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Glendon's Centre of Excellence wins a 2013 Toronto Urban Design Award

muellerm — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:00:00 +0000

The Centre of Excellence at 91��ɫ’s Glendon campus has won a 2013 Toronto Urban Design Award.

The centre, which officially opened May 15, 2012, has enabled Glendon to broaden its range of programs and courses in response to the urgent need for increased postsecondary offerings in French in southern Ontario. The centre’s development was supported by a $20-million investment by the Government of Ontario. The expansion project was built on Glendon’s existing facilities and includes more than one dozen new classrooms and lecture spaces, state-of-the art language labs, open study spaces and a 250-seat amphitheatre.

The Centre of Excellence at 91��ɫ’s Glendon campus

The Centre for Excellence has a fully equipped interpretation lab and training facility, five lecture halls with tiered seating, seminar rooms with LCD projectors and screens, a student cafe, meeting areas, a large art studio, and a rooftop terrace. The facility is approximately 55,000 sq. ft, including both newly added and renovated space.

The historic Glendon campus presented a challenge to architectural firm , selected to lead the construction of the new building. Managing for 91��ɫ was the Campus Services & Business Operations (CSBO) team. Accepting the Toronto Urban Design Award on behalf of 91��ɫ were Kenneth McRoberts, principal of Glendon College, and Richard Francki, assistant vice-president, CSBO.

The company successfully merged the historic buildings with the sleek, new glass walled building. In their decision to award the prize, the jury wrote: “The Glendon Campus has emerged from its reclusive ravine setting of dense forest at Bayview and Lawrence Avenues. The new transparent glass addition to the original red brick campus dramatically alters the first impression of the Francophone component of 91��ɫ and creates a distinctive arrival pavilion and a desirable axial termination to Lawrence Avenue. Interior stairs act as vertical beacons on the exterior, and student spaces pushed to the perimeter animate and soak in the dense greenery of the site. This is a skillful handling of a top of ravine site, creating a new threshold and sense of arrival, while maintaining the proximity and presence of the forest.”

Pictured second from the right are Kenneth McRoberts and Richard Francki (far right) at the Toronto Urban Design Awards ceremony

The improvements mean that Glendon is now a preeminent provider of French-language higher education for Francophone learners in Southern Ontario, as well as Anglophone students seeking to study in French. New programs housed in the centre include:

Bilingual and trilingual international Bachelor of Arts (iBA) degrees available across 18 disciplines.
New doctoral program in Études francophones.
Enhanced bilingual activities outside the classroom.
A master’s program in conference interpretation.
A unique, direct-entry Bachelor of Education for future French teachers available at the primary-junior, junior-intermediate, and intermediate-senior levels, offered through 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education.
Collaboration with Collège Boréal and la Cité collégiale.

In 2012, the Glendon campus and the Centre of Excellence were featured in the AWARD magazine.

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New centre at Glendon expands French-language education

fmaquito — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ’s Glendon College will officially open the Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education in a ceremony on May 15 at 9am.

“I am proud that we are able to provide opportunities for the growing Francophone population right here at 91��ɫ’s Glendon Campus,” said Mamdouh Shoukri, president & vice-chancellor of 91��ɫ. “The Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education will help to accommodate an increased student base, will attract more international students and allow 91��ɫ to offer a broad international curriculum so that we can continue to educate Canada’s future leaders.”

A concept drawing of the new Glendon College Centre of Excellence

The centre will enable Glendon to broaden its range of programs and courses in response to the urgent need for increased postsecondary offerings in French in southern Ontario. Supported by a $20-million investment by the Government of Ontario, the expansion project builds on Glendon’s existing facilities to include more than a dozen new classrooms and lecture spaces, state-of-the art language labs, open study spaces and a 250-seat amphitheatre.

These improvements will allow Glendon to provide better access to French-language higher education for francophone learners in southern Ontario, as well as anglophone students wishing to study in French. It will strengthen the delivery of collaborative French-language university and college programming, including:

Bilingual and trilingual international Bachelor of Arts (iBA) degrees available across 18 disciplines.
New doctoral program in Études francophones.
Enhanced bilingual activities outside the classroom.
A master’s program in conference interpretation.
A unique, direct-entry for future French teachers available at the primary-junior, junior-intermediate, and intermediate-senior levels, offered through 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education.
Collaboration with Collège Boréal and la Cité collégiale.

“We are pleased that the Government of Ontario has invested these funds to make Glendon College a Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education, and excited to officially open this new facility,” said Glendon Principal Kenneth McRoberts. “Southern Ontario is seeing significant growth in terms of the Francophone population and we are now better-equipped to meet this demand.”

The ceremony will feature remarks by Shoukri; Ottawa Vanier MPP Madeleine Meilleur, minister of community safety & correctional services and minister responsible for Francophone affairs; Kathleen Wynne, MPP for Don Valley West, and McRoberts.

"By investing in this Centre of Excellence, our government is helping to provide more learners with new opportunities to further their French-language studies in southern Ontario,” said Glen Murray, MPP for Toronto Centre and minister of training, colleges and universities. “We congratulate Glendon on their plans to provide a wide range of exciting and innovative programs to their students.”

“The McGuinty government is proud to support Glendon College’s Centre of Excellence, which helps Francophones and Francophiles to have full access to French-language postsecondary education while encouraging their participation in an inclusive and open Ontario,” said Meilleur.

“I am pleased with our $20-million investment in the Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education at 91��ɫ’s Glendon College. This new facility will enable Glendon to provide a broader range of programs and courses in French in southern Ontario," said Wynne.

The Glendon Campus of 91��ɫ is the only institution in southern Ontario that offers a range of university programs in French. Glendon has established a bilingual Graduate Program in Public & International Affairs – the centerpiece of the Glendon School of Public & International Affairs, Canada’s first fully bilingual graduate school of this type. Along with the Graduate Program in Public & International Affairs, Glendon also offers a double master’s degree with the University of Strasbourg.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Wanted: Innovative 'IDeAs' for making Ontario more accessible

fmaquito — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ students, along with students from other Ontario universities, are being challenged to put their creative minds to work to develop solutions that will make the world more accessible for people with disabilities, including new ideas for devices, software, architectural design, awareness campaigns or policies.

The competition is an initiative organized by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), in partnership with the Government of Ontario. The province-wide competition is being overseen by the IDeA Working Group, comprised of representatives from engineering and design Faculties at several Ontario universities.

Students will vie for $3,000 in prizes, with entries that must address barriers to accessibility in five categories: attitudinal, physical/structural, information and communications, technological, and systemic.

“Ontario universities are strongly committed to the important goal of leading the country towards greater accessibility,” says Alastair Summerlee, chair of COU and president of the University of Guelph. “Tapping into the innovative capabilities of our students is an excellent way to build awareness and to advance ideas that lead to a more accessible world.”

91��ɫ students can find rules and registration information . The deadline for contest submissions is March 31. Students interested in submitting their idea or concept should review the rules and criteria, register and then submit the concept by e-mail to ideas@yorku.ca by the end of the business on March 31.

Submissions will first be evaluated by 91��ɫ and then successful candidates will move on to a second round of judging conducted by a panel of experts in the five categories. Evaluations will be based on innovation, cost-effectiveness and practicality. Judges will also place a premium on entries whose format itself demonstrates consideration to accessibility issues.

The winner will be announced at an event at the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery Conference in May 2012.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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