REPORT NUMBER 60 OF THE
UTSC CAMPUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2025
To the UTSC Campus Council, University of Toronto,
Your Committee reports that it held a meeting in the UTSC Council Chamber on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 3:10 p.m. with the following members present:
PRESENT: Brian Harrington (Chair), Dorinda So (Vice-Chair)*, Linda Johnston (Vice-President and Principal), Karin Ruhlandt (Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean)*, Andrew Arifuzzaman (Chief Administrative Officer), Tim Tang (Dean, Student Experience and Wellbeing), Syed Ahmed, Liv Ansley-Engel, Tiffany Castell*, Kyle Danielson, Mark Fitzpatrick, Ainsley Lawson*, Sylvia Mittler, Tanzina Mohsin, Faith Opoku Agyemang, Stephanie Perpick, Hoorik Yeghiazarian
*remote attendance
REGRETS: Muntaha Almahjub, Sandra Daga, Ramona Gonsalves, Elaine Khoo, Leonard Hu, Willow James, Lala Li, Silma Roddau, Monica Sok, Andrew Tam
NON-VOTING ASSESSORS: Sheila John*, Jeff Miller, Nadia Rosemond
SECRETARIAT: Miranda Edwards, Megann Davidson
IN ATTENDANCE: Daniel Bowyer, Patricia Escobar, Robyn Parr
OPEN SESSION
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Chair’s Remarks
The Chair, Professor Brian Harrington, began by welcoming members and guests back from the winter break. He introduced the Committee’s new Secretary, Miranda Edwards, and thanked previous Secretary, Emma Thacker, for her tremendous contributions to the Committee.
The Chair informed the Committee that the Winter 2025 elections were underway. He reminded members that the nomination deadline was January 16th and that voting would take place from February 4-14, 2025. He advised members to contact the Chief Returning Officer, Tim Harlick, with any questions.
The Chair invited Linda Johnston, Vice-President and Principal, to introduce Tim Tang who joined UTSC in January 2025 as the new Dean of Student Experience and Wellbeing. The Chair noted that Dean Tang would serve as the Committee’s Voting Assessor. Principal Johnston welcomed Dean Tang to his first meeting and noted his many leadership accomplishments in the Canadian post-secondary sector, including advancing Indigenization, EDI policies, and numerous projects undertaken to enhance student experiences. -
Annual Report: Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees
Robyn Parr, Executive Director, Office of the Vice-Provost – Students provided an annual report to the Committee on compulsory non-academic incidental fees for academic years 2022-23 and 2024-25. The presentation included an overview of the university policies applicable to student fees as well as an explanation of the range of compulsory fees implemented across the university’s three campuses, reflecting the local and diverse needs of various divisions and special programs.
Members had no questions. -
Update from the Sustainability Office
Andrew Arifuzzaman, Jeff Miller (Director, Facilities Management & Capital Projects), and Patrica Escobar (Manager, Sustainability)
Andrew Arifuzzaman, Chief Administrative and Strategy Officer, UTSC opened the presentation by explaining that UTSC’s concept of sustainability extended beyond a focus on carbon footprints and was closely aligned with the United Nations Sustainability Goals, which included the protection of water systems and promotion of gender equity, education, health and wellbeing. UTSC has been a leader in sustainability programs, focused on supporting sustainability in its local community.
Patrica Escobar, Manager, Sustainability, presented notable highlights of recent and ongoing sustainability projects on campus including:
- The Harmony Commons student residence which uses a “passive house” design to consume minimal energy
- The “blue bins” food container program that allows take-out containers to be returned, sanitized, and re-used. This program reused 9,000 containers in its first year of operation.
- The campus bike-share program which has increased from 500 to 1,000 sign-ups in the previous year.
Ms Escobar also noted that significant efforts were being made in campus-wide engagement, collaborations and partnerships. The Sustainability Office undertook an ongoing project to map sustainability activities across campus in order to identify overlaps, alignments, and opportunities to share knowledge and use resources more efficiently.
Jeff Miller, Director, Facilities Management & Capital Projects, explained to the Committee the challenges of managing operational carbon emissions from UTSC’s large construction portfolio. He noted the importance of the University’s excellent relationships with industry partners in sustainability innovation and the knowledge network that had been strengthened as a result. Mr. Miller told the Committee that many older buildings on campus would need to be updated to new climate positive technology, including retrofitted solar panels, geothermal fields, and other renewables. Mr. Arifuzzaman concluded the presentation by informing the Committee that a new Deferred Maintenance program proposal would potentially provide increased funding opportunities that would allow UTSC to accelerate these climate positive retrofits of campus buildings.
- Report of the Presidential Assessors
Professor Karin Ruhlandt, Vice-Principal Academic & DeanProfessor Ruhlandt informed the Committee that, in December 2024, she spent three weeks in China with UTSC’s Green Path team, a program intended to recruit international students and help them transition into first-year studies. Professor Ruhlandt noted that Greenpath students were highly talented and met stringent admissions standards. She was pleased to report that, during her trip, the University successfully signed on five additional Greenpath schools.
Professor Ruhlandt also updated the Committee regarding the increase in applications for UTSC’s Health Sciences Certificate program, reflecting the program’s uniqueness and a strong trend of interest in health sciences. Professor Ruhlandt noted that UTSC was the only university in Ontario to be offered 500 additional spaces from the provincial government for domestic student enrollment. UTSC exceeded expectations by recruiting 750 students into the program. For the first time in many years, UTSC almost met its domestic student enrollment goal and expected to continue observing this upward trend in domestic student enrolment. This trend was also expected to balance the declining interest from international students that had been observed over the past year due to geopolitical issues and Canadian government policies. In Fall 2026, UTSC expected a slight reduction of 6% in international student enrolment.
Andrew Arifuzzaman, Chief Administrative and Strategy Officer
Mr. Arifuzzaman reported to the Committee on the risks associated with international student enrolment as a result of both federal and provincial policies. He told the Committee that he would share confirmed enrolment figures in November, 2025 and that the situation was being monitored closely until that time. Mr. Arifuzzaman also updated the Committee regarding the ongoing construction of the Garron Health Sciences Complex, Indigenous House, and a new parking structure. All projects were making excellent progress. In conclusion, he noted that the grand opening of the new Sam Ibrahim building would take place in January 2025.
CONSENT AGENDA
The Board proceeded with the Consent Agenda.
On a motion duly moved, seconded, and carried
YOUR BOARD APPROVED
THAT the consent agenda be adopted and that Item 5, the Report of the Previous Meeting, be approved.
- Report of the Previous Meeting
Report Number 59 of the Campus Affairs Committee from the meeting of October 16, 2024 was approved. - Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting
There was no business arising from the report of the previous meeting. - Date of the Next Meeting
The Chair confirmed that the next meeting of the Board would be held on February 5, 2025 at 3:10 p.m. - Other Business
No items of other business were raised.
The meeting adjourned at 4:12 p.m.
January 27, 2025