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University of Toronto

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Cobblet (talk | contribs) at 02:57, 24 August 2005 (add TEM to U of T's important accomplishments, decapitalize "insulin"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Infobox University2 Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto (U of T), in Toronto, Ontario, is the largest university in Canada and one of the most important scholarly publishers in North America.[1]

U of T attracts top students from across Canada, as well as a significant number of international students. It has produced some of the great minds for the nation, including four Prime Ministers, two Governors General, and numerous internationally recognized academic and business leaders. It has the most Nobel Prize-winning graduates among Canadian universities.[2]

As Canada's pre-eminent research institution, the University of Toronto is widely acknowledged as one of the world's finest publicly funded universities.[3][4][5]

Academics

U of T has 75 PhD programs, and 14 professional faculties. It attracts some of the world's most renowned scholars and was ranked by The Scientist as the best place to work in academia outside the United States. Research InfoSource also ranks U of T as the top research university in Canada [6]. Over the last two decades, its faculty members have received almost a quarter of all national awards although they represent just over seven per cent of Canada's university professors.

For eleven years in a row, U of T has been ranked the top medical-doctoral research university in Canada by Maclean's Magazine. In 2004, international rankings such as the Times Higher Education Supplement and the Institute of Higher Education of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranked U of T 37th and 24th, respectively.[7]

Among other accomplishments, U of T-affiliated researchers developed the first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, single-lung transplant, nerve transplant, artificial pancreas, chemical laser, G-suit, built the first practical transmission electron microscope and extracted insulin.

To support its work of teaching and research, the University has collected a library that is the largest in Canada and among the best in the world. The 15 million holdings in U of T's library system rank it fourth among North American university libraries after Harvard, Yale, and UC Berkeley. [8]

U of T's endowment exceeds $1.5 billion, far larger than that of any other Canadian university. It has an operating budget of $1.1 billion, with $517 million in research and grant and contract support. The university has nearly 100 spin-off companies with over 3,000 employees and revenues of $821 million. The university itself is the 15th largest employer in the Greater Toronto Area.[9]

Widely acknowledged to be Canada's top school[10], U of T attracts many of the best students from Ontario and the rest of Canada, and also has a significant number of international students (over 6,000 international students or about 9% of the student population)[11]. Its student selectivity is generally thought to be high and competition is extremely intense for programs from its Medical, Dentistry, Law, Business, Architectural, and Engineering schools.

Student life

Despite the prevalence of a wide variety of student interest groups and related organizations (its 340 student clubs and organizations [12] are probably more than any other Canadian university), U of T suffers from the same impersonal atmosphere that plagues other large universities. Most students live off-campus, and for many the U of T experience is limited solely to attending classes. This has resulted in a general lack of school spirit and the disconnection many of its students feel from the school and other students. This lack of community has been detrimental to the solicitation of financial support from alumni. However, the school's rich and varied culture is available to those students who seek it out.

The university is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the Toronto Varsity Blues.

The College System

Every arts and science student on the St. George Campus is a member of one of the seven colleges (federated and constituent), which act, ideally, as a smaller-scale intellectual and social community for its members. In practice, they are mostly residential and administrative in nature. While U of T's college system was originally based the system at the University of London, U of T's colleges are not as autonomous, nor do they bear as much of an instructional responsibility to their students. However, first-year seminars and academic programs are offered by all colleges.

Campuses

The University comprises three campuses. All three campuses are undergoing massive construction, with over 40 facilities recently completed, upgraded or in the works. These capital expansion projects are designed to increase study space as well as attract top-level talent. The study space requirement is in large part due to the cancellation of OAC and predicted increases in enrollment.

St. George

The downtown, or St. George campus, includes four constituent undergraduate colleges, and three colleges from its three federated universities (federated universities were incorporated into the University; constituent colleges were created within the University). The campus is also home to several theological colleges associated with the Toronto School of Theology.

The downtown campus has a rich architectural history, making it a popular attraction for visitors to the city, as well as a common location for shooting movies. It is bounded by Spadina Avenue to the west, Bloor Street to the north, Bay Street to the east, and College Street to the south. The campus is well-served by public transportation (TTC), namely by the Spadina, St. George, Museum, and Queen's Park subway stations.

Mississauga and Scarborough

File:Utmstudentcentre.jpg
UTM Student Centre.

Thirty kilometres (18 miles) west of the St. George campus is the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM; formerly Erindale College) in suburban Mississauga. Set on the banks of the Credit River, UTM's 224 acre (0.9 km²) campus is decidedly modern. It is off Mississauga Road between Dundas Street and Burnhamthorpe Road in the Erindale area. A shuttle bus connects the UTM and St. George campuses. UTM is currently undergoing massive construction, and will soon be the home of a new athletics facility, including a state-of-the-art pool. Also in the works at UTM is brand new library called the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre, set to open its doors in June of 2006. In the summer of 2007, UTM will open a brand new residence building. In spite of being at some distance from main campus, UTM is the home of the Toronto Argonauts.

At the other end of the Greater Toronto Area is the University of Toronto at Scarborough (UTSC; formerly Scarborough College), approximately 30 kilometres east of the downtown campus. The 300 acre (1.2 km²) campus is on Highland Creek in the Scarborough area of eastern Toronto, on Military Trail, near Highway 401 and Morningside Avenue.

History

Early years

The University was established on March 15, 1827, when King's College at York (Toronto) was granted its Royal Charter. King's College became the University of Toronto in 1849. In 1853, University College was founded, as a non-denominational teaching institution within the university. Several other Toronto-area religiously affiliated universities and colleges would incorporate with University of Toronto, becoming "federated" with it. Those federated universities are St. Michael's, Victoria, and Trinity. Additional undergraduate colleges would be created later, and two additional campuses added, to accommodate the school's growing size.

Milestones

  • 1858: the capstone for the University College building was laid, giving the university its first true home.
  • 1866: two companies of University volunteers fought in the Battle of Ridgeway, where three students were killed.
  • 1873: the School of Practical Science, now the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering was founded.
  • 1884: women admitted to the university.
  • 1887: Victoria University, Ontario Agricultural College (now the University of Guelph) and the Toronto School of Medicine are incorporated into the university.
  • 1890: Valentine's Day fire destroys much of University College.
  • 1897: first PhDs offered.
  • 1900: U of T Alumni Association formed.
  • 1904: Trinity College federates with U of T.
  • 1906: Convocation Hall completed.
  • 1907: Faculty of Education created.
  • 1910: St. Michael's College federates with U of T.
  • 1914: Royal Ontario Museum (jointly owned by university and province) opens.
  • 1919: Hart House student building opens.
  • 1922: School of Graduate Studies established.
  • 1923: Banting and McLeod receive Nobel Prize for insulin research.
  • 1924: Soldier's Tower, commemorating 600 students and staff who died in the First World War is completed.
  • 1928: The Varsity Grads hockey team, representing Canada, wins Olympic gold at St. Moritz.
  • 1935: David Dunlap Observatory opens, with world's second-largest telescope.
  • 1960: Campus building boom: Sidney Smith Hall, Ramsay Wright Zoological Laboratories, Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories, McLennan Physical Laboratories.
  • 1964: New College and Innis College created, in addition to new Scarborough and Erindale (Mississauga) campuses.
  • 1970: Medical Sciences building opens.
  • 1971: School of Library Science established.
  • 1973: Robarts Library opens.
  • 1974: Woodsworth College established.
  • 1977: Fire guts Sandford Fleming building (engineering).
  • 1986: John Polanyi wins Nobel Prize in chemistry.
  • 1989: Earth Sciences Centre opens.
  • 1996: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education merges with U of T's Faculty of Education; St. George Street revitalization project completed.

Student Activism

The University has borne witness to much activism over the years. In 1895, University College students, led by William Lyon Mackenzie King boycotted classes for a week after the editor of the Varsity student newspaper was suspended for anti-administration articles.

The 1960s saw the creation of Rochdale College, a large high-rise residence where many students and staff lived, though it was "officially" not connected to the university. Rochdale was established as an alternative to what had been seen as the traditional, authoritarian, and paternalistic structures within universities.

In the fall of 1969, after Pierre Trudeau decriminalized homosexuality, the first gay and lesbian group in Toronto or on any Canadian campus — the University of Toronto Homophile Association — was formed. Jearld Moldenhauer, a research assistant at the Faculty of Medicine, placed an advertisement in The Varsity, asking others to join in setting up an organization. While the first meeting drew a meager 16 people — 15 men and one woman — the group quickly established a significant profile within the community and the city at large. Two decades later, David Rayside, a professor of political science, would organize the Committee on Homophobia. Ten years after that, he would help introduce a sexual diversity studies program at University College, to much success.

Complete list of colleges and divisions

Federated universities

 
University College, 15 Kings College Circle.
 
Old Vic, on the campus of Victoria University.
 
Behind the Faculty of Law from Philosopher's Walk.
File:Rotman school.jpg
The Rotman School of Management.
 
The Edward Johnson Building, Faculty of Music.
File:Fields.JPG
Inside the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences

Constituent colleges

Faculties

Centres and institutes

Toronto School of Theology colleges

Affiliated Teaching Hospitals

Other affiliated units

Previously affiliated institutions

Senior Officers of the University of Toronto

List of Chancellors

List of presidents

Noted faculty

University Professors

(U of T's highest academic honour is to be named a "University Professor." The authoritative list is here)

Other noted faculty, past and present

Noted graduates

Academics and scholars

Business Leaders

Politics

Others

See also

Student Societies

Student Clubs and Organizations

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