President's Column

A new term

By Bonnie Patterson
President and Vice-Chancellor

In the life of a university, there is probably no time more exciting than the beginning of a new term. It is a time of optimism, meeting new friends and renewing past acquaintances, moving one step closer to the promise of the future.

On behalf of our entire university community, I welcome all Trent's new and returning students. Hello again to staff and faculty, who I hope will have combined their work and research with some relaxing summer vacation.

I delight in the energy of our new students and I appreciate the enthusiastic return of our upper year students.

We want all of our students - from first year undergraduate to those in graduate studies - to embrace each of the days ahead. You have made a wonderful decision to join our academic family. We hope that your student years, like those of the four decades of students before you, will mark the beginning of a lifelong affinity to this outstanding university.

We also look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with our cross-town colleagues at Sir Sandford Fleming College. During the summer we have been busy creating new computer links between our two campuses and upgrading computer facilities in the library, benefiting both students in the growing number of joint programs between the two institutions and those studying exclusively at Trent.

With the helpful assistance of our university community, this year Trent takes the next steps on the road to campus renewal and begins building new facilities to accommodate growth and increase our efficiency. The impetus for these changes comes from a Capital Development Strategy that was approved in November 1999 and given a boost last May when the provincial government announced that Trent would receive $26.23 million from the SuperBuild Growth Fund.

Our BUILD 2000 Program involves primarily the design and construction/renovation of three major components of our physical plant:

• Science facilities
• First Peoples House of Learning/humanities/college facilities
• Residence and conference facilities

BUILD 2000 is being directed by a steering committee chaired by Professor Skip Maxwell, a long-time Trent faculty member and former chair of both mathematics and computer studies departments.

His committee will serve as the main advisory and co-ordinating body for build 2000, and will report on a regular basis to the President's Executive Group (peg) through the Vice-President (Academic).

The BUILD 2000 steering committee will be supported by a number of reference groups representing members of the Trent community with interests in aspects of the construction and renovation program. We are pleased that so many members of the Trent community have chosen to be actively involved in each of these important groups. Our five-year capital development strategy responds to a range of opportunities and challenges facing Trent today. In the next few years, Trent will eliminate deficits in our annual operating and ancillary budgets, avoid substantial increases in student fees and generate revenue through a number of strategies, including enrolment growth. We will also absorb our share of anticipated student growth in Ontario due to improved participation rates and the double-cohort, the latter a result of secondary school reforms.

We are also looking to retire $16 million in deferred maintenance on our facilities, representing half of the overall accumulated deferred maintenance of the university, helping ensure a bright and fiscally sound future for our university.

As we enter a new academic year there is much to be excited about and much to be thankful for. Today's knowledge-based economy demands higher levels of education on entering the workforce. The track record of our graduates speaks for itself, with 92 per cent of Trent graduates employed within six months of completing their degrees and 96 per cent after two years. We can be proud of what Canada's outstanding small university contributes.

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