About Innis One
Innis One: Storytelling and Society is an exciting program designed expressly for first-year students in the Faculty of Arts & Science, regardless of which college you’re affiliated with.
These courses encourage you to develop their writing across diverse forms and genres.
You’ll find influences from the academic programs housed at Innis College: Cinema Studies and Writing & Rhetoric.
What is the Innis One Program?
Innis One: Storytelling and Society is an Innis-designed first-year thematic program comprised of four half-credit (0.5 FCE) courses. It’s one of seven unique “Ones” programs, each hosted by a specific U of T college under the Faculty of Arts & Science umbrella. As long as you are an Arts & Science student, you can register for any of the Ones programs, regardless of your college affiliation.
You can also register for FYF@Innis seminars; also designed for first-year students, these are individual, small-group courses that will pique your curiosity about a wide range of provocative issues and topics. Learn more about FYF@Innis seminars.
Why should I choose the Innis One Program?
As a first-year student you have so many program and course options to choose from; that can be overwhelming, especially when some of your courses take place in large lecture halls with many students. Innis One: Storytelling and Society offers you both experiential-based learning and the following unique opportunities:
- Develop and enhance creative methods of personal expression, important skills that will offer you a unique perspective well beyond first year.
- Build a community. This is especially important to starting off your university years on the right foot.
- Get to know your instructor. The small-group setting encourages close contact between students and their instructors, as well as lively discussion.
- Explore your current interests, and more importantly, find a new interest, passion, or even a future career direction. Based on their positive experience with Innis One, some students go on to more in-depth academic exploration of course themes.
- Develop intellectual independence and critical thinking skills. Learning how to thoughtfully question the status quo, and persuasively present your own point of view are vital academic, career, and life skills that you’ll develop and enhance during the Innis One Program.
What will I learn?
Drawing from Innis College’s academic programs — Cinema Studies and Writing & Rhetoric — Innis One teaches you that some of the best learning — not just about a subject, but about yourself — can happen beyond the lecture hall. Venture beyond the academy walls, as writers in the world. Undertake imaginative, inquiry-based, and creative learning. Discover the power of narrative through personal essay, cultural criticism, and other forms of writing that engage with social change.
What is the format?
Get ready to step out of the classroom. Within the four courses that comprise Innis One: Storytelling and Society, you’ll be with the same small group of no more than 25 students and a passionate professor ready to engage in dynamic discussions:
- Explore the city on field trips Listen to interesting guest lecturers.
- Watch and critique films.
- Express yourself through creative writing assignments, articles, blogs, and multi-media presentations.
Meet the program coordinator
Rima Oassey
Program Coordinator
Rima provides administrative support to Innis’s academic programs, including Innis One, the FYF@Innis seminars, and Writing & Rhetoric. Raised primarily in Montreal, Rima earned her BA in honours psychology from Concordia University. Prior to joining Innis in the Summer of 2024, Rima provided undergraduate support in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and, before that, at the University of Victoria in BC. She is passionate about student success and happy to answer any questions pertaining to Innis’s academic programs.
Contact Innis One
Need more info about Innis One? Not sure which courses are right for you? Innis College’s academic program coordinator, Rima Oassey, can help!
Explore all of the Innis One Courses!
Browse through the course listings to see what you’re interested in, and then visit the individual course pages for more information.
Learn the difference between Innis One and FYF@Innis seminars
Their names are similar, and both programs come under the First-Year Foundations (FYF) umbrella, but each offers different options.
Find research info for FYF Innis One Program
Find time-saving research tips and resources specific to FYF Innis One Program in the FYF Innis One: The Creative City Getting Started Guide.