by Jennifer Matthews
As Trinity celebrates the opening of the Lawson Centre for Sustainability, the co-chairs of the Living Trinity Campaign reflect on an extraordinary effort to support students, enhance academic programming, and reimagine student life on campus with a new building.
Campaign Co-Chairs Carolyn Kearns ’72 and Michael Royce ’68 sat down to reflect on the campaign’s seven-year arc — the case for giving, the disruptions along the way, and what it feels like to see the vision realized.
“How could you not support it?” — why the co-chairs said yes
Both Kearns and Royce came to the Living Trinity campaign with deep, long-standing ties to the College through governance, volunteering and philanthropy. Their extensive volunteerism has been recognized with U of T Arbor Awards (in 2009 for Kearns, and 2017 for Royce) and with Chancellor William C. Graham Awards in 2023. As board members, they had watched residence capacity stay essentially flat even as Trinity’s student body grew substantially — a pressure compounded by rising needs around mental health, counselling and financial aid. Living Trinity brought those threads together into a single, tangible project.
“The question isn’t why would you give; it’s why wouldn’t you?” Royce says, recalling a line that came to define the campaign’s early pitch.
“How could you not be absolutely blown away by the project — to provide more than 350 beds for people where there’s a housing need that just keeps getting worse, when we haven’t added any inventory in years and years?” Kearns adds.
Leading through disruption
The campaign’s momentum collided with COVID-19 almost as soon as it built up steam. In-person gatherings gave way to video calls, and construction and fundraising continued through cost escalation and delays.
“COVID was clearly the toughest thing,” says Royce. “We’d just had one good in-person meeting, and then — boom. You just don’t get the same oomph out of a Zoom meeting that you do in person.”
Kearns points to the strength of the people carrying the project forward. “I was struck by the commitment and quality of the staff working on the project, and the professionalism of the architects and the construction team,” she says. “There was an extremely solid, professional approach to this project.”
Royce, for his part, picked up an unexpected lesson about donor cultivation along the way: today’s major donors are reaching their prime giving years later in life than previous generations, as more people start families later. “You’ve got to add 10 years to that now,” he says — an important insight that helped focus the campaign’s approach to donor engagement.
“People care about this place”
For both co-chairs, the campaign confirmed something they already suspected about Trinity’s alumni and volunteer community.
“There is such a thing as a living, breathing, motivating entity known as the Trinity Community,” Royce says. “We were able to draw on that inspiration, and to see it in action.”
“We have a volunteer base that is really remarkable,” says Kearns. “People truly care about this place.”
Proud to have been part of it
Kearns and Royce didn’t begin the campaign as especially close collaborators, but developed a genuine friendship along the way. “It was a delightful and unanticipated experience that we could work together,” says Kearns. “I don’t think we ever had a cross word with each other. It was very supportive, and I think, for both of us, very enriching.”
Both take real pride in the finished building. “The building validates the campaign,” Royce says. “It’s better than any of us could have hoped for.”
“One of the things that makes me very happy is that I feel we can look any one of the donors in the eye and say: See how worthwhile your investment has been,” Kearns says. ” the Lawson Centre for Sustainability transforms the College and takes it to a new level.”
Looking ahead with gratitude
The Lawson Centre’s opening lands squarely within Trinity’s 175th-anniversary year — a coincidence Royce doesn’t take lightly. “This moment is laying the next cornerstone,” he says.
Both are quick to credit a much wider circle for the campaign’s success, which ultimately raised more than $120 million for Trinity’s future. “None of this happened in isolation,” Kearns says. “There were so many people — staff, volunteers, donors, students — who made it possible. Now the exciting part begins, which is watching students make this place their own.”
As the doors of the Lawson Centre for Sustainability open and the Living Trinity Campaign comes to a close, Kearns and Royce are united in their view: the effort was demanding, at times daunting, but ultimately deeply worthwhile — for them, for Trinity, and for generations of students who will call this community home.
Three pillars, one vision
The Lawson Centre may be the campaign’s most visible achievement, but Kearns and Royce are quick to point out that Living Trinity was always built on three pillars: the Lawson Centre for Sustainability, Student Success, and Academic Excellence. Together, they say, those pillars speak to a simple idea — creating an environment where students can live, learn, and become the leaders the world needs.
On the Student Success front, Trinity alumni have stepped forward in ways that have a direct, personal impact on students’ lives. The Anne Steacy Counselling Initiative and the College’s Mental Health Program stand out as examples of what the community can accomplish when it recognizes a need and comes together to meet it.
The campaign also strengthened Trinity’s academic mission, building on the College’s long tradition of interdisciplinary, discussion-based learning. Support flowed to the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, new Trinity One streams, and the Institute for Humanistic Buddhist Thought & Practice. Most recently, a gift from Anne ’86 and John Witt established the Witt Initiative on Civil Discourse within the Margaret MacMillan Trinity One Program, bringing leading thinkers to campus to help students learn to engage productively across disagreement.
Living Trinity at a glance
The Living Trinity Campaign set out to strengthen Trinity on three fronts: supporting students through bursaries, advising, counselling and mental health initiatives; enhancing academic programming and interdisciplinary teaching; and building a landmark, sustainability-focused residence and learning hub.
That hub, the Lawson Centre for Sustainability, adds 155,000 square feet of mixed-use space and will house some 357 students, alongside a new dining hall, student social spaces, classrooms, a lecture hall, and faculty offices. It is also home to Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative, anchored by the George and Martha Butterfield Rooftop Farm and Community Kitchen — a living-lab approach to food systems, farm-to-table practices and waste reduction.
The building has already earned international recognition, including a 2025 Holcim Foundation Award for Sustainable Design (North America Regional Winner) and a 2026 World Architecture News Award (Silver, Future Projects: Education). Following an April 30, 2026 ribbon cutting, the Lawson Centre formally opened its doors on September 9.
And with the Living Trinity Campaign now complete, this newsletter is entering a new chapter too — look for a new name in our next issue!
