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Fereshteh Hashemi, the DSR’s dedicated Graduate Administrator, won the Arts & Science Dean’s Distinguished Long Service Award for 2025, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the Faculty of Arts & Science research and teaching mission. She received the award at an Arts & Science ceremony on June 2, with a large contingent of DSR faculty, graduate students, staff, and family present to cheer her on.
Distinguished by her professional ingenuity as much as by her practices of care, Fereshteh has earned the deep respect and gratitude of DSR graduate students, faculty, and staff. In its description of this award, the Faculty of Arts & Science specifies that it is made to a non-academic staff member who “has distinguished themselves in ways that are beyond the expectations of administrative peers, academic colleagues and students” and that essential components are “spirit of generosity, community and dedication to the work, clients and members of the unit.”
The nomination package included several detailed (and convincing!) letters from faculty and graduate students, extolling Fereshteh’s accomplishments and virtues. She is responsible for everything from the beginning to end of a graduate student’s time in the DSR: from answering their questions about admissions, to administering graduate student funding packages, and ensuring a smooth and successful PhD Final Oral Examination. Her deep knowledge and expertise in these parts of her job are legendary, but it is her warmth, empathy and spirit of community that really stand out for faculty and students alike.
Shepherding students through the program and keeping them abreast of funding opportunities, deadlines, and SGS guidelines, Fereshteh uses her knowledge to give students in our program a sense of confidence that translates into strong academic performance. She also plays a crucial role in inspiring staff and faculty to participate in the life of the department in ways that go beyond their own job descriptions—bringing soup, lacing up skates, checking in on someone who needs encouragement, and taking time to drink a cup of tea with each other, even when the day feels all too busy. As the graduate students said in their letter of support: “As far as the graduate students at the DSR are concerned, Fereshteh truly lives up to her name and is indeed the “angel” (the meaning of her name in Farsi) in all of our lives.”
With characteristic modesty, Fereshteh is a little uncomfortable about being singled out in this way, but with equally typical grace also appreciates the department’s thankfulness for her contributions. That grace extends to showing her own gratitude in return, noting that it says a lot about the department and its culture that she is still here nearly twenty years after first stepping through the doors as a temp.
“I feel so blessed,” she says. “The department has always been so supportive of me, of my family, of a healthy work-life balance. And we’re friendly here!” But it isn’t only that: “I’ve always felt my opinion has been respected here. I’ve been so lucky: every single Director of Graduate Studies has been great to work with.” (The six DGSs who’ve benefited from Fereshteh’s extensive experience and calm, helpful demeanour feel the same way about their graduate administrator.)
Fereshteh’s route to the DSR was a circuitous one. Following an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from McMaster, she spent a couple of years in a melatonin research lab and then decided on a master’s degree in environmental studies at U of T. Marriage followed, with a few years of trying to balance having a family with work as a senior tutor and fourth-year course coordinator at the School for the Environment. She then made the decision to focus on raising that family and stopped working outside the home for a few years.
Returning to work, she did a stint at the Toronto Bay Initiative, a nonprofit environmental group, and then during a casual conversation she learned that the University of Toronto had its own temp agency. After various assignments around the university, she was called on to fill a half-time graduate administrator position at the Centre for the Study of Religion – working with the then Director of Graduate Studies, Pamela Klassen (now, of course, Chair and Graduate Chair of the DSR).
While the rest, as they say, is history, it is a quirk of fate that we had Fereshteh come to bat for our team at all. Her original ambition was to be a doctor, a GP. While that didn’t pan out, all the qualities that would have made her a good doctor were brought to bear on a different professional role. When asked what she likes most about her job at the DSR, her answer is unhesitating: “I love the students, when they drop in and chat about their lives. The stage of life that a graduate student is at, the getting married, the having kids, all that, it’s an amazing time. I love when people bring their babies in. That is my absolute favourite thing!” A rough estimate of how many? “Definitely upwards of 20,” she says. “Maybe even 30 if I sat down and worked it out.” [And she did subsequently – over 30, in fact! She has also been part of the journey of nearly 300 DSR graduate students.]
The keenness of her sense of the importance of community, her kindness and inclusivity, her talents as a facilitator – all these have made her an exemplary contributor to shared endeavours. These qualities also underlie her formidable administrative skills where, with the wellbeing of students and academic administrators in mind, she has been responsible for innovation in adopting tools, developing processes and reorganizing funding allocation. Ever adaptable, she is closely involved in the implementation of the university’s new funding model and we are certain (and extraordinarily grateful) that she will continue to come up with creative ways to keep the DSR’s graduate sphere flourishing.
