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IT'S A WRAP!
December 11, 2017
We bid farewell to 2017 and to undergraduate administrator Robbie Innes who retires this month after 26 years with the department.
Robbie InnesDecember sees the retirement of undergraduate administrator Robbie Innes, after joining the department in March 1991 – nearly 27 years of outstanding service to economics students and faculty. In fact, this was her third stint with the University, having worked at U of T twice before in other capacities: a total of well over 30 years contributing to the administration of this institution. Here’s a number to give pause for thought: since Robbie joined the department in 1991, she has overseen over 180,000 FCEs for economics courses. That’s a vast quantity of prerequisites checking and a lot of potential issues, too – and doesn’t include those who couldn’t ultimately get into a course! She has worked with six undergraduate chairs, all of whom have benefitted from her perspective and experience, and with a huge number of students who have relied on her advice and detailed knowledge of programs and their requirements.
In order to pay tribute to Robbie’s commitment, and taking inspiration from the well-known “ Twelve Days of Christmas†carol, several faculty members performed a specially composed “Twelve Months of Classesâ€. With humorous exuberance, they shone light on the trials and tribulations that have faced the stalwart Robbie over her time at the department. Gillian Hamilton, Arthur Hosios, Dwayne Benjamin and Don Dewees, supported by Martin Osborne who managed the accompanying slideshow, namechecked room complaints, ROSI crashes, transfer credits, and email avalanches – not to mention the untold numbers of excuses Robbie has encountered!
Gillian Hamilton, Arthur Hosios, Dwayne Benjamin and Don Dewees
As Dwayne Benjamin remarks, “this is a job for marathon runners, not sprinters.†He has worked with Robbie during the whole of her 26 years in the department, and served as undergraduate chair for five years: Not only was she “diligent and hardworking, and willing to go the extra mile during times of peak loadâ€, she demonstrated impressive endurance in dealing with the relentless number of student requests to avoid compliance with program rules or course prerequisites. While she was necessarily put in the position of having to say ‘no’ an awful lot of the time, Dwayne notes how “she took great delight in discussing the exceptions, where she was able to make a real difference in helping a student to succeed in our program or to take constructive alternative steps.â€
Current undergraduate chair Gillian Hamilton heartily agrees with his assessment, noting Robbie’s conscientious approach: “When dealing with a difficult decision, she would remind herself (and the rest of us!) that we should not construct rules that favour academically exceptional students. Our mandate should be to serve the typical student – often a struggling student with mixed academic success. She would carefully investigate a student’s academic history before rendering a decision or meting out advice.†Gillian adds, “Thank you, Robbie – I learned a lot from you! Your dedication and professionalism have been exemplary. You’re also a kind and caring person – we will miss you.â€
Taking to the podium following presentation of a gift from the department, Robbie began by expressing her appreciation of the cooperation she has enjoyed from faculty and instructors, as well as from the administrative staff. Particular gratitude went to “the undergraduate team, Jenny [Fan] and Deborah [Navarro], for their support sharing information, for the discussions we’ve had, their advice and opinions – and also the laughs.†Robbie thanked the most recent associate chairs for undergraduate studies – François Casas, Dwayne Benjamin and Gillian Hamilton – for providing a sound foundation to the undergraduate administration.
One thing we can be sure of is that Robbie won’t be taking it
too easy in retirement. She has a great interest in art (she is a member of Toronto’s Arts and Letters Club), and will now be able to devote more time to her own creative work. She is looking forward to the luxury of not having to squeeze activities in to all-too-short weekends, as well as the freedom to structure her own days – and having the time to follow up on whatever catches her interest. She referenced Lewis Carroll’s well-known poem, ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’, wherein the Walrus says, “The time has come to talk of many things†(one of which, you may recall, is whether pigs have wings). Robbie concurred: “A flight of fancy suits me fine,†she said. “I’ll let you know if I figure it out.â€
Check out the album for more photos from a well-attended and well-enjoyed holiday party!
Last updated on November 25, 2011