Chair of the Governing Council Rose M. Patten officially installed Professor David Naylor as the 15th president of U of T at a ceremony at Convocation Hall on Monday.
The ceremony was attended by members of all tiers of government, including former Minister of Defense Bill Graham (a former U of T professor) and previous U of T president Robert Birgeneau. Naylor, formerly U of T’s dean of medicine, was hired last summer.
In his ten-page inaugural speech, Naylor stressed the need for institutional diversity, as well as increased attention to the humanities and social sciences. He said that improving the student experience is his top priority, and that he intends to establish U of T’s first university-wide teaching awards to encourage excellence in the classroom.
“I assure every student here that your university will recognize, support and reward effective teaching as never before.”
Even though overflow capacity was arranged at the Rotman School of Management, the actual audience did not reach the third tier of balconies in Convocation Hall.
The staid and traditional installation ceremony-complete with ten separate speeches presenting greetings to Naylor, an organ voluntary, and a vice-regal salute-was shaken up at its conclusion by the arrival of the Engineering Students’ Lady Godiva Memorial Marching Band. The 20 musical engineering students performed a loud march number for the platform party, reciting it and their cheer six times to the increasingly nervous laughter of the audience.
