(Supplied photo)
Awardee Committed to Creating Career Opportunities
Story by Elaine Smith
Jerome Poon-Ting, Senior Recruitment, Admissions & Diversity Officer for the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, is passionate about his role in recruiting law students and ensuring that they get a good start to their career journey.
“I work with them at the start of their application journey and I want them to make choices that will serve them well,” he said. “It’s important for them to make an informed decisions because education is often expensive and admission to law school is a big deal. They should enter with rational and open minds.
“I like their joy of discovery. I open their eyes to options and pathways, debunk misinformation and demystify procedures. It’s wonderful to see the world of possibilities open up for someone.”
For his extraordinary efforts to ensure a holistic and student-centred admissions process, Poon-Ting has received the U of T’s 2024 Jill Matus Excellence in Student Service Award. It recognizes individuals whose contributions to students and to student services are clearly demonstrated as going beyond the parameters of their job resulting in a broad and long-term positive impact on the quality of the student services at the University.
Read Jerome Poon-Ting is recipient of Jill Matus Excellence in Student Services Award
Poon-Ting, who calls himself “very much a process guy,” wants to ensure that the recruitment and admissions process runs more efficiently behind the scenes while giving a diverse group of people access to a legal education.
“Jerome elevates the student admissions customer service experience,” said Terry Gardiner, a former colleague who is now Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion for the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education. “He ensures that each of the over 360 students offered admission to the law school each year receives a personal phone call notification and follows up individually to answer questions and ensure that particular needs are identified and addressed early. … He also works closely with over 30 incoming international students each year, supporting their successful preparation for and transition into the U of T community and experience.”
Much of Poon-Ting’s work is data driven, based on information from surveys or application data. He has been at the forefront of efforts to gather and disseminate demographic information and shared aggregate demographic data on the law school's entering cohorts long before this was common elsewhere in Canada.
He also initiated a change to the business practice at the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre to help mitigate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in admissions file review by law schools across Canada.
As a former international student from Trinidad, he is a strong champion of equity, diversity and inclusion. Recently, he worked with the Ontario Law Schools Application Service (OLSAS) to collect and report applicant diversity-related data.
“I know what it is to come to a new country and culture and try to figure out how everything works,” Poon-Ting said. “It takes a lot of effort to thrive in a new culture, but even people who are born here into a minority population still feel otherness. I want our students’ experience to be as trouble-free as possible, so they can leave here feeling they’ve been seen, heard and supported.”
He notes that the Faculty of Law “has a long history of increasing access to justice” and was the first law school in Canada to offer a free LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) preparatory program to potential applicants who are Indigenous, Black or socio-economically disadvantaged. Poon-Ting oversees the program and notes that the mere expense of applying to any law school can be a barrier for students.
The Faculty entrusts its Black Student Applicant Process (BSAP) to Poon-Ting, an effort that aims to ensure that Black candidates have the opportunity to share personal profiles that fully express their lived experience, interests and goals and that those profiles are reviewed by members of the U of T Law Black community.
“We want them to be recognized for the fullest context of their lived experience and not be undervalued,” he said. “I will soon be presenting this program at a conference in the United States to encourage other law schools to do the same.”
Poon-Ting is also a founding member and admissions lead for the Faculty's Black Future Lawyers (BFL) program, a pathway initiative for Black undergraduate students at any university.
First established as a collaboration between the Faculty of Law, the Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA), Black law alumni and the broader legal profession in 2019/2020, it offers supports and engagement opportunities to Black undergraduates who aspire to go to law school and join the legal profession. In 2021, 14 leading law firms—Blakes, BLG, Cassels, Davies, Dentons, Fasken, Goodmans, Gowling WLG, McCarthy Tétrault, McMillan, Norton Rose Fulbright, Osler, Stikeman Elliott and Torys—announced a combined commitment to provide $1.75 million in operational funding to BFL over the next 10 years. Today, BFL has grown to 600 members globally and six chapters across Ontario.
Another of his roles is to help facilitate the annual matching of the 210 incoming first-year law students with upper-year student mentors. The program builds connections and community throughout the school.
His dedication to his work is evident in everything Poon-Ting does.
“Coming from a developing country, I have a strong appreciation of the value of education and what it can do,” Poon-Ting said. “The ability to make goals possible for someone else is a great attraction of my job. The opportunity to help someone soar is absolutely priceless.”
About the Awards of Excellence
Throughout its rich history, the University of Toronto has striven to promote and recognize excellence among its community members. The University of Toronto Alumni Association (UTAA) has played an integral role in furthering this mission through its longstanding support of distinguished awards programs that acknowledge outstanding faculty, staff, librarians, and students.
The prestigious Awards of Excellence program dates back to 1921 with the creation of the John H. Moss Scholarship, awarded to outstanding student leaders. In 1990 the Faculty Award and the Chancellor’s Award were added to the program. Since 1990, seven more distinct awards or scholarships recognizing exceptional students, faculty, librarians and administrative staff members of the University have been launched; most recently, the President's Excellence Award.
Though the criteria differ for each award, recipients all share a commitment to enhancing the university experience of their peers and leave a significant impact on the University through their efforts.
