By Sean McNeely

When Stephen Wright became dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, a pleasant familiar feeling returned.

“I felt like an undergrad again, but without the exams.”

As dean, he’s filled with the same intrigue and enthusiasm for all of the research, discoveries, and accomplishments happening across the faculty’s departments, interdisciplinary centres, schools, and institutes, and the institutional strategic initiatives it supports, just as he was when he cracked open his notebook as a first-year U of T student in 1994.

“I still get excited about the breadth of what we do across Arts & Science,” says Wright. “That’s something I’ve enjoyed about the role from day one. I had extremely broad interests back then and continue to have them today.”

Wright returned to U of T in 2008 as an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, becoming a full professor in 2016. He served as chair and graduate chair of the department from 2019 to 2022, as well as interim chair and interim graduate chair the following year. He then served as interim dean in 2025 for a year, becoming dean this summer, with his term concluding in 2031.

An internationally recognized scientist in the emerging field of plant evolutionary genomics, he uses genomic data to address longstanding questions about plant evolution, and in turn applies evolutionary theory to uncover new insights into genome structure and function. His work examines how plant genomes change, conserve traits and diversify over time.

“I had extremely broad interests back then and continue to have them today.”

Wright holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Population Genomics. He is the recipient of an E. W. R. Steacie Fellowship, the Steacie Prize for Natural Sciences, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and the Margaret Dayhoff Award for Research Excellence. He was inducted into the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, Royal Society of Canada in 2015 and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2024.

But before all of this, he was an eager biology student living at the Sir Daniel Wilson residence as a member of University College.

“I had a magical first-year experience,” he says. “It was that consciousness-raising that you really want students to have in first year. I took extremely broad courses: biology, anthropology, art history, philosophy and math, reflecting the breadth of my interests. I felt like I was discovering new ideas every day.”

Beginning in second year, Wright began volunteering in labs and benefiting from experiential learning opportunities. Among his most memorable experiences was working as a research assistant on a graduate student’s thesis project near Matchedash Bay on the edge of Georgian Bay, where he spent time chasing bees with flowers taped to sticks to support field research. He also fondly remembers another course that took him to the rainforests of Ecuador.

“All that experiential learning culminated in my own research project in fourth year at the Koffler Scientific Reserve at Jokers Hill,” he says.

That first independent study gave him valuable hands-on experience in experimental design, fieldwork, data collection and analysis, as well as the process of publishing research findings.

But as an eager biology student, did he ever imagine one day sitting in the dean’s office?

“No, never,” he admits. “I was attracted to research, and I was quite taken with the academic path, but being dean didn’t cross my mind.”

His path to academic leadership began to take shape while serving as chair of his department.

“I felt that was my time to give back,” he says. “I was so well supported by U of T as a student and a faculty member. I felt taking on the chair role would be an important tour of duty.

“What’s emerged since then is more of a path of discovery—a realization of the opportunities and contributions one can make. What I’ve discovered through this trajectory is that serving as chair and now as dean is incredibly rewarding work in its own right.”

Among his many responsibilities, he’s currently overseeing the faculty’s latest academic plan, which he intends to unveil next spring. But he’s happy to offer a sneak peek into some of its high-level priorities.

“Certainly a passion of mine is continuing to expand and grow experiential learning opportunities for our students.”

“Certainly a passion of mine is continuing to expand and grow experiential learning opportunities for our students,” he says. “We’re one of the top research universities internationally. Aligning our strengths, we can educate the next generation in how to conduct and do independent research.

“Often, we think about experiential learning for students planning on pursuing academics. But it goes well beyond that. There are so many skills you can learn in undergraduate research—team building, project management, pitching your ideas, and getting feedback. Making sure our students can navigate and find those research opportunities is at the core of the alignment between our teaching and research missions.”

Wright is also focused on bolstering interdisciplinarity for undergrads, calling it “an inherent part of being at the Faculty of Arts & Science.”

“We’re excited to grow opportunities for students from different disciplines to be in the same classroom, or across classrooms, to learn together and share expertise, addressing some of the greatest challenges facing Canada and the world, like climate change or threats to democracy,” he says.

Building on this mission is the expansion of the faculty’s Sandbox program, which brings multiple classes together with a shared business or community partner to tackle real-world challenges through multidisciplinary collaboration.

The journey of today’s students will undoubtedly be influenced by AI, and Wright is committed to ensuring its adoption is human-centered and responsible, recognizing both its transformative potential and its associated risks.

“We have Institutional Strategic Initiatives like the Acceleration Consortium where our university is at the cutting edge of integrating AI to advance research,” says Wright. “There are incredible opportunities both at the research and undergraduate levels to educate and apply the use of AI technology for human good and for making discoveries.”

Harnessing this potential, the faculty is considering a course in AI and society where students from computer science, philosophy, political science and sociology will pool their expertise to reflect on the human impacts of AI.

With years ahead to shape the faculty’s future, what does success look like when his term concludes in 2031?

He also envisions Canada and the wider world taking notice of what Arts & Science undergraduates can accomplish.

“A thriving faculty where we continue to recruit is certainly part of it,” he says. “This is something we’ve had success with this past year, recruiting top international researchers.”

He also envisions Canada and the wider world taking notice of what Arts & Science undergraduates can accomplish, as they contribute to advancements in humanities, social science and science research.

“It’s going to be an exciting five years,” he says. “And I feel so privileged to now support the teaching and scholarship on a large scale across the faculty. Having been inspired and supported by this faculty on my own intellectual journey for so many years, it’s truly an honour to be able to work towards enabling many more such journeys. Student success is our success.”

Originally published September 4, 2026, on University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science News.