Kira Kastner did not meet many friends or like-minded people during her first years at U of T. She lived off-campus and only saw people during class time.

But that all changed after discovering campus environmental groups in her fourth year. Now, Kastner is spearheading her own project, installing solar panels on the St. George campus.

Hoping to end the alienation of students like Kastner, the university has created Ulife, a website where students can search through a comprehensive database of clubs, work and research opportunities, sports, arts, and extra-curricular activities offered at U of T.

The site is the brainchild of Rob Steiner, U of T’s VP strategic communications, and Susan Addario, diractor of Student Affairs. As Steiner put it, Ulife exists not to “heckle students into joining clubs and organizations, but rather to guide and direct them to where they need to pursue their interests during their time at U of T.”

After getting student input through surveys, extensive web design, and research on campus events, the university will formally launch Ulife on Feb. 5, but the site is already online and active. It currently boasts a searchable database of more than 1,000 activity listings and student profiles.

In the past, students had to rely on Google, posters, and word of mouth to find out about clubs and events. On Ulife, students can instantly find events at their campus that interest them, with a quick search for, say, “jazz and UTM.”

Ulife project director Sarah Koegh said students have been carving out events, niches, scenes, and a campus community for a long time, but they have had no system to link all the information together.

“U of T’s really big, like a city. It is hard to find out how to live your passion,” said Koegh.

Ulife incorporates all three campuses and is available to all U of T students.

As the website grows, the design team plans to develop a system students can use to list and promote their own events, but this is not currently possible.

Check out www.ulife.utoronto.ca and watch out for posters around campus for its official launch.