The English Department is located in the Jackman Humanities Building, at 170 St. George Street (the northwest corner of St. George and Bloor). There are a number of spaces and resources available for grad student use in the building.

Graduate Lounge (719)

A photo of the Graduate English Lounge at the Jackman Humanities building, showing several tables and chairs.

The Graduate Lounge is a newly renovated space for English grad students, located on the 7th floor of the JHB (just to the right when you get off the elevator). Most GEA meetings, workshops and events take place in this space, and it is available for use by any GEA member.

The lounge also contains the GEA student mail slots, grouped by program and then ordered alphabetically by last name. Important information from the department, GEA, and other groups is often disseminated through these mail slots, so we recommend students check their slot frequently.

Finally, the lounge contains a collection of donated reading materials, including books, journals, periodicals, anthologies, and brochures. Graduate students are free to peruse any of the materials, keeping in mind that they are read-only and should not be taken out of the room. If you are interested in donating to the collection, please contact a member of the GEA Executive.

The lounge is open on weekdays from 8:45am to 5:00pm. If you will require after-hours access for a single occasion, contact a member of the GEA Executive. For after-hours access on a regular basis, contact the Department Assistant to obtain a key fob.

The room may be used for events on an informal basis without booking, but to ensure access for a more formal event or if you plan to use the room on a recurring basis (such as for reading group meetings), contact a member of the GEA Executive to set up a room booking. A schedule of current event bookings is available here via Google Calendar.

Kitchenette (720)An image of the GEA Kitchenette, showing the fridge and other appliances as well as the seating area.

Located directly beside the lounge, the kitchenette contains a full-sized refrigerator, sink, kettle, coffeemaker, microwave, and toaster, as well as an assortment of plates, mugs, glasses, cutlery, and other essentials.

Kitchen Rules: to ensure that this space remains clean, inviting, and healthy, please ensure that you:

  • Label your food: un-labelled food will be considered public property
  • Clean up after yourself: wash your dishes, put food waste and other garbage in the appropriate bins, clean up any crumbs or messes
  • Take your food out of the fridge to avoid spoilage: Any food still left in the fridge on the last Friday of the month may be thrown out

The kitchenette is open on weekdays from 8:45am to 5:00pm. If you will require after-hours access for a single occasion, contact a member of the GEA Executive. For after-hours access on a regular basis, contact the Department Assistant (english@utoronto.ca) to obtain a key fob.

Study Rooms (722, 723, 724, 817, 818, 819, 820, 916, 917, 918)

These study rooms are available for use by graduate students in the English department at U of T. Each room contains a number of carrels and lockable sets of drawers. There are a total of 88 carrels available.

Grad students who wish to use the study rooms can contact the Department Assistant (english@utoronto.ca) to be assigned a carrel for the year and receive the appropriate door code.

If you want to peruse each floor ahead of time, contact your upper-year sibling, or simply knock on the study room door during regular office hours and ask to have a look around.

MA Program in Creative Writing Work Space (816)

The University of Toronto’s talented and award-winning creative writing students have access to this program-specific room to work in and collaborate with other members of the program.  Unlike the other study rooms, JHB 816 is only accessible through a key, which MA CRW students can obtain by contacting the Department Assistant (english@utoronto.ca).

TA Offices (711, 725, 726)

The Department of English has set aside three rooms for use by teaching assistants (TAs) to meet with their students. Each room contains a desk and a few chairs.

The TA offices are booked in two-hour blocks through an online booking form, which can be found here. To access the TA Offices, contact the Department Assistant (english@utoronto.ca) to obtain the door codes.

Bicycle Parking

There are several “post and ring” stands available for use both in front of and behind the JHB, as well as two bicycle racks at the rear. A word of caution: though your bicycle will generally be safe throughout the day if you use a good lock, we generally recommend against leaving your bike here overnight.

After-Hours Building Access

The Jackman Humanities Building is closed every day after 6:00 pm and all day on weekends. Key fobs can be obtained from the department for students to gain access to the building after hours. We request that you be especially careful when working in JHB after hours, and be sure to close doors behind you to ensure your safety.