Victoria University in the University of Toronto

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This page is about the Canadian university. For other universities with 'Victoria' in their name, see Victoria University (disambiguation).

Victoria University in the University of Toronto


Motto	Abeunt Studia in Mores Studies pass into character
Established	1836
Type	Federated college at the University of Toronto
Chancellor	Norman Jewison
President	Paul W. Gooch
Undergraduates	4,000
Location	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Campus	Urban
Website	vicu.utoronto.ca

Victoria University ("Vic" for short) is a federated school of the University of Toronto, consisting of Victoria College and Emmanuel College. Victoria University is somewhat separated from the rest of the university geographically, bordering Queen's Park, and being located on the eastern portion of the campus along with St. Michael's College. Victoria College is today home to approximately 4,000 undergraduate students. The President of the University is Paul W. Gooch and the Chancellor is Norman Jewison. The Principal of Victoria College is David B. Cook and the Principal of Emmanuel College is Rev. Samuel P. Wyatt. The Dean of Students is Jason Hunter.

In recent years, Victoria has attracted students with high entrance averages, along with Innis College and Trinity College. Victoria is presently the wealthiest college at U of T by net assets. In part this has been because of alumni donations, but much of the growth is specifically due to the rapidly increasing value of Victoria's large real estate holdings in downtown Toronto. Today, the College has a securities portfolio worth approximately $78 million and a real estate portfolio worth $80 million.[1].

1 History
2 Strengths
3 Student Groups
4 Notable alumni/ae
5 External links

[edit] History

Photograph of Old Vic taken in 1900

Victoria College was originally founded as the Upper Canada Academy by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. In 1832 a committee decided to locate the school on four acres of land in Cobourg, Ontario, to the east of Toronto, because of its central location, large town, and access by land and water. In 1836 Egerton Ryerson obtained a royal charter for the institution in England (the Upper Canadian government being unwilling to provide a charter to a Methodist institution at that time) and the school officially opened its doors to male and female students under the principalship of Matthew Ritchie. Although it taught a variety of liberal arts subjects, it also functioned as an unofficial Methodist seminary. In 1842 the Academy became Victoria College and finally received its own charter from the Upper Canadian Legislature. Victoria University was formed in 1884 when Victoria College and Albert College federated with each other. In 1892, Victoria University moved from Cobourg and federated with the University of Toronto. The current campus at the corner of Queen's Park Crescent and Bloor Street in Toronto was opened the same year. In 1928, the independent Union College federated with the theology department of Victoria College, and became Emmanuel College.

The oldest residence building at Victoria College is Burwash Hall, built in part through a substantial donation made by the Massey family. Other residences include Margaret Addison Hall, Annesley Hall and Rowell Jackman Hall.

James Loudon, a former President of the federated universities, had prohibited dancing at the University of Toronto until 1896. However, dancing at Victoria was not officially permissible until thirty years later, in 1926.

Victoria University is governed bicamerally by the Victoria University Board of Regents and the Victoria University Senate. These bodies are represented by faculty, administrators, elected students and alumni. The colleges are governed by the Victoria College Council and Emmanuel College Council. College councils are represented by faculty, administrators and elected and appointed students.

[edit] Strengths

Old Vic, the main building of Victoria University

Victoria University offers a high number of scholarships per capita, guaranteeing that each student earning a sessional GPA of 3.5 or above is awarded a scholarship at the Annual Victoria University Charter Day Convocation.

Victoria houses the recently renovated E. J. Pratt Library and is also home to two other libraries, the Emmanuel College Library (originally the Birge-Carnegie Library) and United Church and Victoria University Archives.

Victoria also has the largest student centre of any college, under the auspices of an active student union, Victoria University Students' Administrative Council (VUSAC). The current VUSAC President is Kayley Collum.[2]

Victoria is home to The Isabel Bader Theatre, which opened in March of 2001. Over the past few years the theatre has been used as a lecture hall for University of Toronto students, an active learning space for Victoria University students groups, numerous concerts, theatrical productions, film screenings, and conferences.

Victoria College Academic Programs include Literary Studies, Semiotics and Communication Theory, Renaissance Studies, World Literature, and the Vic One program.

Recently, the administration of Victoria University has been actively promoting international experiences as a part of the undergraduate student experience.

[edit] Student Groups

Campus life for Victoria students is active and varied, with numerous Student Clubs including, the Asian Video Club, Future Investors and Entrepreneurs (FINE), Literary Club, North American Model United Nations(NAMUN)[3], Victoria Off-Campus Association (VOCA), amongst many others.^[1]

Created in the fall of 2004, the Renaissance Students Association (RSA) of Victoria College is an undergraduate student group that works with the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) to promote Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto. The RSA's mission is to bring together students from different disciplines who are interested in the Renaissance period, and to reach out beyond the university to members of the community who wish to get involved in Renaissance-related events on campus and in the city. Its first president was Corina Apostol (OT6).