Bonnie M. Patterson
Trent University President and Vice-Chancellor
Bonnie Patterson became President and Vice-Chancellor of Trent University on July 1, 1998.
An accomplished teacher and academic administrator, Professor Patterson came to Trent after serving as President of the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), an advocacy and university services group representing the interests of Ontario's 18 universities.
In 1998, Professor Patterson was appointed the first female president and vice-chancellor of Trent University. Under her leadership, Trent opened the Chemical Sciences Building, Peter Gzowski College and the first-in-class ‘Worsfold Water Quality Centre’ in 2004, and the new DNA Building in 2006, the latter capitalizing on Trent’s considerable assets in DNA, wildlife and forensics research – and leading to a regional economic cluster specializing in DNA forensics. Unprecedented in the Canadian university system, Trent University was named Research University of the Year three years running from 2002 to 2005 while continuing to receive national acclaim for the quality of its teaching and learning environment.
President Patterson is a Professor in Trent's Business Administration Department. Her academic career includes positions as Dean, Faculty of Business, Professor, School of Administration and Information Management, and Special Assistant to the President of Ryerson University, Toronto. Professor Patterson holds a B.A. and M.L.S. from the University of Western Ontario, where she also served on faculty for five years. A current member and former Chair of the Board of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) in October 2005, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Council of Ontario Universities. President Patterson is one of four Canadian University Presidents appointed to the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and serves on the Audit and Risk Committee. From June 2005 to June 2007, she chaired the Board of the Peterborough Regional Health Centre, and continues as a Director. President Patterson was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the International Consortium on Anti-Virals (ICAV). She also serves as Honorary Chair of the ALS Society in the Peterborough Region.
