President's Page

TRENT CONTENTS 

Editorial

President's Page

Alumni-in-Residence

Michael Treadwell: A Man for All Trent Seasons

Storeyline

Season of the Wolff - Gary Wolff '67 heads Trent's Board

So Who Says You Can't Go Home Again

A Tribute - Professor Janet Bews

Sunshine Sketches

In Memoriam

Proud Traditions - Trent Rugby

...An academic hive of positive activity and spirit
by Bonnie Patterson

Happy Anniversary to us! It's been 35 years since Trent University began its teaching and research mission, and what a great history we have to celebrate. We also have an exciting future ahead, and Trent at the millennium's approach is an academic hive of positive activity and spirit.

In addition to a gala event featuring the play The Bush-Ladies: In their own words, by Molly Thom, widow of Trent architect Ron Thom, there will be many activities to mark this special time for Trent. We'll also launch the public portion of Beyond Our Walls, Trent's capital fund-raising campaign, and look ahead optimistically to the benefits that effort will bring our students, faculty and staff.

Summer 1999 marked my first year of service as Trent's President and continued to be an extremely busy and productive time for myself, my colleagues on faculty who were maximizing their opportunities for research, and for students and faculty involved in various academic programs. It was also a busy planning and activity time for Trent's administrative staff. One key improvement for Symons Campus is the relocation of our bookstore from downtown to a vastly-renovated lower-level space adjacent to the podium. I hope all members of the university community will welcome this new, more accessible store and visit when you join us during Head of the Trent weekend.

As I write this on a sultry summer day, I am extremely hopeful that our more aggressive marketing efforts will contribute to improved fall and future enrolments and a renewed Trent appeal for students. Many of you will have seen our 32-foot billboard erected in July on Hwy. 115 which invites travelers to "Think Trent" and shows an image of our enthusiastic students. This is the first of what I hope will be many innovative thrusts to reassert Trent's presence locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, and re-invigorate our reputation for quality and excellence.

In response to the province's expected teacher shortage, I have been busily exploring and promoting the concept of a Trent school of education to train teachers at Trent, beginning in September 2000. It is our hope that the first students will be in a one-year consecutive bachelor of education degree program, which follows their undergraduate degrees. A four-year concurrent teacher education program would also be developed with admissions the following year. Quite co-incidentally, two of our graduates have received recognition as outstanding educators for the year 1999. Congratulations to Paul Delaney of Penetang who was named one of the TVOntario Teachers of the Year for 1999, and Charles White of Port Perry who was honored as one of the Toronto Sun's Teachers of the Year. We are delighted to have members of our alumni achieve such personal and professional distinction.

I am also excited by the move of Cheryl Davies, your Association President, and her husband Bryan, into Champlain College this year for Canada's only "alumni-in-residence" program. You'll be reading more about this novel mentoring project in this issue of the magazine, but I am especially hopeful that the residency of these members of our class of '68 will help our students with advice and guidance.

Once again this fall there will be surveying of university graduates in a continuation of last fall's new program. Mandated by our Ministry, the results are intended to help prospective students considering their postsecondary options. I'd like to thank all of you who completed that first questionnaire; it is important to us. Some very positive information resulted. Trent's graduates of 1996 were shown to have an overall employment rate exceeding 96 per cent two years after graduation. (The overall employment rate was 96.7 per cent for Ontario's graduates of undergraduate degree programs.) Even just six months after their graduation in 1996, 88.6 per cent of Trent's survey respondents reported that they had found employment. Trent, like all other universities, has made these results available on our Web site, as well as graduation and osap default rates for 1998-99. Congratulations on your success.

In addition, through our Office of Institutional Research and Planning, Trent will also begin surveying our current student body to give us a quantifiable and better sense of student satisfaction. If we are to help our students reach their full potential, we must better understand their needs and what we can do to ensure their success.

You'll be hearing more about the Report of the Academic Planning Committee, which will reflect responses received during the past academic year from the Trent community to questions regarding strategic directions. Vice-President (Academic) Graham Taylor has chaired this committee's work and will be inviting comments on this first step in a continuing process of academic reaffirmation and renewal at Trent. The report is now available for your perusal via Trent's Web site (www.trentu.ca/news). All members of Trent's community - including our alumni - are invited to comment on the report's description of trends and opportunities, and of course, its recommendations.

I invite you to return to visit Trent during this special year, or whenever your schedule allows. We will always welcome you.


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