Innis College, one of the seven colleges at U of T, hosts a number of programs within its tight-knit community, including Cinema Studies, Urban Studies, and Writing and Rhetoric. These programs boast fantastic faculty who represent the very best of what Innis has to offer. We sat down with Assistant Professor David Roberts of the Urban Studies department to get his take on the college, his experience, and how his passion for cities drove him to become a professor at U of T.

Innis Herald: Tell us a bit about what your role is here at U of T?

David Roberts: I’m a professor in the Urban Studies program. We’re a very small program—there’s two full-time faculty and then a bunch of other people who come into the program and teach in different roles. I’m one of the two full-time faculty members and so I teach a wide variety of classes, from introductory classes in Urban Studies to things that are aligned with my interests: so, cities and popular culture, mega-events, and so on.

IH: When did you begin teaching, did you do anything before coming to U of T?

DR: I have been at U of T for 11 years, and I came here as a master’s student, and I moved on to my PhD, did my postdoc here, and then I got a job at Innis. I started teaching classes in my PhD program, mostly in the Department of Geography, here at the downtown campus as well as the Scarborough campus.

IH: What drew you to Urban Studies?

DR: I transitioned over to Urban Studies as a fulltime faculty member five years ago and have been there since. I was very interested in how the city works and why we have inequality and what are the factors around that, and so became attracted to the Geography program here, to study urban geography. I’ve always been an urban person and fascinated by how cities work but also how also cities don’t really work that well.

IH: What about Innis is most appealing to you?

DR: I think Innis is a great community. So, the nice thing about Innis is that, you know, the university is huge. There are 80,000 students at the university, and it can be really impersonal. But Innis, we have a much smaller subset – we’re one of the smallest colleges, and yet we are able to create a vibrant community through things like the Innis Herald, through all kinds of events that we host, and through just having small programs. So, the nice thing about Urban Studies is that I get to know most everybody who is a Major or Specialist in the program, because they’re taking classes with me, and often, more than one. I don’t think that’d be the case in a larger department.

IH: What do you do for fun?

DR: I like traveling quite a bit, I’m still trying to see the world, so that’s a big part of it, I like going to live music shows, exploring Toronto, and also exploring other cities.

IH: How do you try to get students interested and engaged in your work?

DR: I think students get interested in my work because I talk about it in class. Part of how I teach is through things that I’m passionate about, including the research that I’m doing, and that has inspired some students to want to do similar work, whether it’s work on research projects that I’m engaged in currently or work that’s inspired by what I’ve done.

IH: If you could give any career or academic advice to students, what would it be?

DR: Explore as many different options as possible. It’s easy to have tunnel vision in your university days and to focus really hard on whatever your majors are. At the same time, I think what you really want to be building, especially as an undergrad, is an intellectual curiosity about school, about work, and some skill sets that are around critical thinking, the ability to communicate complex ideas, development of your own personal vision, and voice about contemporary issues that are happening, because it’s hard to imagine what the job market in four years, or in 10 years, or in 20 years. The landscape of employment is changing rapidly, so the best thing to do is to be well-rounded, I think. That’ll open up a lot more possibilities for you than having an expertise in one topic.