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Coordinates: 0°0′0″N 0°0′0″E 0, 0

University of Toronto

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    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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  • Official Website: [1]
• History & Memorable Moments

The founding of a colonial college had long been the desire of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. An Oxford-educated military commander who fought in the American Revolutionary War, Simcoe felt that a college would be needed to counter the spread of republicanism from the United States. In 1796, he told the Anglican Bishop of Quebec in writing, "I have no idea that a University will be established, though I am daily confirmed in its necessity." The Upper Canada Executive Committee recommended in 1798 that a university be established in the town of York. On March 15, 1827, King's College was established by a Royal Charter from King George IV, largely due to the efforts of John Strachan, the influential Anglican Bishop of Toronto who became the college's first president. The original Greek Revival building was constructed on the present site of the Ontario Parliament Buildings. Under Strachan's guidance, King's College was a strongly Anglican institution closely aligned with the Church of England and the British colonial elite known as the Family Compact. ^[1]

After a lengthy and heated public debate, the newly-elected responsible government of Upper Canada passed a law in 1849 to secularize King's College. On January 1, 1850, King's College was renamed as the University of Toronto, officially severing its connection with the Anglican Church. A reorganization in 1853 created University College as its nondenominational teaching branch. Enraged by the decision to secularize, Strachan left the presidency to open Trinity College, a private Anglican college. Meanwhile, the university moved into a new home, the Gothic Revival University College building on the present campus. Part of the old King's College property was leased to the province, forming Queen's Park. During the American Civil War, British North America became threatened by the Union blockade and the possibility of British intervention, prompting the creation of the University Rifle Corps. In 1866, the corps fought a battle to resist the Fenian raids on the Niagara border. ^[1]

The School of Practical Science, precursor to the modern Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, was established in 1878 to offer instruction in engineering, mining, mechanics and manufacturing. The first engineering building was known as the "Little Red Skulehouse", and thereafter the faculty came to be nicknamed Skule. The University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, first opened in 1843, resumed teaching in 1887. The medical teaching branch had been closed for 34 years after the reorganization of 1853, although the university continued to set examinations and award medical degrees during that period. The University of Toronto Faculty of Law also opened in 1887. The Faculty of Dentistry was founded as the Royal College of Dental Surgeons in 1875 and affiliated with the university in 1888. Women were admitted for the first time in 1884. ^[1]

Towards the end of the 19th century, several ecclesiastical colleges began considering various forms of union with the University of Toronto to ensure their long-term viability. Knox College, a Presbyterian institution, and Wycliffe College, a low church seminary, encouraged their students to study for non-divinity degrees at University College and in 1885 entered a formal affiliation with the university. In 1890, they further elected to become federated schools of the University of Toronto, thereby giving up the right to confer all save theology and divinity degrees. The idea of federation met strong opposition at Victoria University, a Methodist school in the town of Cobourg. Having rejected the first proposal, a financial incentive finally convinced Victoria's senate and board of regents to accept federation in 1890. Decades after the death of John Strachan, the University of Trinity College was brought under the federation of the University of Toronto in 1904. It was followed in 1910 by the University of St. Michael's College, a Roman Catholic college first founded by the Basilian Fathers. Among the institutions that had seriously considered federation but ultimately remained independent were McMaster University, a Baptist school that moved to Hamilton, and Queen's College, a Presbyterian school in Kingston that later became Queen's University. ^[1]

A devastating fire in 1890 severely damaged the interior of University College and devoured thirty-three thousand volumes from the library. The board of trustees commissioned a swift restoration of the building, and within two years the library was replenished with forty thousand new volumes. In 1896, the Royal Conservatory of Music became an affiliated institution of the university. Founded in 1901, the University of Toronto Press was at first responsible for printing university documents and examination papers, and began publishing books in 1912. The University of Toronto Schools, an independent secondary school, was established in 1910 by the Faculty of Education to conduct its training. The Royal Ontario Museum, the country's largest and preeminent museum, was administered by the university from its creation in 1912 until 1968, when it retained the close ties as an independent body. ^[1]

The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill opened in midst of the Great Depression, and expansion continued to be slow during the Second World War. A new centre for advanced research, the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, was established in 1949. The following year, the university opened the Institute of Business Administration, now the Rotman School of Management. New College, established in 1962, departed from the prevalent practice at the older colleges by drawing a sizable portion of its students from multiple faculties. In 1963, Massey College was founded as an exclusive residence for graduate students. Originally conceived as an extension to New College, Innis College was created as a separate constituent college in 1964. The university opened branch campuses in Scarborough in 1964 and in Mississauga in 1967. First organized in 1959 as a subsidiary, York University became fully independent in 1965. Woodsworth College opened in 1974 to serve students of part-time studies. Beginning in the 1980s, reductions in government funding prompted the university to intensify its fundraising efforts. The University of Toronto was the first Canadian university to amass a financial endowment greater than C$1 billion. ^[1]

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  • Elbehery, Mohamed Metwally (March 2005 - October 2012)
  • Harvey, Edward Burns (July 1967 - June 2005)
  • Henley, Jordann (February 2000 - Present)
  • Lopes, George (September 1985 - May 1989)
  • Mullins, Philip
  • Nematollahi, Jamshid (March 2003 - April 2005)
  • Prout, D U (September 1990 - June 1994)
  • Reit, Carol (January 2001 - January 2020)
  • Simmons, Steve (April 1993 - Present)
  • Whitehouse, Bea (January 1995 - May 2000)
  • Yu, Jennifer (January 2002 - Present)
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