This year, the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus (UTSC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary. To celebrate, the campus planned a number of special initiatives, including special lectures, receptions, and special funds to enhance campus life.
The UTSC 50th Anniversary Legacy Fund, for example, is doling out one grant of $20,000 and $30,000 in grants of $3,000 to $5,000 each to proposals that profile the campus, enhance its programs, services and physical property, improve student life, and encourage community involvement.
The list of successful proposals is slated to be announced on October 27.
UTSC opened its doors in 1964 to accommodate the growing demand for higher education presented by the baby boomer generation. In 1963, the university purchased 202 acres of land from Toronto insurance broker E.L. McLean.
The university’s Towards 2030 planning document proposed a gradual increase in the proportion of graduate students at the university’s St. George campus, coupled with expansions at UTM and UTSC to accommodate a larger number of undergraduate students.
Bruce Kidd, UTSC principal, said that the fiftieth anniversary is an important milestone because it allows faculty, staff, and students to focus on the “remarkable accomplishments of UTSC faculty, staff and students over the years, and the maturity of the academic and co-curricular programs and supports.”
Kidd added that it is also an important achievement for the university as a whole, because it indicates that the university’s model of providing quality postsecondary education at satellite campuses has been a success.
“While drawing enormous benefits from its integral place in Canada’s leading university, UTSC has become a mature, research-intensive, educationally innovative campus in its own right, with distinct academic and co-curricular programs and links to the unique communities and institutions of the eastern GTA,” Kidd said, adding: “The ‘Toronto’ in which UTSC is located is different in many respects from the ‘Toronto’ in which the St. George and Mississauga campuses are located. We’re situated within the fastest growing part of the GTA, and the most demographically diverse.”
Kidd said that one of the most important features of the campus is the tradition of an engaged student body.
Kidd cited the Scarborough Campus Student’ Union (SCSU) as an example, saying that the union is an important partner for university administration. “We expect that the collaborative partnership our campus has with SCSU will continue, and will thrive,” Kidd added.
