STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
The Programs
Robert Bothwell
Photography: Geoff George
“Students engage in critical dialogue about war, diplomacy and statesmanship, all with a Canadian accent”
FEBRUARY 2008 – Four decades ago, a young U of T history student named Robert Bothwell was always able to make his point.
“All my seminars had only 12 or 13 students in them,” says Bothwell, now a well-known Canadian historian and head of Trinity’s International Relations program. In the ensuing years, many university seminars across North America have more than doubled in size, something Bothwell regrets. “Classes should be small enough to allow everyone to talk. Trinity has very bright students, so of course they want that chance.”
Fortunately, an exciting program for first-year students is helping them get their chance. Students admitted to the Margaret MacMillan Trinity One program enjoy small classes taught by some of the university’s top professors, such as Bothwell and eminent philosopher Mark Kingwell. Divided into two streams (International Relations and Ethics), Trinity One, a $3-million priority of the Strength to Strength endowment campaign, melds the intimacy of a small liberal arts college with the rich resources of a big-city university.
Both streams are interdisciplinary, covering material from history, politics, geography, literature and philosophy, among others. Established in 2005 under former provost Margaret MacMillan, the program was named in her honour this fall. Businessman and philanthropist Peter Munk donated $1 million to the Strength to Strength campaign to support and enhance the program and name it after MacMillan, whom he admires enormously. The program, which the College hopes to expand, has also benefited from several generous donations from others.
Trinity One also prepares students for higher study in two of the College’s signature programs, which are also priorities of the campaign. Established in 1976, International Relations is often described as Trinity’s flagship program and recently produced two Rhodes scholars in as many years. Here, “students engage in critical dialogues about war, diplomacy and statesmanship, all with a Canadian accent,” says director Bothwell.
Highlights of the IR program include visiting ambassadors and foreign reporters, and a yearly trip for selected students to the G8 summit. Bothwell would like to see more conferences added to the mix, because they “put students in a position where they run things – and the students are the best advertisement for the program.”
Another program hoping to host more faculty-student conferences is Ethics, Society and Law. Established in 1988 and now the fourth-largest of the University of Toronto’s top 10 college-based interdisciplinary programs, its importance grows with each passing year, as students confront increasingly complex challenges, such as terrorism, business ethics and globalization. “It’s impossible to separate legal or ethical issues from their broader implications,” says director John Duncan, citing the program’s interdisciplinary focus. Course offerings are necessarily mutable as new ethical challenges come to the fore; most recently, gender studies and bioethics have attained greater prominence. New questions “will change the program, and the program will evolve with them over time,” says Duncan.
The program’s aims are now complemented by the university’s Centre for Ethics, located at Trinity, which is a magnet for top research talent in the field.
Trinity is currently seeking to dedicate a $2-million endowment to fund the two areas of study described above, in order to continue its strong tradition of responding to a world in constant change.
– Cynthia Macdonald
The Strength to Strength Campaign priorities represent a permanent and lasting investment in Trinity’s future.
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