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From supporting a medical device launch at a pharmaceutical company to building meaningful community connections at a neighbourhood centre, two students from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) took very different paths and came to the same conclusion: some of the most valuable experiences happen at the intersection of theory and practice.

Both Nawshin Nawal, a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) alumna, and Keyara Wilson, a fourth-year Social Work student, completed their work terms with newfound perspectives on their career goals and a deeper appreciation for the value of interdisciplinary thinking.

That pattern — where students return with their assumptions rearranged — is what work-integrated learning at 91��ɫ is built to produce. Across the university, students apply classroom learning in professional settings through internships, placements, employer and community partnerships, and co-operative education, the latter of which students can choose to pursue in  more than 70 per cent of 91��ɫ’s undergraduate programs.

“Work-integrated learning creates benefits for everyone involved,” says Chloë Brushwood Rose, Professor and Vice-Provost Academic. “Students build career readiness and strengthen their understanding of academic material through real-world experiences and organizations gain access to a new generation of professionals.”

To broaden access to those opportunities, multiple offices brought their separate supports together to launch the Co-op & Career Centre — a single, welcoming space in a central location that unites career counselling and education, employer engagement, networking and work-integrated learning programming under one roof.

“Our goal at the Co-op & Career Centre is to ensure that 91��ɫ students graduate not only with knowledge, but with the confidence, adaptability and relationships needed to succeed and contribute across sectors,” says Melanie Belore, Executive Director of Experiential Learning.

Nawshin Nawal, who pursued a Specialized Honours degree in Marketing, chose 91��ɫ with the corporate sector in mind.

“I chose 91��ɫ because of its high employability rate from the BCom program and its amazing career supports,” she says. “My goal was always to work in the corporate industry, specifically in marketing,” she says.

She built toward it deliberately, starting as a LA&PS Peer Mentor to develop leadership experience she knew employers would value, then working with career education specialists before landing an eight-month Sanofi co-op in Omnichannel (Digital) Engagement Support.

What she found was a professional team operating under unique constraints. In pharmaceutical marketing, every communication item must be supported by scientific evidence and cleared through multiple rounds of legal, regulatory and marketing review before it reaches a single consumer. Creative work and regulatory science, it turned out, were fundamentally interconnected.

“It was fascinating to witness and be a part of a medical device launch, and I felt proud that I had the authority to oversee these processes independently and was trusted by the company with such responsibility,” she says. “It was an amazing experience because I got to see the product go from the market-ready stage to a full launch, and it usually takes a lot of moving pieces to make that happen.”

The second unexpected turn came from the other direction. Drawn back toward academia, she took a part-time teaching assistant position with her former advertising and communications professor and found the work uniquely rewarding. She credits both the placement and her mentor, Professor Pallavi Sodhi, with the shift.

“When I saw people engaging with my ideas during client presentations, it gave me a sense of purpose I had not experienced before. I found genuine fulfillment in helping others understand ideas,” she says. “Those moments made me realize that my long-term aspiration was not only to practice marketing but also to teach it. I also want to research the impact of AI on the advertising industry. Just as my own instructors encouraged me to think both critically and creatively, I aspire to contribute meaningfully to the field and help prepare future professionals for a world where AI and human creativity work hand in hand.”

She plans to pursue graduate studies and eventually teach, once she has industry experience to bring into the classroom. Today, she works as an Email Marketing and Sales Coordinator at Zoomer Media and stays connected to 91��ɫ through LA&PS alumni events.

While Nawal found her pathway inside a highly regulated multinational, Keyara Wilson found it in a neighbourhood centre a few kilometres from campus and reached a strikingly similar conclusion.

The two placements could hardly look less alike: one governed by regulatory review cycles and product launch timelines, the other by relationships built slowly with residents, small businesses and local organizations. In both cases, the ability to look beyond the confines of traditional disciplines was essential.

Wilson’s four-month co-op as Equity and Outreach Coordinator with the George Chuvalo Neighbourhood Centre, part of the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, sharpened that ability. The opportunity was made possible through the LA&PS Wage Subsidy Program, funded by generous donors to help charitable organizations in the non-profit sector hire students to build their talent pipeline.

During the co-op, she helped build connections with community members, businesses and local organizations; raise awareness of available resources; and support events and fundraisers promoting inclusion and accessibility.

Wilson notes that establishing these relationships and seeing events come together successfully were some of her proudest moments, and that working alongside colleagues and partners from a diverse array of backgrounds drove home the idea that making a difference is not tied to a specific role or profession.

“Interdisciplinary collaboration is especially important within social work, where many social issues require a collective approach,” says Wilson. “This experience reminded me that meaningful change does not happen in isolation. Each person brings unique knowledge, skills and lived experiences that contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of community needs.”

The work term was hybrid, which turned out to be a small experiment: community engagement work, historically built on face-to-face presence, was partially conducted through digital tools. The setup helped Wilson not only hone crucial skills for the modern workplace but also gave her a firsthand look at how technology can support and extend that work in new ways.

It also converted coursework into practice. Anti-oppressive practice, advocacy and equity work went beyond intellectual frameworks and became the day’s work as she supported community members facing systemic barriers.

“91��ɫ was my top choice when searching for a social work program because of its strong emphasis on a critical framework,” she says. “I always wanted an education that goes beyond surface-level understandings and equips me to advocate for meaningful, systemic change, not just provide temporary solutions. My placement helped bring many of the theories and concepts from my courses to life; the person-in-environment framework, in particular, took on new meaning as I watched structural barriers and uneven access to resources shape what is possible for people.”

Like Nawal, she arrived with a plan and left with a different one.

“When I first started university, I viewed my Social Work degree as the foundation for eventually completing a law degree, but throughout my studies and my co-op, my perspective has expanded,” says Wilson. “I have come to understand that I do not need to become a lawyer to make a meaningful impact in people’s lives.”

Reflecting on her experience, Wilson says she can see now that the possibilities within social work are limitless and is excited by the opportunity to continue exploring where the field can take her.

Both Nawal and Wilson entered co-op with a destination in mind, and both revised it — not because the plan failed, but because working hands-on with complex challenges  opened the door to new possibilities.

“There is a difference between learning about concepts in a classroom and experiencing how those concepts come to life in a professional setting,” says Wilson, “I would encourage other students to take advantage of any co-op, placement or work-integrated learning opportunity available to them. It’s important to be willing to learn and to embrace growth, change and new experiences.”

Nawal shares a similar thought. “Every student comes with expertise that makes them shine, but it’s the approach, curiosity and eagerness that make us stand out from the crowd,” she says. “Being open to learning anything and everything can be to your advantage, even if it is not something within your discipline.”