Provost Mayo Moran Welcomes You to the New Academic Year

Posted: September 08, 2017

Provost Mayo MoranDear Members of the Trinity Community:

As we start the 2017-2018 academic year, I want to extend my welcome to new and returning members of the Trinity community.

To all those new to Trinity – welcome to the College! Being a part of Trinity gives you the best of both worlds: a small supportive community within the great global university. I hope you were able to join us for Matriculation Convocation on Wednesday night as we welcomed our new Arts & Science and Divinity students to the College and honoured Trinity alum The Rev. Dr. Carol Finlay. Rev. Finlay truly embodies the enduring values of our founder Bishop John Strachan – accomplishment, community service and leadership. In her inspiring address to students, Rev. Finlay spoke about Book Clubs for Inmates and encouraged our students to think about what really matters – making a positive difference in the world around us.

To those returning to the College – including our fantastic student leaders – I warmly welcome you back! I hope the coming year is filled with academic excellence, amazing experiences and lasting memories.

At Trinity College, we are so fortunate to work in a beautiful historic campus. However, our space has not kept pace with our changing needs. As we engage in a process to consider our options for the future (learn more), several shorter-term solutions to address our most urgent space needs were implemented, particularly the acute need for more student beds and student services space. Over the last few months, Trinity staff have been busy working on various renovation projects to prepare the campus for our students’ return.

Among the enhancement projects, we refurbished space in the main Trinity building to create new residence rooms to house an additional 16 students (2nd floor Macklem was completely renovated and the rooms were provided brand new furniture). Along with providing desperately needed on-campus housing, living in residence will allow students to be immersed in collegial life. Also, in a refurbished space next to the new Trinity College Archives (lower level), we created a new Academic Resource Centre to provide a central location where students can access the College’s academic supports (Writing Centre, Math Aid Centre, learning strategist support and consultation space for Academic Dons). And Divinity’s graduate students now have a new mixed-use area for meetings, social space and the Heads Office in the main building (located in the North Hall).

Informed by the College’s recent food survey results, the dining space and the servery in the Buttery underwent exciting functional and design renovations. The new servery features a revamped menu with new food and beverage offerings. The servery in Melinda Seaman (St. Hilda’s College) was also renovated to provide a self-serve kitchenette-type space for student use. Also at St. Hilda’s: Kirkwood Sub and 1st floor residence rooms received a much-needed makeover; the Abbott Room continues its transformation as a student wellness space; and Cartwright Hall received a technology upgrade. As a result of the reconfigurations, we relocated a few of our administrative offices, including Reservations, Chaplain, Margaret MacMillan Trinity One Program and Development & Alumni Affairs.

In the months ahead, we will continue to have many place-oriented conversations on campus as we work towards changes that will benefit the Trinity community. Help us envision our future campus – learn more and complete our short survey.

The upcoming year will undoubtedly be a busy one on campus. We will be focusing on making the student experience the best it can possibly be. We will continue to build an even more accessible, inclusive, welcoming and safe environment, and to improve our food services with sustainable and healthy food. We will provide more opportunities for students to learn outside of the classroom, including funds for experiential learning. And we will further support students by enhancing our student services with academic and career planning.

I also want to extend a special thank you to our alumni – without their ongoing philanthropic support and involvement as volunteers and mentors, our students could not fulfill their enormous potential. Their generosity with their time and wisdom truly distinguishes the Trinity experience. I know I speak for all of us when I say how grateful we are for their support.

Our glorious historic buildings, our storied past and our close-knit community brings with it a sense of belonging and magic that can only be experienced by being here. To adapt a famous quote: There’s no place like Trinity.

I hope we all have a chance to meet as the school year progresses. Until then, I wish you the very best.

Yours truly,

Mayo Moran
Provost and Vice-Chancellor

 

Categories: Provost’s Messages