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York University Campus overview |
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
 York University (French: Université York), located in Toronto, Ontario, is Canada's third largest university and has produced several of the country's top leaders in the fields of law, politics, literature, philosophy, journalism, management, meteorological, chemical, and space sciences, and fine arts including film, theatre, jazz and experimental music, dance, digital media, and cultural studies.
York supports a student population of approximately 50,000 and staff of 7,000, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. It is home to 11 faculties, including the Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environmental Studies, as well as 24 research centres. Relatively new in the history of universities, it has been growing steadily over time, gaining international recognition in several fields most notably law and management as reflected by the joint degrees it now has with New York University and Northwestern University respectively. York University has always enjoyed a strong participation in the Canadian Space Program. The Faculty of Science and Engineering is Canada's primary research facility into Martian exploration and has designed several space research instruments and applications currently used by NASA.
York University was founded in 1959, by virtue of the York Act, which received Royal Assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on March 26 of that year. Its first class was held on September 1960, in Falconer Hall on the University of Toronto campus with a total of 76 students. In the fall of 1961, York moved to the Glendon campus, and began to emphasize liberal arts and part-time adult education. Murray Ross, who continues to be honoured today at the University in several ways, was still vice-president of the University of Toronto (UofT) when approached to become York U's new president. At the time, York U was envisioned as a feeder campus to UofT, until Ross's powerful vision led it to become a completely separate institution.
In 1965, the university opened a second campus on Toronto's northern outskirts. The Glendon campus became a bilingual liberal arts college led by Escott Reid, who envisioned it as a national institution to educate Canada's future leaders, a vision shared by Prime Minister Lester Pearson, who formally opened Glendon College in 1966. Its bilingual mandate and focus on the liberal arts continue to shape Glendon's special status within York U. The new Keele campus was regarded as somewhat isolated, in a generally industrialized part of the city. Petrol storage facilities are still located across the street. Some of the early architecture was unpopular with many, not only for the brutalist designs, but the vast expanse between buildings, which was not viewed as suitable for the climate. In the last two decades, the campus has been intensified with new buildings, including a dedicated student centre and new fine arts, computer science and business administration buildings, as well as a small shopping mall, and hockey arena. The Rexall Centre tennis stadium, built in 2004, is a perennial host of the Canada Masters tennis tournament. As Toronto has spread further out, York has found itself in a relatively central location within the built-up Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and in particular, near the Jane and Finch neighbourhood. Its master plan envisions a denser on-campus environment commensurate with that location. |
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