Friends and Colleagues Honour Angela Esterhammer
Outgoing Victoria College Principal Angela Esterhammer was also gifted a hardcover book handmade and bound by Claire Battershill, an assistant professor cross-appointed in the Faculty of Information and the Department of English, using Japanese paper and book cloth. It was decorated inside with images of pressed flowers and comments from members of the Victoria community. (Photo by Minh Truong)
Being principal of Victoria College was “the best job I’ve ever had and the best job I could ever imagine having,” Professor Angela Esterhammer told friends and colleagues who gathered in Alumni Hall on June 4 to honour her 12 years in the role.
Esterhammer completes her term at the end of June and will take a research leave in 2024-25.
Esterhammer was praised for her steady leadership, her mentorship, the research she was able to produce throughout her busy administrative career—and her fast walking pace.
Former Victoria University President Will Robins said that Esterhammer’s sure-handedness and steadfast leadership, plus her understanding of how universities work, with their complicated natures and constraints, meant: “We all knew if anything was put on Angela’s table it would be taken care of and done well.”
He also praised her creativity and ability to come up with new academic programs and new opportunities for fellows, “how to get something new to work so it sticks.” And he singled out her community-mindedness in bringing together an academic team with members from different generations and fields.
Robins said two aspects of Esterhammer’s time as principal summed up those three qualities. The first was steering Victoria College through the pandemic. The second was regularizing long-term academic appointments, rather than relying on short-term contracts or other ad hoc arrangements. That “really changed the sense of the community and the university is a better place for it,” he said.
Robins also described Esterhammer as a “brilliant and internationally renowned scholar of romanticism,” who continued her research while she was principal. Esterhammer’s current research focus is John Galt, one of the most popular and prolific Scottish writers of the 19th century. Esterhammer is general editor of The Edinburgh Edition of the Works of John Galt, of which six of 20 planned volumes have been published—a result of her work with undergraduate research assistants at Victoria College.
Professor Ira Wells, academic programs director at Victoria College, thanked Esterhammer for her generosity and support as a mentor to him, other faculty members and the Scholars-in-Residence program “which will continue to have a transformative impact on the lives of our students for many years to come.”
Toasting Esterhammer, Victoria University President Rhonda McEwen announced the Angela Esterhammer Fund for Scholars-in-Residence was being created “as the perfect way to remember” her contributions to the Scholars-in-Residence program, to Victoria College and to the larger Victoria University and University of Toronto community. To contribute to this endowed fund, click here.
McEwen drew knowledgeable laughter from attendees when she said she would miss her walking meetings with Esterhammer, which were conducted at a rapid clip.
Wells called it a “just sub-Olympic pace.”
“I’ve come to think the speed at which Angela moves through the world is a correlative—not so much for the demands on her time, but for her internal ambition to do the most with her time,” he said.
Esterhammer thanked those who were at Victoria College when she was a student, those who welcomed her back as principal and those who have since joined, as well as the staff of the Principal’s Office, the university’s senior advisory team and the group of college principals.
She singled out “one infinitely patient person, my husband John, who has lived with an overabundance of academic administration,” saying he was smart, wise and funny “and keeps me grounded—as much as possible.”
“My heart is filled with love and gratitude for being a part...of this special community of Victoria College.”