- Faculty List
Professor
J. Wong, MA, PhD
Introduction
Munk One, provided by the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, provides first-year students with an interdisciplinary program focused on innovation and global problem-solving, investigating the central questions that lie at the heart of teaching and research in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, namely issues of global institutions, markets and civil society. Through case studies of some of the most complex challenges worldwide, students in Munk One will examine innovations that have succeeded and failed, when innovation occurs, how innovation can be fostered, and how obstacles to innovation can be overcome. Students, faculty members, and practitioners working together draw on the breadth of interdisciplinary research and teaching in the Munk School to examine problems and solutions for complex global problems.
The Munk One experience integrates small group seminars with hands-on research and analysis of global problems. Limited to an enrolment of 25, students in Munk One enrol in the two (2.0 credits) courses offered in the Program. The seminar courses promote small-group discussion and emphasize research, analytical, and presentation skills. A lab course gives students the unique opportunity to tackle real-world problems with faculty and graduate students, building connections with their coursework through research-based opportunities that identify problems around the globe and seek to address them through innovative and empirically-grounded solutions. Beyond the classroom, Munk One engages students in the dynamic global conversation occurring in the Munk School, and offers students a vast array of co-curricular offerings such as access to the Munk School’s 500 events each year, insights from leading practitioners, field visits, leadership events, curated readings, and films. In the summer following their first year, Munk One offers students opportunities to apply these skills in the field by taking part in courses offered in places like Argentina, Israel, and Singapore.
By focusing on innovation throughout their foundational year, undergraduate students will receive early immersion in leading thinking on the current global architecture across the sciences, professional fields, humanities, and with perspectives drawn from around the world. Because of the intensive intellectual experience that Munk One will provide, we deliver these offerings through collaboration with the School’s flagship Master of Global Affairs and Master of Public Policy Programs. The result is a unique bridging of foundational year undergraduate education with the insights being developed in the School’s professional graduate program. In so doing, we expect that Munk One: Global Innovation will build a community of undergraduate students who are passionate about the increasingly interconnected and multipolar world in which we live, and who are also linked in closely with the graduate and professional student cohorts pursuing related questions across the Munk School.
The course offerings for Munk One are specifically designed to meet these goals. Global Innovation I: Issues and Perspectives emphasizes innovation as a key driver of economic growth, population health, and societal success. Relying on contemporary and historical cases across the globe, this course engages students on the question of when innovation occurs, how to identify moments of innovation, motivates students to explore who benefits from innovation and how innovation can be fostered. Global Innovation II: Challenges and Solutions, pushes students to explore the potential problems that often limit or hamper innovation – such as the challenges of implementation and scale. In so doing, students engage directly with the problem-solving approach that is also core to the Munk School’s graduate program, by relying on case studies of some of the most complex challenges worldwide, and examining interventions that have succeeded and failed to address them.
As identified above, in addition to seminar courses and co-curricular activities, students in Munk One will each be placed in research labs working on real-world global problems, such as digital governance, environment, global health, ethnic conflict and security, and economic development. Through these laboratory opportunities students will work with interdisciplinary teams to conduct research, develop reports, participate in roundtables, and learn how to identify and address complex global problems. These labs uniquely provide students a platform to draw from and refine their Foundational Year experience. Students will gain experience in a structured multidisciplinary approach to addressing global problems, engage in innovative global problem-solving, and drill down on substantive areas of interest within the field of global affairs.
All first-year students in the Faculty of Arts & Science (St. George campus) are eligible for admission. Students must submit an online application with a resume and supplementary application.
Program Director: Professor Rie Kijima, rie.kijima@utoronto.ca
Program and Events Coordinator: Simone DeFacendis, munk.one@utoronto.ca or 416-946-0326