The tales of the “enterprising propensity for practical jokes” that students demonstrated over the years at UTIAS got us to wondering what other stories are out there...

As you know, we will be launching a microsite for the 75th anniversary and we would love to collect stories about your deeds and misdeeds as students at UTIAS to feature on the microsite.

Of course, everyone loves a good misdeeds story, but our current students are also interested in stories with a flavour of what it was like when you were at UTIAS. For example, when Dr. Rocco (Rocky) Martino (5T6) gave a talk to the students a number of years ago, he spoke about completing his PhD on the first computer purchased by UofT. The computer was so large that Rocky wore roller skates to get from one end of that computer to the other!

Please send your best stories about the deeds and/or misdeeds of your UTIAS student days to joan.dacosta@utoronto.ca.

Please make sure to include the years you were at UTIAS, what degree you obtained, and who your supervisor was.

Speaking of Rocky Martino, he received the Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction Award in 2017. Take a minute to read his bio because you just might be surprised by some of the things he did that have affected our lives:

Something UofT did not mention in Rocky’s bio is that he digitized the Vatican library, which was one of the reasons he was knighted by Pope Saint John Paul II as a Knight of St. Gregory.

The last time that I saw Rocky in person, he was leaving UTIAS and heading to Rome to meet Pope Francis. He sent me the photo below, which was taken by his wife, Barbara.

We look forward to receiving your stories!