ST. GEORGE CAMPUS

CULTURAL CENTRES
The Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor W.) shows second-run films and cult classics at cut-rate prices, inspiring scores of movie buffs and future filmmakers. (Director Atom Egoyan [BA 1982 Trinity] saw David Lynch’s Eraserhead at the Bloor and reviewed it in a campus paper way back in 1979.) “Many alumni tell us they lived at the Bloor during their university days,” says cinema president Carmelo Bordonaro.

The student outreach program at Tarragon Theatre (30 Bridgman Ave.) offers discounts, tours and behind-the-scenes discussions. But the campus connection goes way back: Tarragon founder Bill Glassco (PhD 1966) directed his first play in a student lounge at Victoria College.

The Royal Ontario Museum (100 Queen’s Park) began as a joint venture between U of T and the Ontario government. While it is separate from the university today, many curators are cross-appointed to U of T, and they often involve students in their research work. The ROM has inspired (and employed) generations of students. “It was a great place in which you could be transported to another world. I remember gazing at the Chinese murals and the European collections for hours,” says Saverio Mancina (BA 1990 Victoria), a public-relations executive who landed his first marketing job with the ROM’s Visitor Services. Indeed, few students can resist the romance of the ROM, says information manager Julia Matthews. “They come here and fall in love.”

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander St.) hosts the Hussihop, an occasional event for women staged by U of T’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered student group. Many students also enjoy the theatre’s transformation into a cabaret on weekends.

Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst St.) offers student discounts and opportunities to meet actors, playwrights and production people. Founder Ken Gass teaches at University College, and many students have followed him into professional theatre.

The Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas St. W.) has been a close partner of U of T since its founding in 1900. Art history students benefit from the AGO’s collection, and many curators also teach at U of T.

Besides owning a pair of Elton John’s seven-inch platforms, the Bata Shoe Museum (327 Bloor W.) began a lecturing partnership this fall with the School of Continuing Studies. Topics range from Inuit art to art as an investment.

U of T students have always snapped up rush seats to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (212 King St. W.). “In the 1990s when I was a student, $10 rush seats were a real bargain, and students would buy them so we could watch our instrumental coaches perform, and listen to great repertoire and works we were currently studying,” says Marilyn Brown (BMus 1995), director of development and alumni relations at the Faculty of Music. “It was a big deal to sit in the choir loft (those were often the only seats left) and look so closely at the instruments and to watch the conductor face-on.” Today, in addition to offering young-adult discounts, the TSO provides U of T with hundreds of cut-rate tickets for eager students exploring the city’s night life.

The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art (111 Queen’s Park) is a restful place to contemplate 18th-century porcelain figures and ritual vessels of once-great civilizations. Plus, students get a 40 per cent discount at the door. “I still have the ancient figure I made when I joined my floor to take pottery classes at the ceramic art museum,” says Elaine Lai (BCom 2003 Victoria), who lived right next door for four years at Annesley Hall.

BARS AND PUBS
From low-rent taprooms to historic taverns, there’s no shortage of drinking establishments that have become legends to generations of U of T students, faculty and staff. Among the most revered:

The Madison Avenue Pub (or “Maddy”), at 14 Madison Ave., is a Toronto landmark. Older alumni remember it as a ground-floor oasis in a renovated boarding house; today’s students know it as a never-ending party that explodes across four floors and shady outdoor patios.

For 127 years, Ye Olde Brunswick House (481 Bloor St. W.) has been a favourite campus hangout. Some 900 students prove it every Saturday night in winter, enjoying frat and sorority package deals that let them fast-track the lines and avoid cover charges. “You’ve got to go at least once,” the newspaper advised U of T students this fall in its annual bar guide.

O’Grady’s Tap and Grill (171 College St.) lures you in with cheap grub and wins you over with its friendly atmosphere, says alumna Meg Sethi (BA 1992 New College). “Management really seem to care about their customers and make an effort to get to know them. General manager Sakie Bakoyiannis stops by regulars’ tables to see how they are doing and make sure they are enjoying themselves.”

Hip staff and cheap suds make the Bedford Academy (36 Prince Arthur Ave.) popular with students putting off their term papers. The Academy offers a second-floor lounge with comfy couches and sports on TV.

The Dance Cave/Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor W.) is a two-level venue for alternative rock and dancing. “Ideal for younger undergrads,” says the newspaper. “The place is dark and the floor is hot.”

El Convento Rico Nightclub (750 College St.) is a popular gay bar that features flamboyant drag shows, beauty pageants and Thursday Havana Nights. Frequented by U of T students of all sexual preferences, “this is where many ‘straight’ students get their first taste of gay culture,” says one U of T staffer. 5ive Nightclub (5 St. Joseph St.) is renowned for its monthly “Homohops.”

RETAILERS
Many students have found salvation – and decent tea towels – at Honest Ed’s (581 Bloor W.), the “world-famous bargain store” that has kept three generations of students in groceries, housewares, clothing and Elvis busts.

Gwartzman’s Canvas and Art Supplies (448 Spadina Ave.) has been looking after U of T students for 50 years. Architecture students come in for tracing paper and balsawood for models; engineers pick up rulers, set squares and tech pens. Says Ren Thomas (BLA 2000), “I have never come across such bargains, nor such in-depth knowledge of materials and processes.”

Kinko’s Copies (459 Bloor W.) has saved many students on deadline with its nine copiers, 10 computers and ’round-the-clock service. “Some days the place is full of students at three o’clock in the morning,” says manager Bob Champagne.

Active Surplus Electronics (345 Queen St. W.) is an electronics and oddities warehouse on trendy Queen Street West. It’s a lifesaver for engineering students seeking such treasures as tank periscopes, fog machines and light-emitting diodes. “Our tag-playing robot used Lexan [a type of plastic], motors, electronic components, gears and wheels procured at Active Surplus,” says Theresa Robinson (BASc 2000).

Yung Sing Pastry Shop (22 Baldwin St.) was a staple for Greg Terakita (BA 1985 Innis, MEd 1990): “Its savoury buns are absolutely essential for the starving U of T student to survive four or more years of intellectual baking.”

BOOKSTORES
From dim and dusty used bookshops to cavernous superstores, the St. George campus enjoys a bounty of bookstores. Among the favourites:

Book City (501 Bloor W.) consistently tops Torontonians’ list of favourite bookstores. Worldly yet fun, it’s a browsers’ paradise. “I’d like to recognize Book City for carrying not only my textbooks, but books I wanted to read as well,” says Joanne Kourakos (BA 2002 Woodsworth).

You can also browse all day at the flagship store of Indigo (on Bay south of Bloor), although the ambience is definitely corporate.

Bob Miller Book Room (180 Bloor W.) is an off-campus institution specializing in the humanities and social sciences. “I remember the staff at this bookstore being very helpful and actually interested in the lives of students,” says alumnus Saverio Mancina.

Toronto Women’s Bookstore (73 Harbord St.) is an essential community resource and meeting place, the spiritual (and not-for-profit) home of U of T feminism.

Among used bookstores, Atticus Books (84 Harbord) is the most academically inclined. Also much loved are the Recycled Book Shop (162 McCaul St.) and Ten Editions Books (698 Spadina Ave.).

LANDMARKS
Queen’s Park (not the legislature, but the wooded park to the north) has been an urban oasis for thousands of U of T students. A perfect spot for a romantic walk.

Many a homesick frosh has raced out of class Friday afternoon to the Toronto Coach Terminal (610 Bay St.), the main hub for Greyhound buses and U of T students heading home for the weekend. “They’re a big part of our business,” says terminal manager Matt Turner.

For many freshmen new to the big city, Kensington Market (west of Spadina, south of College St.) offers a first taste of multiculturalism. Its narrow streets explode with vintage clothing stores, fruit stands and fishmongers. Says one recent alumna: “I went there every Saturday for four years, I swear.” Sue McClelland, an alumni development officer in the chemistry department, recalls it being more colourful 20 years ago, when you could buy live chickens and jackrabbits. “It was a much more old-fashioned market then.”

U of Ters – like everyone else – love the bustling cacophony of downtown Chinatown (the largest and most commercial of six GTA Chinatowns). New visitors are always welcome: you may find tonight’s dinner snapping its claws in a water-filled bucket, piled high in an outdoor bin, or hanging down with its legs tied together. The Varsity calls Chinatown “the exact opposite of traditional Anglo Toronto – it unapologetically confronts the passerby with all manner of sights, sounds and smells.”

“U of T’s best neighbour would have to be Baldwin Street,” the café-lined block just south of campus, says alumnus Dagmar Gross (MSc 1990). “The street as a whole, with its many restaurants that have changed over the years and the few that have remained the same, added immensely to my experience as a graduate student. The patios on that quiet little side street provided an opportunity to actually get outside and experience a bit of summer. In the winter, it was a treasured haven just a few steps away from the campus.”

RESTAURANTS
Massimo’s Pizza & Pasta (302 College St.) has served up huge slices to the U of T community for 22 years. The university itself keeps an account, says co-owner Tony de Bartolo, “for business lunches.”

The Green Room (296 Brunswick Ave.), tucked away in an alley south of Bloor, feels like everyone’s secret. Alumnus Michael Leach (BA 1999 Victoria, MA 2003) claims he “wouldn’t have written any papers of any decent quality” without “the cheap, good food and lax ambience that allows you to occupy one table for hours – having ordered only one coffee.”

The Red Room (444 Spadina Ave.) is a regular haunt for philosophy students looking to get existential. Like its patrons, the place is a bit dark and moody. “It attracts the cool student crowd,” says Thomas MacKay (BA 1993 Trinity, MA 1994), “or the people like me who like to go back to being among cool students.”

Panzerotti Village & Café (635 Markham St.) serves Italian sandwiches, thin-crust pizza, pasta and, says alumna Julie Mollins (BA 2002 Innis), “the best green tomato-and-bocconcini salads in Toronto.” Owner Raffeale Sinopoli says he does his own shopping and “cooks most things to make sure everything’s OK.”

The Kom Jug Yuen Restaurant (371 Spadina Ave.) is a regular haunt for students (just don’t ask them to spell it). Most know the humble enterprise simply as “the Jug.” Alumni recall late-night runs for crispy beef, Shanghai noodles and Chinatown’s best barbecued pork.

Mars Restaurant (432 College St.) is a retro diner (circa 1951) with famous bran muffins and dinner specials that rival Mom’s. Former Ontario premier Bob Rae (BA 1969 UC) says he still visits for comfort food such as rice pudding.

Cora Pizza (656 Spadina Ave.) won the 2003 Independent Weekly Pizza Challenge for its fresh, imaginative ingredients. One former student, now in Hong Kong, writes, “Many of my undergraduate all-night essay-writing sessions were fuelled by a slice or two from Cora’s. If you hear any rumours about Cora’s expansion to Hong Kong, don’t hesitate to write.”

Harbord Bakery (115 Harbord St.) is much loved by students, staff and faculty. Tempting salads, quiches and empanadas are all produced by the tireless staff. Sue Ann Bourbonniere (BA 1976 UC) calls it “the best excuse for getting out of bed on the weekend.”

It’s not fancy, but one U of T staffer notes that Tim Hortons (246 Bloor W.) is the site of “millions of U of T people awaiting the magical call of ‘Neeeext pleeease!’” The action really heats up during exams, adds owner Jason St. Croix. “I make sure we’ve got lots of staff on, because that’s when everybody spends a little longer awake than they do asleep.”

Noah’s Natural Foods (322 Bloor St. W.) offers many students their first exposure to all-natural health foods. This organic café and food store sells bulk goods and vitamins, along with specialties such as bread and Fontaine Sante’s vegetarian pâté.

FAITH
St. Thomas’s Anglican Church (383 Huron St.) has transformed more than a few lives at U of T. “I was a member of their choir for two years when I was a graduate student at U of T in the late 1970s,” says alumnus Simon Paul (MA 1979). “It re-inspired a love for liturgical choral music – sung in its proper context – in me that lives on to this day.” The church remains a refuge for faithful students today. “We know where we’re situated, and we have a definite yearning to be useful in the university scene,” says Rev. Dr. Brian Freeland (BCom 1951 Trinity).

Trinity St. Paul’s United Church (427 Bloor W.) is a socially and culturally active place of worship that enjoys a reputation for social activism and intellectual discourse. The church also provides meeting space for neighbourhood programs and performing arts groups such as Tafelmusik. A thin but steady stream of U of T students frequents the place – “but not as many as we used to get,” sighs longtime church member Marion Pope.

Consider Knox Presbyterian Church (630 Spadina Ave.) a home away from home. “My two older brothers and younger sister and I were all at U of T in the late 1950s and early ’60s,” recalls alumnus Paul Walker (BA 1961 UC). “All four of us were challenged and encouraged spiritually, intellectually and socially by the church.” Alex MacLeod, Knox’s director of university and young adult ministries, today runs a Bible study group for undergrads who come to the church “to ask questions about purpose.”

The First Narayever Congregation Egalitarian Synagogue (187 Brunswick Ave.), a tiny temple that seats 200, attracts “decent numbers” of U of T students on high holidays, along with a few regulars throughout the year. “We love students,” says Rabbi Edward Elkin. “We’re there for them if they want us.”

Volunteer Organizations
When student groups run into trouble, U of T’s office of student affairs often calls in St. Stephen’s Community House (91 Bellevue Ave.). This social service agency specializes in mediation and conflict resolution, as well as conducting much of the university’s student leadership training. “We’ve helped groups that have tied themselves in knots,” says Peter Bruer, manager of the conflict resolution service.

Faculty of Pharmacy staff deliver Meals on Wheels for the Scott Mission (502 Spadina Ave.) once a week. Many U of T volunteers prepare meals in the kitchen/dining room, stock shelves in the food bank, and sort and hang items in the clothing centre.

Canadian Blood Services (67 College St.) operates donor clinics on campus, particularly in the Medical Sciences Building. Says communications manager Doug Brenner: “We’ve had a long association with U of T and we get a pretty good response.”

HEALTH CARE
University Health Network is a triumvirate teaching hospital (Toronto General, Toronto Western and Princess Margaret) for the university, and virtually every doctor at UHN has ties to U of T. “It’s an essential relationship, almost a marriage more than just a partnership,” says Dr. Richard Reznick, vice-president of education at UHN. “It’s a philosophical agreement to pursue a similar mission.”

U of T’s hospital links extend well beyond UHN. A recent Faculty of Medicine publication notes that “association with the Faculty of Medicine is the tie that binds together a community of 5,000 scholars and teachers, and 6,000 students and trainees, working at scores of different sites.” Specifically, U of T has full affiliations with eight other teaching hospitals (Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Bloorview MacMillan Children’s Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael’s Hospital, Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute), and partial affiliations with 11 teaching hospitals and five public boards of health. “We feel there isn’t another place in Canada where you can experience such a cutting-edge practicum,” says Heather Ferguson, director of development and alumni relations at the Faculty of Nursing.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto’s major psychiatric health facility, provides numerous services at 250 College St. (former site of the Clarke Institute). A teaching hospital as well as a research facility, it’s also home to U of T’s department of psychiatry.

The Centre for Global eHealth Innovation (190 Elizabeth St.) works to study and promote technological innovations that will improve human health and make better use of health resources. The centre was created in 2000 by U of T and the UHN. “We want to work with anybody who’s interested in changing the health system into a good companion for people,” says centre director Alex Jadad.

GOVERNMENT
Sheldon Levy, vice-president of government and institutional affairs, says U of T is so large that it has relationships with virtually every ministry at nearby Queen’s Park, from transportation to environment. Closest provincial partners include the ministries of: Training, Colleges and Universities, for funding and planning assistance; Health and Long-Term Care, which assists U of T in its role as the largest health sciences university in the country; and Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation, which provides research funding mainly in sciences, engineering and medicine.

Toronto’s City Hall is a key partner in university planning and approval decisions. And now it’s also a next-door neighbour, given U of T’s recent opening of a residence at 89 Chestnut St. (the former Colony Hotel).

Research Partners
The headquarters for the new Medical and Related Sciences (MaRS) Discovery District are starting to bloom on College Street at University Avenue. Founded by leaders from Canada’s academic, business and scientific communities, MaRS aims to bring together the best scientific and business minds to accelerate commercialization of scientific discoveries and create new jobs and opportunities for Canadians. U of T is a donor to the project, and vice-presidents John Challis (research) and Felix Chee (business affairs) sit on the MaRS board. As well, U of T’s Innovations Foundation will be a tenant, along with The Exceler@tor, its new-technology business incubator.

Nortel Networks has updated the computers at the McLennan Physical Laboratories and contributed to the new Bahen Centre for Information Technology. “Its long-term support of the physics department and the computer science department truly enhanced my university career,” says alumnus Anthony J. Moots (BSc 2003 UC). Nortel has also provided many student internships through U of T’s Professional Experience Year co-op program.

The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (222 College St.) supports research in pure and applied mathematics, statistics and computer science. Founded in Waterloo in 1992, it moved to U of T in 1995, where it offers research and collaborative space to serious mathematicians from around the world. Director Kenneth R. Davidson says Fields “fills a niche for students,” giving them access to top scholars they’ve read about in textbooks.

The Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science (700 University Ave.) is best known for its free Sunday-afternoon science lectures, held at the Medical Sciences Building’s Macleod Auditorium. Upcoming lecture topics include Microbial Engineering (November 2), Globalization and Infectious Diseases (November 9), and Physics for Kids (November 30). Call (416) 977-2983.

SPECIAL PEOPLE
As a fine arts student, Charles Pachter (BA 1964 UC) admits he found the department to be “uptight, close-mouthed, and lacking in enthusiasm about just about everything.” But Pachter, now one of Canada’s most prominent artists, remains true to his school. He has contributed two life-sized steel moose statues to U of T, one in the courtyard of Grad House, another at the corner of St. George and Harbord. A longtime area resident, Pachter has also donated a collection of his letters and documents to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.

Film buff Reg Hartt is famous for his collection of cartoons, classic silent films and early “talkies,” which he exhibits almost daily (accompanied by his uniquely acerbic commentaries) in the living room of his Bathurst Street home. Hartt calls himself a good neighbour to U of T, saying “I wisen up the kids who come here. I turn them on to things they didn’t expect to be turned on to and spark their creativity.”

Author and urban planner Jane Jacobs, who lives near Bloor and Bathurst, helped save the campus. She was instrumental in stopping the 1960s-era Spadina Expressway, which would have devastated the area. By and large, she considers the university a good neighbour: “It employs lots of interesting people who are often very constructive and useful in a neighbourhood.”

Judy Matthews (BA 1962 Trinity), a retired urban planner who lives at Bloor and Bedford, is concerned about the beauty of the campus. “I’d seen it all before the trees were cut down, and I remembered how lovely it was. I wanted to try to bring it back in a 21st-century way.” In 1995 she contributed $1 million to help revitalize St. George Street (narrowing the roadway and planting trees). More recently, she contributed to the greening of a key walkway between St. George and King’s College Circle. For a while, Matthews even worked for the university as a greenspace planner.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

For alumni looking back at their rosy student days, many memories are linked with neighbourhood institutions that have since fallen off the map. Among them are eateries such as Switzer’s Deli, where students met for latkes, borscht, cheese blintzes and glimpses of the autographed celebrity photos; United Bakers, which buzzed with lively political discussions; and the Crest Grill, where conversation more often turned to pool and the track. And the great standby was Murray’s Restaurant: “great for tea and raisin toast for poor students who could not afford a real meal,” recalls commerce grad Brenda Williams.

Bob Bradstock (BPHE 1962, BA 1966 Woodsworth) remembers both the Dell Restaurant and Steak N’ Burger as fun, cheap places to get together. “They were great for those of us who had daytime classes and worked at U of T at night.” And many alumni still mourn the passing of the Park Plaza’s King Cole Room – both its men’s beverage room and the larger room reserved for “Ladies and Escorts.” William Russell (BA 1961 UC) recalls retreating to the KCR for “often lively discussions of the war, women, financial problems, assignments, lectures, exams – not necessarily in that order.”

And who can forget such former cultural hotspots as the McLaughlin Planetarium, where ’70s students blissed out at laser light shows, or the Riverboat and the Purple Onion, early Yorkville coffeehouses that featured new artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Ian & Sylvia and Gordon Lightfoot. And from the early 1970s, Larry Cimino (BA 1973 St. Mike’s) fondly recalls dropping in on the War Amputees of Canada social hall on Wellesley Street. “We would spend time with the old gents drinking beer, playing pool, singing songs and listening to their old war stories. It was a great way to learn a bit about Canadian war history, mix with the generations, and procrastinate away a few hours under the rubric of not letting homework get in the way of a good education.”

LANDMARKS
Just beyond the Toronto Argonauts’ practice field, Erindale Park is a glorious patch of green spanning the Credit River. Everyone crosses the bridge to lunch in Mississauga’s largest park or to drink in the spectacular fall colours. UTM’s natural environment, notes alumni development officer Sue Prior, “is a primary reason students choose the campus.”

Also across the Credit is Riverwood, a 150-acre natural area being transformed into a park featuring a healing garden, rotating art gardens and a labyrinth. Two-thirds of the park will be maintained as original Carolinian forest, providing wonderful opportunities for students in UTM’s burgeoning environmental programs.

SPECIAL PEOPLE
Ageless Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion has been a staunch supporter of UTM since the beginning. She thinks of the campus as a community centre and attends numerous university events. She also sits on the Principal’s Advisory Committee.

The Associates is a group of community leaders organized by founding principal J. Tuzo Wilson when the new Erindale College was too young to have any alumni to provide friendship, wisdom and counsel. The Associates still sit on university committees, administer scholarships and organize lectures. “There’s strong community involvement in UTM,” says chair Joyce Delves, “and we played an important part in that.”

Painter and printmaker David Blackwood was UTM’s first artist-in-residence (1969 to 1975), and he has donated a number of original Canadian prints to the school’s collection. Blackwood met his wife, Anita, on campus, and their son, David, was born while they were living there. UTM, says Blackwood, “was the most important thing to happen to me as a young artist.” In turn, UTM opened the Blackwood Gallery in 1992. He received the Order of Canada in 1993.

BUSINESSES
UTM faculty go to Mulligan’s Pub & Grill (2458 Dundas St. W.) for that Cheers feeling (and the roast beef). Other popular watering holes include Web’s Restaurant (2273 Dundas W.), a sports bar offering tasty wings, live bands and karaoke, and Loose Change Charlie’s (777 Dundas W.), a roadhouse that encourages UTM students to “get loose for a change.”

Mississauga-based Hatch Associates, one of the world’s largest engineering firms, earned its good-neighbour credentials in 1999 when it contributed to the creation of a chair to help UTM students pursuing careers in information and technology industries develop better business skills. The Hatch Chair in Technology and Management is one of the first of its kind in Canada.

INSTITUTIONS
UTM is co-operating with Sheridan College in nearby Oakville on three joint programs: theatre and drama studies, art and art history, and communications, culture and information technology. The union marries UTM’s teaching and research smarts with Sheridan’s practical prowess.

The City of Mississauga is a donor to UTM’s new communications building, a partner in the development of new biotech initiatives, and an enthusiastic supporter of UTM’s growing environmental programs.

UTM increasingly borrows performance and studio space at the Living Arts Centre, a bustling arts complex in Mississauga’s City Centre. UTM’s Theatre Erindale is also experimenting with performances at the centre.

BUSINESS PARTNERS
The Sheridan Science and Technology Research Park (five kilometres west of UTM) is one of the few research communities in the world built entirely by industry. It offers special lectures and internships for UTM students, and now houses UTM’s new-technology incubator.

Pill Hill – the nickname for the nearby conglomeration of head offices and labs of major pharmaceutical companies – is a big benefactor, especially to UTM’s biotech program. With help from the Hill, UTM last year opened its $7.5-million Centre for Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology.

LANDMARKS
Historic Highland Creek Village – where Old Kingston Road meets Military Trail – is one of Ontario’s oldest settlements. “It’s the nearest place with a coherent identity,” says Ted Relph (PhD 1973), associate principal, campus development. “It’s a focal place, a mishmash of new and old architecture. It has one of the first strip shopping plazas with parking in front of it. It’s a place with a lot of history, and some identity, because the roads meet at strange angles.”

The Highland Creek Valley is an integral part of campus life, welcoming walkers, runners and cyclists. Miller Lash House, a formal wedding and conference facility nestled in the ravine, was formerly the principal’s residence.

EDUCATION
UTSC recently formalized three new joint programs with Centennial College, bringing the number of joint offerings to six. Beginning in 2004, students will be able to study health informatics, environmental science and technology, and industrial microbiology directly from high school. Joint programs in journalism, new media and paramedicine began this year.
BUSINESSES
The Perfect Chinese Restaurant (4386 Sheppard Ave. E.) attracts UTSC types for its perfectly priced menu, not to mention the fact that it’s open 24/7. Ted’s Restaurant (404 Old Kingston Rd.) is a charming 1950s greasy spoon that pulls them in at breakfast time for the best peameal bacon in town. The British beers and the shepherd’s pie at the Black Dog Pub (87 Island Rd.) are favourites of faculty and staff, who appreciate the upscale British tone. “We’re not full of kids with baseball caps,” says publican Ken Rueter.

Students and faculty alike meet at Purdy’s Restaurant & Pub (6091 Kingston Rd.). Owner Eric Purdy, who hosts countless student activities and is a loyal supporter of UTSC’s athletics program, recently earned a U of T Arbor Award as a longtime friend of the university.

SPECIAL PEOPLE
Betty Carr, publisher, Toronto division of Metroland (which publishes the Scarborough Mirror), is past vice-chair of UTSC’s advancement board and a longtime champion of the university. “Betty and her team are always willing to promote UTSC’s programs, initiatives and growth projects,” says executive director of advancement Maria Dyck. “Their reporters and photographers make every effort to cover UTSC’s events and bring our news to the community we serve.”

Noted Canadian painter Doris McCarthy (BA 1989 Scarborough) lives close by and cites the campus as an unending source of artistic inspiration. She’s a longtime supporter of UTSC, which has named its new art gallery after her. In 1989, at the age of 79, McCarthy graduated with a BA in English from UTSC.

Choosing to support U of T’s growing program in Jewish Studies, Milton Shier created the Shoshana Shier Distinguished Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies. It’s a generous gift that honours Shoshana’s love of learning in a new way every year. Income from that donation allows the Jewish Studies program to bring in a scholar of international renown each year to teach for one term and give three public lectures. Since 1999, visiting scholars from McGill University in Montreal, Boston-based Brandeis University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have taught courses, mentored students and swapped ideas with other U of T faculty during formal seminars and informal lunches. And their lectures – on subjects as diverse as Jewish folklore in Eastern Europe and the textual accuracy of the Hebrew Bible – have attracted audiences of 200 and more, including both academics and interested members of the public.

“When scholars of this calibre visit the University of Toronto, it creates excitement,” says Shier, former chairman of Ontario Store Fixtures, a leading manufacturer of retail shelving units. “Their knowledge is unparalleled. I’m very gratified. The program has lived up to our expectations.”

Shier’s support has involved more than money. He also provided vital support to an initiative within Toronto’s 175,000-member Jewish community to improve the university’s Jewish Studies program and raise its profile internationally. This community effort has led to the creation of four endowed chairs in Jewish Studies, with a fifth being negotiated, and an endowed lecturer’s position in Yiddish language and literature, each based on donations of $1 million to $2 million.

The result: in just a few years U of T’s Jewish Studies has evolved from a collection of diverse course offerings into an organized, scholarly program that is attracting increasing international attention. At a time when the university is coping with significant funding shortfalls, this growth is a tribute to the power of private giving. While not without its complications, the success of Jewish Studies reflects the growing role that individuals are playing in developing new programs and academic resources at U of T that meet both community needs and the highest standards of international scholarship.

“The fact that so much has been achieved in such a short period of time is incredible,” says Jewish Studies director Derek Penslar, who was recruited from Indiana University five years ago to become the first Samuel J. Zacks Professor of Jewish History. “It’s safe to say that if it hadn’t been for these donations, Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto wouldn’t be a shadow of what it is now. We wouldn’t have the eminent scholars, we wouldn’t be attracting outstanding graduate students, and I don’t think we would be offering the same challenges to our undergraduates.”

Equally important, the creation of the endowed chairs ensures that Jewish thought, spirituality and literature an intellectual heritage that forms one of the cornerstones of Western society and culture – will be taught at U of T by leading scholars for the next century and beyond. The chairs shield the program from economic or political changes that might lead to less funding or reduced commitment on the university’s part. “Having the chairs means the university is committed in perpetuity to those fields of study,” says Michael Marrus, dean of the School of Graduate Studies and the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies. “When I leave, someone will take my place.” Normally, he says, “in an academic environment, you can never be sure of that.”

Jewish Studies is a subject of interest to more than the local Jewish community that has nurtured the program at U of T – indeed, supporters are often surprised to learn that many of the students enrolled in Jewish Studies are not Jewish. Although never great in numbers, the Jewish people have made an inordinate contribution to world civilization – equal to that of Greece and Rome, in Penslar’s estimation. Among their greatest contributions is the Hebrew Bible (known to Christians as the Old Testament), the building block of two of the world’s largest faiths. “You can’t understand Christianity and Islam without understanding Judaism,” says Penslar. And of course, some of the key themes that arise in studying Jewish thought and culture – diversity and tolerance – are also driving forces in today’s social and geopolitical arenas.

According to Penslar, universities only began viewing Jewish Studies as an academic discipline in the 1930s, with the real growth coming 40 years later. U of T’s program started in 1967 with the appointment of Frank Talmage, a distinguished scholar of medieval Judaism, as the first professor of Jewish Studies. From the beginning the program has been multidisciplinary: rather than a separate department with its own curriculum and staff, it offers courses through nine different departments, including English, history, political science and philosophy. Today about 1,000 undergrads a year take some 60 Jewish Studies courses, with about 25 of them majoring in the subject. They focus on one of three areas: Jewish religion and thought; history and society; or language and literature.

Jewish Studies is not the only academic program growing through private support. Individual donors are also helping to expand U of T’s offerings in Ukrainian and Hungarian studies, among others. But the local Jewish community’s strength and vision have helped U of T’s program rank among the leading Jewish Studies programs in North America. The creation of fully endowed chairs “allowed us to expand the range of course offerings,” notes former dean of arts and science Carl Amrhein, a major supporter who left U of T last May to become provost of the University of Alberta. “It has allowed us to recruit and retain very, very high-calibre international faculty. And it has allowed us to create a professoriate that is deeply engaged in research and graduate supervision.”

This transformation was the work of about eight prominent members of Toronto’s Jewish community, led by Rose Wolfe, who served as U of T’s chancellor from 1991 to 1997. Her husband, Ray, CEO of Ontario food wholesaler Oshawa Group, had already helped establish a post-doctoral fellowship in Jewish Studies before his death in 1990 at age 71. Also in 1990, Toronto philanthropists Max and Gianna Glassman created a program in which a University of Toronto professor could teach and study in Israel one year and an Israeli academic could come to Toronto the following year.

But Rose Wolfe set her eyes on something much bigger. “My husband had put the seed in my head for a chair in Jewish Studies,” she recalls. “When I became chancellor I thought, now is the time.” Early in her term, Wolfe and her supporters began canvassing the Jewish community. They quickly landed their lead donors, Richard Shiff, the former president of real estate giant Bramalea Ltd., and his wife, Dorothy. Within six months, they had raised another $1 million through smaller gifts, enabling the creation of the Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair in Jewish Studies. The chair was filled in 1997 by David Novak, a world-renowned scholar on interfaith relationships who strives to break down the barriers between Judaism and Christianity. “When I think back, it seems like a miracle,” says Wolfe. “Everybody became wildly enthusiastic. We decided there were other areas of Jewish Studies that needed to be developed.”

The year 1997 saw the founding of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair in Israeli Studies, although it remained vacant until the arrival in 2001 of Emanuel Adler, a world expert on conflict resolution. In 1998, the Samuel J. Zacks Chair of Jewish History was established; it was filled by Penslar, an authority on Israel and modern European Jewry. Then Wolfe herself got into the act. As a young social worker in 1947, she had helped find Canadian homes for Jewish orphans from Nazi concentration camps. In 2000 her gift led to the creation of the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Chair in Holocaust Studies, currently filled by Michael Marrus, who has studied fascism, war, bigotry and the Holocaust for more than two decades. Such renowned scholars do more than provide world-class teaching and research; their reputations also attract master’s and doctoral students from Canada and abroad. Last year one more position was announced, the Endowed Lecturer in Yiddish Language and Literature (see story below).

To ensure that donors and community members stay close to the program, and to let them know how their money is being put to work, an executive advisory committee was established to facilitate the flow of information. “We meet periodically to talk about where the program is going and problems we’re having,” says Penslar. “People can make suggestions about how we might make better use of our resources, but they don’t have a right to run the program.”

There is another important sign of the close relationship between Jewish Studies and Toronto’s Jewish community: the children of some of the original donors have become involved in the program. Second-generation representatives of four donor families participate in the executive advisory committee. And Milton Shier’s son, Joseph (BA 1972, LLB 1975), sits on the committee that advises on the annual Shoshana Shier Distinguished Visiting Professor. A 51-year-old investment adviser and graduate of U of T’s law school, Joseph also makes a point of personally welcoming incoming professors, sometimes hosting an introductory dinner. He attends their public lectures and has even audited their graduate seminars. “It gives me an opportunity to meet the students,” he says. “There’s a discernible level of excitement among them at having a great scholar in Jewish Studies at U of T.”

It would be wrong, however, to suggest that everything goes smoothly in all of these relationships. Donors’ expectations sometimes clash with the realities of academic life. One family is reportedly unhappy, for instance, with the time it has taken to fill the chair they created. And donors who fund Jewish Studies to support their community may feel disappointed when scholarly researchers question prevailing assumptions.

“There’s always potential for tension,” notes Penslar. “Sometimes there is a desire on the part of donors to give a chair in the belief that this will strengthen the Jewish community or enhance Jewish identity on the campus.” There’s nothing wrong with those goals; last February, Jewish Studies co-sponsored a free public conference on anti-Semitism in which international scholars made presentations aimed at local laypeople. But for the most part Jewish Studies, like most academic programs, aims to inform and influence a diverse worldwide audience.

Penslar’s solution to potential conflicts is to communicate, as fully and as often as he can. “I talk quite frankly about these tensions with our donors,” he adds. “Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don’t, but they understand where we are coming from.”

For all the community’s generosity, however, the Jewish Studies program has far to go. Because of funding shortfalls, it depends on visiting lecturers rather than permanent professors to teach such core subjects as the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew literature and the modern Hebrew language. Another need is for a full-time curator to manage the university’s 150,000-volume Judaica collection, which is considered one of the best in North America. And Penslar dreams of having more funding for student aid and research, to help the university compete for the very best graduate students from around the world. “The real key is going to be the next generation of leadership,” he says. “Very often people in their 40s and 50s are at the peak of their earning power, but they probably have different priorities now. I’m hoping that in the next few years they will be in a position to make donations and recognize that an eventual gift to U of T is an investment in the Jewish community.”

Of course, it’s also an investment in young people, says Wolfe. In the end, she notes, “The students are the beneficiaries. They’re the ones you do all this for.”

Green went on to enjoy a successful career as a builder of homes and apartments, co-founding the firm Greenwin Property Development. Although he never mastered his parents’ language, he didn’t forget it, either. Two years ago, he and his wife, Malka, matched the funds raised by a small group of Yiddish-speaking activists in the city’s Jewish community, enabling the University of Toronto to create a program in Yiddish Studies. “We’ve always been interested in Yiddish,” says Green, now 78. “We liked this project when we were approached, because the language is threatened. Its use is disappearing from daily life.”

Like the language itself, the study of Yiddish had also been in danger of disappearing from the university’s linguistic offerings, says Derek Penslar, director of U of T’s Jewish Studies program. Financial constraints have imperilled the teaching of other languages as well, including Polish, Finnish, Korean and Thai. But a Friends of Yiddish Committee, operating through the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto, raised funds annually to pay for a sessional lecturer to teach Yiddish language and literature. The committee then set out to raise just over $1 million to create an endowed lecturer position to ensure that instruction would continue in perpetuity. But the initiative stalled for several years as the committee raised only half the funds. (“If you want to give God a good laugh,” says an old Yiddish proverb, “tell him your plans.”)

Enter the Greens. In spring 2001 they agreed to donate “a substantial amount of money” to complete the campaign, allowing the university to announce the Al and Malka Green Yiddish Studies Program in July 2002. “By ensuring that Yiddish will be taught, the donors are guaranteeing that the heritage of East European Jewry will be preserved,” says Penslar.

Yiddish is a 1,000-year-old language based largely on medieval German. Before the Second World War there were 12 million Yiddish speakers. Today fewer than one million people are fluent in Yiddish, and it has been eclipsed, even in Israel, by Hebrew. “In 20 years there will be very few Yiddish speakers,” says Penslar. “University-level instruction is the only way to preserve it.”

The six buildings featured here – Bahen Centre for Information Technology, Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Erindale Hall at University of Toronto at Mississauga, Morrison Pavilion, Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building and University of Toronto at Scarborough Student Centre – are just a handful of the new structures that are transforming the campus landscape.

“There’s an extraordinarily high level of architectural ambition in all of these projects,” says Adrian DiCastri (BArch 1983), a partner at architectsAlliance of Toronto and one of the designers of the new Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research on the St. George campus. “When this round of buildings is completed, the university is going to have one of the highest concentrations of exciting new buildings in North America.”

Huge, glistening expanses of glass are a primary feature of many of the new structures. During the day, light floods through the windows, illuminating hives of intellectual and social activity. At night, when the surrounding stone and metal fades into the darkness, the glass glows from within and lights up the campus like huge floating lanterns. Most importantly, however, these transparent designs showcase wide-open spaces in which to study, teach, conduct research, eat and socialize. Space is a precious commodity during an enrolment boom on a scale not seen since the 1960s, when the baby boomers entered post-secondary institutions. The current flurry of construction is largely due to an influx of first-year students, which is fuelled by the echo baby boom, rising demand for higher education and the famous double cohort. (The term refers to the Grade 12 and 13 students in Ontario who graduated in summer 2003, when the province phased out Grade 13.) This year, the University of Toronto increased its undergraduate enrolment by 25 per cent to take in more than 10,000 first-year students.

Every one of the 10,000 new students needs space. So do their 50,000-plus fellow students. New residences opened on all three campuses this September, and more will open over the next few years. U of T at Scarborough opened a 230-bed residence this fall and has a 300-bed facility in the works. At U of T at Mississauga, 197 students just moved into new quarters. On the St. George campus, New College opened a 277-bed residence and Woodsworth College’s 373-bed facility will be ready next spring.

Libraries and academic-support centres are also getting a make-over. Some are being renovated, while others are extending their hours and bumping up services for the additional students. The newly completed $23-million Academic Resource Centre at Scarborough features one of the first digital libraries in Canada and a 500-seat lecture theatre.

Over the next decade U of T expects to hire more than 1,000 new faculty members to teach the growing student body, replace retiring professors and help expand the research enterprise. Leading-edge research facilities are crucial to recruitment, as is innovation. Mississauga’s $3.4-million Centre for Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology, which opened last fall, and the $35-million Communication, Culture and Information Technology Building, slated to open by next September, will attract students and researchers. Scarborough’s $16-million Management Building will enhance U of T’s reputation in business education.

Academic buildings of any kind are expensive, but especially pricey are structures that house high-tech programs. While the residences largely fund themselves through rental income, other capital projects have relied on private donations and a mix of federal and provincial funding. Alumni have kick-started some projects with gifts in the millions of dollars, while contributions of all sizes are helping equip
the buildings.

When the last bit of sawdust is swept away to reveal the gleaming glass structures, everyone involved – from the donors to the architects and construction workers – will no doubt take pride in what they have built together.

The striking 12-storey glass tower will function as an intellectual greenhouse where ideas grow into robust research initiatives through multidisciplinary collaboration, says Dr. James Friesen who, along with Dr. Cecil Yip, is an interim co-director of CCBR. About 500 students, faculty members and researchers from the faculties of medicine, pharmacy and engineering will work side by side to uncover the roles played by 30,000 genes in human health and disease.

The $100-million training and research facility will strengthen U of T’s reputation as a leader in post-genome innovation, says Dr. Peter N. Lewis, vice-dean, research, in the Faculty of Medicine. Its location at Taddle Creek Road and College Street is in the middle of the University of Toronto’s growing health-sciences complex, which includes the teaching hospitals, the Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building (see below) and the Medical and Related Science (MaRS) Discovery District.

With open-concept labs and extensive informal meeting spaces, the design of the 200,000-square-foot building reflects the centre’s collaborative and multidisciplinary philosophy. “It had to be extraordinarily flexible with respect to its research capabilities,” says Adrian DiCastri of architectsAlliance, who worked on CCBR’s design with Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner of Germany. “The function of each lab can change effortlessly.”

The two award-winning architectural firms incorporated several “green features” into their design, including indoor gardens to improve air quality; exposed concrete ceilings and walls to maximize heating and cooling efficiency; and a soaring glass facade to make use of natural light. (The CCBR is the first building in Canada to have an energy-efficient double-glass facade.)

The university is continuing to seek additional private funding for the building. The Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust each gave $30 million in grants, and U of T and the Faculty of Medicine jointly contributed about $10 million. Terrence Donnelly (LLD Hon. 2003), a Toronto lawyer and businessman, donated $5 million last year for the atrium that links the CCBR to the Medical Sciences Building. The project broke ground in September 2002.

Scheduled to open in fall 2005, the $75-million building on the corner of Queen’s Park Circle and College Street will allow the faculty to increase total enrolment to about 1,000 students and triple its research and laboratory space. In recent years, demand has been increasing for qualified pharmacists right across the country. There are just nine schools of pharmacy in Canada, and the University of Toronto offers the only one in Ontario. In addition to helping produce more pharmacists, the state-of-the-art facility will foster promising research into new drugs and improved delivery systems for existing medicines.

The pharmacy community has rallied behind the new building. Leslie L. Dan (BSc Phm 1954, MBA 1959), the founder of Novopharm Ltd., and his family led the initiative with a gift of $13 million. Apotex Inc., Green Shield Canada, Ontario Pharmacists’ Association members and Shoppers Drug Mart and its associates and suppliers also gave substantial donations. The University Infrastructure Investment Fund contributed financial support, and the Ontario government’s SuperBuild fund provided $28.8 million for the project, leaving $12 million still to be raised through private donations.

The 167,000-square-foot building is the first Canadian commission for the award-winning architectural firm Foster and Partners of London. Collaborating with Moffat Kinoshita Architects of Toronto, the architects devised a way to honour the surrounding heritage structures. The bottom of the new building will be transparent so that the older buildings will be visible through the lobby, says David Nelson of Foster and Partners.

This bright, colonnaded space will be the student hub, and feature two pod-like structures that appear to float above the main floor. The pods contain a lecture theatre and a classroom. “The building had to have a strong presence and identity while still harmonizing with the rest of the campus,” says Nelson.

Proposals to build a centre in 1985 and 1995 were unsuccessful because students couldn’t rally enough peer support for the idea of funding it themselves. A well-crafted campaign finally succeeded in 2001 when Scarborough students passed a referendum to launch a fund for the new building. The campaign committed $60 annually per full-time student for the next 30 years. The university matched this contribution with 50 cents on the dollar, and there are ongoing efforts to raise private funds to help build and equip the centre. The total cost of the 48,000-square-foot facility, set to open by September 2004, is just under $14 million.

The student centre will feature two main sections designed to reflect their functions, says Stephen Phillips, a principal at Dunlop Architects in Toronto, who led the design team. A glass-and-titanium-sheathed cantilever with an open, bright atmosphere will house lounges, restaurants and pubs, while a more structured part of the building will contain the more formal offices, meeting rooms and student services. Dunlop Architects worked closely with students throughout the design process, meeting regularly with a committee of student leaders and making presentations to the student body.

Green principles influenced most aspects of the building’s design and construction, qualifying it for recognition by the American LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system. Only a handful of Canadian buildings have earned this official “green building” status. The centre will feature a windowless west wall to reduce cooling costs, a natural ventilation system, a rooftop garden and recycled building materials – including steel beams that are currently being dismantled in the Royal Ontario Museum renovation.

The student centre will be the first building that people see when approaching the campus from the main entrance on Military Trail, so it’s designed as a gateway to the university, says Phillips. “The building recedes from the campus entry, so it provides generous outdoor space. It conveys an image of openness and accessibility, reflective of students and student life on campus.”

Erindale Hall offers accommodation that anyone would be proud to call home. The residence is organized around suites that contain four single bedrooms, two bathrooms and a common room with a kitchen. Every suite in the $16-million facility has custom-designed bedroom furniture, a fridge and stove, a security-controlled entry, air conditioning and hard-wired Internet access.

UTM is one of the only campuses in Canada to guarantee a single room for every first-year student, says Chris McGrath, the residence director. The new 197-bed residence brings the number of undergraduate beds at UTM to almost 800.

Designed by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects Inc. of Toronto, Erindale Hall qualified for a federal government incentive program that provides up to $60,000 for buildings that minimize energy consumption and lower greenhouse emissions. High-efficiency boilers, a heat-recovery system for exhaust air and specially insulated outer walls are among the energy-efficient features. The design takes an aggressive approach to reducing the building’s overall environmental footprint, says Jon Neuert (BArch 1990), one of the principal architects on the project.

The building also treads lightly on the sensitive ecological zone that surrounds it, preserving the wooded areas on the east and west sides of the building that serve as a refuge for native wildlife. Large windows throughout the residence bring the outside in, says Neuert. “The forest landscape becomes a seasonally changing panorama that’s part of the experience of the interior of the building.” Canadian Architect magazine recognized the design with a 2002 Award of Excellence.

McGrath says Erindale Hall’s amenities attracted new students and gave UTM an edge in recruitment, but the new residence and larger number of students living on campus have forced him to redesign residence programming. “It’s more challenging to build a community when students are huddled into these smaller pods,” he says. This autumn, McGrath responded to the challenge by launching a pilot initiative called Living Learning Communities, which gives students the option of living with peers who share common interests – whether it be the performing arts or international development.

Officially opened last fall, the $111-million building at 40 St. George St. brings together engineering, computer-science and arts-and-science students and faculty members who are passionate about information-age research. “Now all of these people who share ideas can also share space,” says engineering dean Tas Venetsanopoulos.

Industry-related research institutes, including Bell University Research Labs, Rogers AT&T Wireless Communications Labs, Nortel Institute for Telecommunications and Motorola Networking/Multimedia Lab, are also housed in the 215,000-square-foot facility, making it a focal point for information-technology (IT) research in Canada. Areas of investigation include wireless communication, computer graphics, human-computer interaction and software engineering.

The Bahen Centre allows the university to increase enrolment and attract top professors to all of its IT-related programs, a task made much easier by the building’s impressive look and research capacity. “When potential recruits come and see such a facility here, they realize that we are committed to research in this area,” says Venetsanopoulos.

Funding for the building came from a mix of federal and provincial grants and substantial alumni donations. Lead donors include John (BASc 1954, DEng Hon. 1999) and Margaret Bahen (Dip Occupational Therapy 1952); Jeffrey Skoll (BASc 1987, LLD Hon. 2003); and Lee (BASc 1977, MEng 1982) and Margaret Lau. Fundraising efforts will continue to furnish and equip the dozens of classrooms and labs in the building.

Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc. of Toronto won several accolades for the centre’s design, including an Ontario Association of Architects 2003 Architectural Excellence Award. The team faced diverse challenges, such as incorporating the complex infrastructure of high-tech labs into the design while weaving the modern structure into and around neighbouring heritage buildings, says Thom Pratt, the associate in charge of the project.

Most of the teaching facilities are clustered on the lower floors to ensure a quiet environment for research on the upper levels. The main floor, which is dominated by a three-storey atrium, is used as a central plaza. The building’s north end features a five-storey glass pavilion, and the south end includes a landscaped quadrangle. Energy-efficient strategies – including a system to retain and recycle storm water, low water-consumption plumbing and sun-shading devices on the building’s exterior – influenced many aspects of the design.

A recent $15-million renovation and addition has transformed Canada’s largest academic science and medicine library, located at 9 King’s College Circle, into a welcoming space for students from all faculties. Libraries are havens for the thousands of students who commute to U of T every day, says Joan Leishman (MLS 1974), the director of the centre. With enrolment on the rise, it was vital to increase study facilities.

The dimly lit basement of the original 1892 structure used to be known as “the dungeon,” says Leishman. The inadequate security, poor accessibility and awkward layout stemmed from ad hoc improvements over the years.

In 1997, Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc. of Toronto became involved in the first phase of the refurbishing project when they undertook a 22,000-square-foot renovation of the library’s entrance and main floor. The next phase, completed this past January, added 32,000 square feet on the east side of the library.

The new addition, called the Morrison Pavilion, is five floors and nearly doubles the available space. It features 650 ergonomically designed study spaces with wired and wireless Internet access, an open staircase, a fully accessible elevator, extensive book shelving and a layout that is easy to navigate. One side of the pavilion gives students ready access to the library’s print and electronic resources, while the other three sides feature massive windows that look on to Hart House Circle and Queen’s Park. Architects Donald Schmitt (BArch 1977) and Gary McCluskie chose limestone for the exterior and oak panelling for the interior to match the original heritage structure. “We were very conscious of the fact that this is one of the incredible architectural sites in Toronto,” says McCluskie.

Federal and provincial grants contributed to the financing, but the pavilion is largely a gift from Russell (MA 1947) and Katherine Morrison (PhD 1979). Students from every discipline have shown their approval of the pavilion by filling up the new study spaces, says Leishman. But they aren’t the only ones taking notice. “We’ve had librarians from all across North America come to look at it. It’s seen as a model for upgrading facilities and bringing them into the 21st century.”