Provost Mayo Moran Welcomes You to the New Academic Year

Posted: September 06, 2018

Provost Mayo MoranDear Members of the Trinity Community:

September is always an exciting time on the Trinity campus. If you are new to Trinity – students, staff, faculty, fellows, associates and teaching staff – welcome to our College! Although Trinity is part of the largest university in Canada, we have remained the smallest college because it is important to us to offer an intimate, supportive college community. I am very much looking forward to meeting you as the academic year progresses.

I hope you were able to join us for Matriculation Convocation last night as we formally welcomed our new Arts & Science and Divinity students to the College. The Hon. Frank Iacobucci, who received an honorary fellowship, provided an inspirational address to our incoming class.

I’m thrilled to welcome our inaugural cohort of students to the Butterfield Environment & Sustainability Stream of the Margaret MacMillan Trinity One Program. Trinity alumni George and Martha Butterfield’s generous gift allowed us to create this new interdisciplinary stream, which adds to our innovative program offering. Also, through a generous donation by our Chancellor Bill Graham, and in partnership with the Department of History, Prof. Cindy Ewing joined us this summer in a newly created faculty position in Contemporary International History.

As a community, we are so fortunate for the ongoing support and involvement of our alumni. To those new to Trinity, I know that you will enjoy and benefit from the many contributions of our amazing alumni community!

To those returning to Trinity – welcome back! As you will see on campus, the summer months have been busy ones as we continue to work on renewing the campus and expanding initiatives to enhance the student experience. We heard from students that they thought it was important to have better, more integrated and more accessible space for student advising and other services. As you will see, we have been busy working on just that. Along the front hall in the main building, hoarding has been installed in preparation for construction of our new Student Services Centre. The new centre will be a one-stop shop, combining the Offices of the Registrar and the Dean of Students in one space. Our goal is to increase student awareness about all of the supports and services we offer, as well as to provide a more accessible experience and a warmer welcome for all campus visitors. Regular updates will be provided throughout construction, so please check this webpage.

With these changes and renovations, some of our other services have been relocated in the main building: the Porter’s Lodge has moved to a temporary Welcome Desk in the front foyer; the mail room has moved to the lower level near the Reservations Office; and the Bursar’s Office has also moved to the lower level of Cosgrave House.

We are also committed to doing our best to help all students succeed. Over the summer, we enhanced our Academic Resource Centre (ARC). Located in the lower level next to the Archives, this newly renovated space provides a central location where students can access many of the College’s academic supports: the Writing Centre, our on-site accessibility advisor and learning strategist support.

In addition to these projects, over the last 15 months we have been consulting with members of the community about how to revitalize the Trinity campus so that we can provide the best learning, living and social environments, while honouring our historic campus. While Trinity is – and intends to remain – the smallest college at the University of Toronto, it is clear that we need more space. As all students will be aware, residence space is of particular importance – we are facing unprecedented demand that we cannot currently meet. To respond to this, we are planning for a new multi-use building (with residence, academic and community spaces) on the parking lot immediately north of the Gerald Larkin Building. We are currently in the process of preparing an application for rezoning and look forward to consulting further with the community as we continue to refine our plans.

We have also been engaged in examining other aspects of community life at Trinity to ensure that it is as welcoming, healthy and inclusive as possible. Over the past year, we conducted a survey and a number of focus groups on the student experience. We look forward to continuing to work with students and student leaders on initiatives aimed at ensuring that Trinity is a place where all students can flourish.

Throughout the year, there will be many opportunities for members of the community to connect and celebrate with one another. Whether you’re new to the College or a long-standing member of our community, I do hope you take advantage of all Trinity has to offer. I look forward to seeing you in the days ahead and wish you the very best for the 2018-2019 academic year!

Yours truly,

Mayo Moran
Provost and Vice-Chancellor

 

Categories: Provost’s Messages