Trent University Durham GTA growing with community’s support
Columnist Dr. Garry Cubitt shares successes of Campaign for Trent Durham
Innovative thinking. Critical engagement. Community building.
These pillars of my Trent University education have served me well in my career -- and also happen to be the skills we will need in the next generation of Durham’s movers, shakers and community makers.
Over the past two years I have, along with my wife Vicki, also a Trent alumna, had the pleasure of serving as a committee member on the Campaign for Trent Durham, which has seen a very exciting campus expansion take shape on Thornton Road -- cementing Trent University as a key part of the Durham Region’s growing knowledge economy.
I have seen my time and my financial commitment to this project as an investment that reflects my own experience and passion for this community. The skills that I gained at Trent helped to make my career path personally rewarding. In today’s competitive economy, it is more important than ever that we invest in the next generation, and it has been encouraging to see the ways that this campaign has been received by neighbours, municipal partners and major philanthropists locally. Though we are not done yet, I would like to extend my gratitude to all who have supported this effort so far.
This campaign has been well-supported by local business leaders and influencers linked to Durham Region including Edmond and Sylvia Vanhaverbeke, Trent University honorary degree recipient, Dr. Katie Taylor and, with the rallying energy of the campaign’s co-chair, my fellow Trent alumnus, Doug Kirk. We can certainly appreciate the enthusiasm that the business community has in seeing the development of talent in the community and are excited to see what new programs, including Journalism and Creative Writing, Policing and Community Well-Being and Logistics and Supply Chain Management, as well as popular programs in Psychology, Business Administration, Social Work and Child and Youth Studies, will mean for the future of work in the region.
Our municipal partners from the City of Oshawa and the Region of Durham have been instrumental in supporting the growing Trent Durham campus. The City of Oshawa enabled Trent’s expansion project in 2017 with a donation of 1.8 acres of land, and the Region of Durham gifted $1.42 million towards the campaign last year. More to the point, these partners have believed in the robust partnerships with the three post-secondary institutions here.
Looking to the future, we’ve raised the funds as well as a spectacular six-storey building at Thornton Road. Now we will continue to grow some exciting opportunities for students to get hands-on, career-boosting experiences in labs and lecture halls, as well as in exciting placement opportunities with employers across the GTA.
-- Dr. Garry Cubitt is a Trent alumnus, committee member for the Campaign for Trent Durham and recently retired as the Chief Administrative Officer for the Regional Municipality of Durham. This article originally appeared in Metroland - Durham Division.