A Review of Catharine Parr Traill College

June 28, 2016

I hope your summers have begun well.  I am writing to bring you up to date on the Traill Review conducted by Professor Christopher Tindale (currently of the University of Windsor; formerly the senior tutor at Traill).  The review is now complete, and was shared with the Board at Friday’s Board Meeting.  You can read the review now.
 
There are many recommendations in the Tindale report. The university is planning to move in the general direction the report suggests – i.e. to develop Traill in the direction of a traditional college (of the sort that was originally envisaged when Trent was founded as a collegiate university). The goal will be a college which is an academic community which ultimately reports (through its Principal) to the Vice-President Academic. We aim to achieve this goal in a way that allows Traill some room to cultivate distinct traditions, and to organize itself in a way that is both academically and financially sustainable.
 
As we begin to move in this direction, we are initiating the following two changes.

1. Professor Michael Eamon will be appointed the Principal of Traill College for a transitional three year period. During this time he will be asked to lead the transition to a new Traill which will embrace collegiate traditions. Professor Eamon will report to Trent’s Provost/Vice-President Academic (Dr. Jackie Muldoon). Under the direction of the Provost, in consultation with others as appropriate, he will work with Dr. Nona Robinson, our Associate Vice-President, Students, in a consideration of the various recommendations contained in the report. I expect that some of the recommendations will be implemented fully, some partially, and some not at all.
2. In keeping with the Tindale report, Traill will remain a centre for graduate education, but undergraduate students will be reintegrated into the college in the way that he suggests – i.e. with a focus on those undergraduate students who are best suited to the academic experience Traill offers (e.g., older students, senior students, transfer students, and students pursuing second degrees). In view of our need to accommodate the number of students who have accepted offers of admission this year, this transition will begin immediately, with the conversion of the third floor of Wallis Hall into undergraduate residences which will be ready for the Fall (any graduate students eligible for offices who are displaced by this conversion will be accommodated elsewhere on the Traill campus). 

It goes without saying that there will have to be some significant reorganization of what we do as we move in this new direction. The momentum the Tindale report establishes will provide us with an opportunity to reinvigorate Traill College in a way that makes it financially sustainable at the same time that it allows it to offer a unique college experience for Trent students and faculty.
 
I would like to end this message by thanking the many stakeholders who participated in the discussions that led Professor Tindale’s report!
 
Best,

Leo Groarke, Ph.D.
President & Vice-Chancellor