Life on Campus
U of T president Claude Bissell travelled to China in 1962, setting U of T on course for a close relationship with the region
when she attended Rotman. “I think what helps me to push myself along in my career is the perseverance and the determination that U of T instilled in me,” she says. “It is indeed a lifelong education.” David Palmer, U of T’s vicepresident, advancement, also announced a $4-million gift – from an anonymous donor – to establish a chair in Chinese-Canadian Studies at University College. “The chair will be the cornerstone of a new Text to come program to promote understanding and awareness of the significant contributions of Chinese-Canadians to our country,” he said. The chair will reinforce another Daisy Ho (fourth from right) and Portia Leung (fourth from left), president of the U of T long-standing initiative supporting Alumni Association in Hong Kong, pose with other members of the gala organizing committee cultural exchange – the University of Toronto (Hong Kong) Foundation scholarships, which have brought more than 60 students to U of T from Hong Kong since 1995. “These scholarships have changed lives and opened doors of opportunity that otherwise have been beyond the means of promising young leaders,” Palmer said. David Naylor noted that collaboration between U of T faculty members and their peers in the Asia-Pacific region goes back more than a century. U of T faculty and students have A GALA EVENT MARKING THE ASIA-PACIFIC launch of the Boundless also benefited from dozens of inter-university partnerships campaign and honouring U of T’s decades-long relationship across the Asia-Pacific region, from MBA exchange programs with people in the region drew more than 250 alumni and to engineering collaborations. friends to the W Hotel in Hong Kong in October. Today, more than 10,000 international students attend The sold-out celebration, co-hosted by U of T president U of T, with about 75 per cent of them coming from China, David Naylor and alumna Daisy Ho (MBA 1990), also recogIndia, Japan and other Asian countries. “This mix of students, nized two significant gifts to the fundraising campaign. ideas, perspectives and disciplines is more important than Ms. Ho, who chairs the University of Toronto (Hong Kong) Foundation, has given $2 million to support visiting scholars ever before,” Naylor said. “The global challenges we face together are complex, multifaceted and interconnected – and undergraduate exchanges – initiatives that are seen as from our substantial thirst for energy, to the vitality of urban central to the university’s goal of improving the student regions; from cyber security to food security.” experience in an era of globalization. The celebration was one of a number of U of T events Her gift will fund two specific projects: an Award for designed to celebrate and strengthen the engagement Emerging Leaders at the Rotman School of Management, of alumni and academic partners in the region. President designed to attract the brightest international academic Naylor spoke at the Science and Technology in Society Forum fellows; and a major new undergraduin Kyoto, Japan, hosted an alumni event at the Canadian ate program to encourage student The U of T (Hong Embassy in Tokyo, and delivered a keynote address to the research projects on contemporary Kong) Foundation scholarships have Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which drew the highest China and student exchanges with opened doors of attendance in its history. – STAFF Chinese institutions. opportunity for Ms. Ho, who is now deputy managing promising young To see more pictures from the Boundless campaign launch in Hong Kong, leaders director of Shun Tak Holdings, says visit magazine.utoronto.ca or download the U of T Magazine iPad app she never studied harder in her life than from the App Store.
Eastern Promise
U of T celebrates its connections to the Asia-Pacific region
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PHOTO: OSCAR YU