Academic Year Welcome 2026

All OCAD U faculty and academic support staff are invited to celebrate the beginning of a new academic year at the Academic Year Welcome (AYW) event. The event will take place on Wednesday, September 2, from 12:00 – 3:30 p.m. in the Great Hall at 100 McCaul St., Level 2. Lunch will be provided at the start of the event. 

This year’s AYW theme, Educational Futures in the Making invites participants into a conversation about education and the futures it helps to shape. The theme is grounded in the understanding that teaching is more than the transmission of knowledge. Through our courses, studios, labs, critiques, projects and community-based work, we help students learn what to notice, value, question, create and care for. Teaching therefore becomes a site where possible futures are imagined, tested and rehearsed. By bringing together pedagogical reflection, creative inquiry and collective dialogue, this year’s event encourages participants to encounter alternative possibilities, challenge assumptions about education and begin the academic year with curiosity. 

The event features four OCAD U faculty members who will offer their provocations on the theme through PechaKucha-style presentations. A PechaKucha is a dynamic, fast-paced visual storytelling format in which 20 images are presented for 20 seconds each, creating a concise visual presentation that communicates ideas, experiences, and insights. 

The featured presenters are Catherine Black (Associate Professor and Chair, Creative Writing, Faculty of Arts & Science), Sugandha Gaur (Associate Professor, Faculty of Design), David Griffin (Associate Professor, Faculty of Art) and Sarah Tranum (Associate Professor, Faculty of Design). 

Following the presentations, Educational Developers Adrienne Reynolds and Laura Thrasher will facilitate a dialogue with the presenters. Participants will also have opportunities to share their own reflections and perspectives throughout the event. The afternoon concludes with a celebration of the 2025-26 OCAD U Teaching Awards recipients. 

Event Overview: 

Before joining us on September 2, we invite you to consider one or more of the following questions:  
 

• What possible futures do our teaching practices manifest? 
• If teaching is a form of world-building, what kinds of worlds are we helping students to imagine, inhabit, critique and create? 
• What values and habits are present in our teaching today? What do we want to carry forward or leave behind as we shape the future of teaching and learning together? 

These questions will serve as touchstones for our conversations and for the collaborative Futures Wall that will take shape throughout the afternoon. 

This event is presented by the Office of the Vice-President, Academic & Provost and the Centre for Learning & Teaching (CLT). If you have any questions or access requests, please email: clt@ocadu.ca.