Provost Mayo Moran’s Message to the Community

Dear Members of the Trinity Community:

Welcome back – I hope you had a wonderful holiday break and are feeling rejuvenated. We are looking forward to the start of a lively academic term with a forthcoming visit from Michael Ignatieff, who will be delivering The Larkin-Stuart Lecture on February 12 (registration details to come). The Gryphon Trio, our Artists-in-Residence, will add to the excitement with their upcoming coffee house concert series for students. Recently we also launched our new social networking and mentorship platform ConnecTRIN, helping Trinity alumni, students and friends connect like never before. If you haven’t already, join ConnecTRIN today.

As the new year begins, I wanted to update you on some important College projects. To move forward Trinity’s commitment to strengthen the student experience and to support the whole student, last year our Registrar Nelson De Melo also assumed the new role of Director of Student Services. Through Nelson’s leadership, we have been rethinking every aspect of what we do to ensure the best university experience for all of our students.

As a result, we plan to bring together the Office of the Registrar and the Office of the Dean of Students into one space to form the Centre for Student Services, which will be located on the first floor of the main Trinity building. In the new Centre, students will be able to access everything from academic advising, residence-related support, financial aid advising, student life assistance, career guidance, mental health supports, and many other services. We are excited to see how the new Centre will transform the experience we provide for our students. The Centre is currently in the planning stage and we look forward to sharing further details in the near future.

As you may know, we have also been consulting with members of the Trinity community on our learning, community and living spaces. Thank you to the 600 students, faculty, alumni and staff who completed our online survey last fall. These responses, along with other consultations, have made it clear that Trinity’s needs and aspirations require considerably more space than we currently have. Our work with a master planner indicates that the current parking lot immediately north of the Gerald Larkin Building is the site with the greatest potential for a new building. The preliminary thinking is that the new building would be integrated with a renovated first floor of the Gerald Larkin Building, creating a larger, revitalized communal space. It would also encompass two or three floors of teaching and learning space, which are necessary for our academic programs to continue to flourish. Above this base would be a mid-rise housing section, providing desperately needed residential space for our students. In anticipation of the various planning processes, we will be submitting an application for rezoning with the City of Toronto next month. As we continue to explore options, we will also be working to develop our fundraising capacity to help support any new construction and consulting further with members of our community to refine our plans. This is an exciting time for the College as we imagine the evolution of our glorious historic campus. I hope that you will be part of the conversation and look forward to your thoughts.

And on a final note, we would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to members of the Trinity community for their outstanding achievements. Alumni Marilyn Baillie, Michael Church, John Hilborn and Stephen Otto were appointed to the Order of Canada, and former Provost and alum Margaret MacMillan was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour.

Wishing you all the best in 2018,

Mayo Moran
Provost and Vice- Chancellor

Categories: Provost’s Messages