada, Professor Boyagoda has also served as Principal of St. Michael’s College, Acting Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life, and is currently Vice-Dean Undergraduate, in the Faculty of Arts and Science. An alumnus of the University, Professor Boyagoda lives in the east end of the city with his wife and four daughters.

Jennifer Szalai

Jennifer Szalai has been the nonfiction book critic for The New York Times since 2018. She was previously an editor at The New York Times Book Review.