ABLE 2008
1960 – 1969
Beginning in 1965, Erindale College offered its first courses leading to the BA degree at T.L. Kennedy Secondary School in Mississauga.
Construction began in late fall 1966 on the Erindale College building, also referred to as the “preliminary” building, expected to be temporary but still in use today as part of the North Building – from the cafeteria to room 103.
In September 1967, Erindale College opened under Principal D. Carlton Williams with one “preliminary” building, two tennis courts and 155 students – 101 in general arts and 54 in general science.
Before Erindale College built residences, students lived in houses already located on the land when U of T purchased it. There were five all-male houses – Ackworth, Dobratz, McGill, Robinson and Thomas Cottage – and one female property known as Hastie House.
Colman House, named for the first dean of Erindale College (John Colman), served as the campus’ first student centre, housing the student union office, the offices of The Erindalian, Radio Erindale, a game and book room and a makeshift pub known as “Ugly’s.”
In 1968, Dr. J. Tuzo Wilson, the college’s second principal, formed the Associates of Erindale College, a group that linked the campus with the community. The Associates remain active on campus today.
Erindale College hosted an outdoor art exhibit in 1968, which included a massive steel structure, titled “Zero Centre” by artist Leonhard Oesterle. The artwork remained on loan to the college and sat outside the North Building for decades. Over the years, students have referred to the structure by many names, including the CIBC logo, the Green Goliath and the Erindale Enigma.
In 1969, Erindale College built its first athletic facility in the area where the theatre now stands.
Two Erindale students, Robert Rudolph and Doug Leeies, started the campus’ first newspaper, The Erindalian, in 1969 with a circulation of about 500.
Erindale College hosted the first public showing in Canada of moon rock samples – a 21-gram lump and a teaspoon of moon dust in a vial – from Oct. 11-12, 1969, in the North Building.
In 1969, Canadian artist David Blackwood began his five-year term as Erindale College’s first artist-in-residence. Blackwood worked out of a studio in the North Building and lived in the Artist’s Cottage along Principal’s Road.T
1970 – 1979
At the U of T convocation in 1970, Erindale College graduated its first class of 90 students.
The J. Tuzo Wilson Research Wing of the South Building opened in 1971, completing the building’s first phase. The final phase, which included the library, meeting place and lecture halls, opened in 1973.
In 1972, Erindale College pioneered a new style of university residences with its first townhouse community of 250 beds in four and six person configurations.
The campus pub moved from Colman House into what became the legendary portable along the Five Minute Walk. At the time, the pub was officially known as the “Erindale Campus Centre” and unofficially as the “Blind Duck.”
Initially intended as a retail space, the Erindale Academic Plaza (later the Crossroads Building) opened in 1974 in the place where the Student Centre now stands. It housed offices for faculty and student groups as well as classrooms.
In 1974, Medium II replaced The Erindalian as the campus’ student newspaper. By the end of the 1970s, its circulation hit 7,000.
In 1974-75, Erindale graduates took the first steps to start an alumni association. By 1976, the Erindale Alumni Association began to hold regular meetings and plan activities.
In 1975, Erindale College became the first college at U of T to obtain its own coat of arms.
Erindale College hosted a musician-in-residence, John Loomis, in 1975, who made music a vital part of campus life. Erindale boasted a stage band, concert band, concert choir and string ensemble that performed on campus and practiced weekly in the “Music Hut,” a portable that once existed north of the old pub along the Five Minute Walk.
On Nov. 10, 1979, a 106-car freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals derailed at Mavis Road, forcing evacuations within the city. Erindale College closed for one week.T
1980 – 1989
Campus living thrived in the 1980s with the opening of new townhouse residences, including Putnam Place and Leacock Lane, and the launch of the Residence Don Program.
The college launched its first major fundraising campaign, the Scholarship Campaign, in 1983 with a goal of $250,000.
In 1983, the college named the South Building cafeteria the “I.M. Spigel Dining Hall” in memory of Prof. I. ‘Mike’ Spigel, a former professor of psychology, associate dean and founding member of Erindale College. The space seemed ideal since Prof. Spigel regularly gathered in the cafeteria with students and colleagues.
Erindale College welcomed its first political refugee student, Abel Mitiku Wako, from Ethiopia in the 1983-84 school year.
In 1984, Erindale College hosted Canada’s first exhibition of Cuban art, “Pintura Joven/Cuba,” which featured works from Cuba’s system of arts education.
Erindale College’s float placed first at the U of T Homecoming Parade for the first time in 1984, sparking a six-year winning streak.
In 1985, the Council of the City of Mississauga recognized Lislehurst among the city’s heritage properties.
On Jan. 26, 1986, the Honourable Jean Chrétien spoke about free trade to over 300 students, faculty, staff and community members at the Dons’ Brunch-and-Speaker series in I.M. Spigel Hall.
Erindale College purchased personal computers for the first time in 1986. Students paid a one-time $2 user fee to access the 17 computers in the library throughout the year.
Erindale College launched its own anti-calendar, distinct from St. George, in 1987-88. Still in use today, the anti-calendar captures students’ feedback on courses, including retake rates, course workload and faculty teaching styles.
In 1985, Erindale College had 3,547 full time students and 1,465 part time students.
The campus’ student newspaper, Medium II, gained formal independence from the Erindale College Student Union in 1983.
After Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope ended prematurely, Erindale students started the “Terry Fox Campaign” in 1980 and organized a floor hockey game, a pub night and a 10-hour dance-a-thon in the Meeting Place to raise funds for the Cancer Society.T
1990 – 1999
The Blackwood Gallery, the campus’ public art gallery, opened on May 15, 1992. Its name honours David Blackwood, the campus’ first artist-in-residence and curator from 1969-74.
In 1992, Dr. Roberta Bondar, a doctoral student at Erindale College in the early 1970s, became the first Canadian woman to fly in space. She kept an Erindale College crest among the personal items she took with her aboard her flight on the space shuttle Discovery.
Two Erindale botanists received worldwide media attention in 1992 when they identified a species of fungus – Armillaria bulbosa – in Michigan as perhaps the world’s oldest and largest living organism. The mushroom spanned approximately 15 hectares, weighed over 10,000 kg and was about 1,500 years old.
On Sept. 25, 1992, the Kaneff Centre for Management and Social Sciences opened – the result of a successful $3-million campaign in which 1,800 individual and corporate supporters participated. The opening marked the finale of the campus’ 25th anniversary celebrations.
Theatre Erindale’s first production, “The Farm Show,” opened in November 1993.
The Academic Skills Centre opened in 1996 with a mission to bring together staff, students, teaching assistants and faculty to create a community of learners committed to excellence in teaching and learning.
In 1998, the campus became known as the University of Toronto at Mississauga.
In 1998, AstraZeneca Canada Inc. established an endowed chair in biotechnology at UTM, held by Prof. Ulrich Krull, to improve health for Canadians through education and research. The AstraZeneca Chair in Biotechnology also plays a key role in UTM’s Master of Biotechnology program.
After a decade of planning and anticipating by the campus community, the Student Centre opened in 1999. UTM students contributed a landmark $1 million to the centre’s campaign.
At the U of T autumn convocation in 1998, UTM graduated its first graduate students – 43 students in the Master of Management & Professional Accounting program.T
2000 – Present
In 2002, U of T Mississauga opened the $10-million Centre for Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology, which houses a nuclear magnetic resonance suite, high-tech labs with instruments for gene screening and sequencing, and advanced imaging technologies. This center represents the first investment of the Biotechnology Convergence Centre, which brings together academia, government and private industry to support joint research and training initiatives.
U of T Mississauga became a distinct undergraduate division of U of T, separate from the Faculty of Arts and Science, in 2003.
Because of the elimination of Ontario Academic Courses, two groups of high school students – the double cohort – flooded Ontario universities in 2003. U of T Mississauga welcomed a total of approximately 2,950 new students that year.
Hatch, a Mississauga-based engineering firm, established the Hatch Chair in Technology Management at U of T Mississauga in 2003. Held by Prof. Mihkel Tombak, an expert in technology management, operations and policy, the chair focuses on management issues of organizations involved in the use and/or production of technologies such as information technology and biotechnology.
In 2003, U of T Mississauga and the U of T School of Continuing Studies partnered to offer courses and lecture series’ on campus.
The $34-million Communication, Culture and Technology building opened for student use in 2004. It houses the Human Communication Lab and the Institute of Communication and Culture.
On Feb. 9, 2006, Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, announced that U of T’s Faculty of Medicine MD program will create a fourth academy of medicine at U of T Mississauga in partnership with the Mississauga community affiliated hospitals – expanding the faculty’s focus on primary care and generalist specialties.
U of T Mississauga opened its solid oxide fuel cell facility in April 2006, becoming the first Canadian university to install solid oxide fuel cells to heat and power student residences.
In 2006, the Ontario government’s Centre of Forensic Sciences and U of T Mississauga partnered to plan a new Forensic Sciences Institute – the first in Canada to offer postgraduate studies and leading-edge research opportunities for forensic scientists – by the start of the 2007-08 academic year.
Two new facilities – cornerstones of student life – opened at U of T Mississauga for the 2006-07 school year: the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre and the Recreation, Athletics and Wellness Centre.