A Case for Support: Innis College Renewal and Expansion

A Case for Support for the Innis College Renewal and Expansion

We’re Innis Together

Innis at a Crossroads

Faculty, staff, and students created Innis College from scratch a little more than half a century ago. With ongoing help from alumni and the wider community, we’ve been making it the ideal place for students ever since.

Within the University of Toronto family, Innis graduates take particular pride in having built their college experience themselves. Over the decades, we have done everything from selecting the school colours to writing the Innis constitution to carrying furniture down the street to the College’s present home. This tradition of hands-on involvement is still going strong through parity governance our unique commitment to giving students an equal say in leading the College.

Innis is a destination for students because of its warmth, inclusion, and can-do spirit. However, our steady growth and success have also brought us to a crossroads. Our building at 2 Sussex Avenue, originally intended for 800 students, now struggles to accommodate over 2,000 students. We have simply run out of room to expand or substantially enhance our offerings. In addition, our students have to contend with limited space for clubs and committees, or even for socializing and relaxation. All of this strains the College’s inclusive and welcoming identity.

Fortunately, we Innisians have never shied away from a challenge, and we’re always ready to reinvent ourselves to meet changing needs. This is one of the great benefits of being part of Innis the opportunity to not only participate in the College, but also to help shape it.

The $10-million Campaign for the Innis College Renewal and Expansion the largest campaign in our history is a generational opportunity to roll up our sleeves and help write the next chapter for Innis College. Please join us in transforming 2 Sussex Avenue into an outstanding facility that can realize the enormous potential of Innis College and our exceptional students.

Parade of students moving to 2 Sussex Avenue, Jan. 9, 1976

Photo courtesy of U of T Archives

All images presented in this case relating to the Innis College Renewal and Expansion project are architectural renderings.

We Need Innis More Than Ever

The Innis College Renewal and Expansion Campaign is launching at a time when the College’s unique role as an advocate and home for students has never been more vital.

“This project allows Innis College to do what it does best. But it’s also aspirational, as it imagines the ideal space for delivering services in the most effective, inclusive, and student-friendly way.”

Charlie Keil, Principal, Innis College

For students, Innis College offers comfort, community, and practical support as they face rigorous academic standards at U of T, one of the world’s top-ranked universities. To help students manage stress, anxiety, and the many other challenges of university life, Innis provides diverse student services ranging from mental health counselling to financial, academic, career, and personal advising.

Students also benefit tremendously from Innis’s culture of hands-on involvement and student leadership, which helps nurture their potential as engaged, concerned citizens. Building on their formative experiences at Innis, many of our graduates are highly successful professionals and committed advocates for change within the arts, media, business, government, and other fields.

More broadly, Innis College is an important part of Toronto’s urban fabric. The three highly respected academic programs that call Innis home Cinema Studies, Urban Studies,

and Writing & Rhetoric provide outstanding thought leadership. Together with our influential alumni base and our professional affiliations, Innis has a strong voice in the city’s cultural landscape and in addressing major urban issues that face Toronto and other global cities.

The College’s remarkably deep links to the community extend to its embrace of outside groups and include Innis Town Hall’s allure as an event and film venue. For students, this network provides many benefits, including experiential learning opportunities, scholarships, guest lecturers, and special events, all of which enrich the College. Later Life Learning, an academic program for older adults that takes place three times per week, further cements Innis’s status as a college that connects meaningfully to the wider community.

Embracing Reinvention to Meet Changing Needs

Innis College has pursued a major transformation every 10 to 15 years, with a new generation leading the way each time. Now, with the Innis College Renewal and Expansion, a generational opportunity has arisen once again to make a difference for the future of Innis College and our extraordinary student community.

624 students

278 students

1964

Innis College is established with fewer than 300 students. It includes the first writing laboratory of any Canadian university. The photo above, taken in the 1970s, shows Innis’s first home, the “biscuit box,” on Hart House Circle.

1968

Innis is growing fast and moves into an interim facility at 63 St. George Street. Now part of the School of Graduate Studies, the grand old house had once been home to Sir John A. Macdonald and, later, Sir Oliver Mowat.

1,180 students

1994

Innis Residence opens as the first suite-style undergraduate residence at U of T, housing 327 students. Vladimir House, the previous residence on Spadina Avenue, provided beds for 40 students.

736 students

1976

Innis College opens its present home at 2 Sussex Avenue.

Original designs called for a larger complex for 1,500 students that included two residence towers. Financial constraints resulted in a scaled-back design with no residence spots and meant for only 800 students.

2,200 students

Today

The Renewal and Expansion will give Innis the capacity originally envisioned for the College back in the 1960s. More than sheer space, this transformative project will preserve and elevate the quality of academic experience that has defined Innis for more than 50 years.

Photo by Robert Lansdale Photography. Courtesy of U of T Archives

Courtesy of U of T Archives

Building on Our Strengths

To best serve our students, we must continue to build on our established strengths while preserving the small-scale character that is so fundamental to who we are. The Innis College Renewal and Expansion will balance these goals, enhancing everything that makes Innis such a special place.

A reimagined Innis College will transform the quality of education and student experience at Innis for generations to come. Revitalized common spaces for students and faculty will strengthen the bonds that define Innis as a warm and supportive community. New academic areas will extend our excellence as an institution committed to learning, teaching, and research. Dedicated spaces for student activities and services will elevate our already remarkable degree of student engagement. Uplifting architectural design will inspire and energize all those who enter the College, while offering sustainable features that respect our longstanding commitment to the environment.

At the same time, the new facility will continue to project the essential personality traits of Innis — namely, that we are welcoming, engaged, dynamic, and innovative. In true Innis fashion, the project’s centrepiece a three-storey addition to the rear of the Victorian house will balance bold design with respect for the surrounding neighbourhood fabric.

Although the expansion will extend northward onto the Innis Green, the project will maintain 96 per cent of the College’s available outdoor space by introducing a rooftop terrace. Changes to the building complex will improve the performance

and environmental friendliness of our mechanical systems and advance the College’s goals for carbon neutrality. The renovations will also minimize barriers to accessibility and elevate Innis’s profile at street level.

On the following pages, we are delighted to provide further details about the many transformative features and enhancements that are planned as part of the Innis College Renewal and Expansion.

“At the time, it’s hard to appreciate the impact that your college and university have on your personal growth and trajectory. My wonderful experience was created by others paying it forward before I arrived. That’s why it’s so important to support the college and the community that put you on your path.”

Rahul Bhardwaj (BA 1987 INNIS), President and CEO, Institute of Corporate Directors

The

There’s a lot of motivation among the Innis student body to create more clubs and more groups where people can find community. We especially want to do a better job involving our commuter population. But there’s little we can do now.

possibilities — and our imagination — are limited by space constraints.

Megan Pham-Quan (HBA 2021 INNIS) was a residence don, Innis College Student Society equity and outreach director, and student campaign ambassador.

Bringing Innis Closer Together

Many of the best moments at university are unplanned spontaneous get-togethers that build friendships, enrich our university experience, and help us cope with the many challenges of academic life. A primary goal of the Innis College Renewal and Expansion is to expand the number of common areas that bring people together and that are so essential for fostering community.

The college system at the University of Toronto offers students an intimate scale of engagement within Canada’s largest university. These smaller settings help students settle into university life and build the networks, friendships, and memories that last a lifetime. The goals of U of T’s college system are particularly true for Innis, which has always placed one-on-one connection at the very heart of our student experience.

Unfortunately, Innis College is bursting at the seams and cannot deliver the same level of inclusion and closeness as in the past. Our student population has steadily grown to more than double that of our actual capacity; by necessity, much of our space goes to classrooms and faculty offices, with little left over for informal student use. Commuter students, who make up 85 per cent of our population, feel the effects most of all because they do not have rooms of their own and depend upon common spaces.

The Innis College Renewal and Expansion will not only address this gap but will dramatically elevate every aspect of the student experience. The project will introduce generous, inviting spaces for socializing, rest, and study creating a much-needed retreat for the entire Innis community and especially for those students who commute.

Innis’s close connections to the broader community outside the College are another important consideration. With significantly more space, we can more easily deliver an ambitious slate of community-oriented programming, with minimal disruption to daily academic life. These valued events, which include film festivals in Town Hall, Later Life Learning lectures, and an exciting series of events for alumni, bring thousands of visitors to Innis every year.

» The café-lounge will be an airy and comfortable space that makes it easy for students to socialize, study, and dine together. This large, open room is anchored by a warm and inviting stone fireplace and offers views to both the courtyard and bpNichol Lane.

Approximately 3,000 members of the public attending evening events at Innis Town Hall each month

1,600 members of Later Life Learning, the academic program for older adults at Innis

» Existing features will gain new life and purpose. The “crush space” outside Innis Town Hall, now essentially a thoroughfare, will widen to include an inviting sitting area.

Café-Lounge

“Crush Space” outside Innis Town Hall

Students in residence are some of the biggest advocates for the new build because they’re so involved and want commuter students to have the same experience. Even if today’s students graduate before the build is completed, everyone is excited for spaces that are functional and welcoming for all Innis students.

Daria Mancino (HBA 2020 INNIS) was the editor of The Innis Herald, the sustainability director for the Innis College Student Society, and twice a residence don.

Enhancing Our Academic Excellence

The Innis College Renewal and Expansion will be a landmark moment in the College’s growth as a leading academic institution. The initiative will both intensify the amount of academic activity that takes place at the College and elevate the quality of our physical learning environment.

Innis College is a close-knit scholarly community devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research. The Renewal and Expansion will advance our academic mission, creating exciting spaces for learning and discovery that support our students and our flagship Cinema Studies, Urban Studies, and Writing & Rhetoric programs.

These spaces will bolster all aspects of academic life, including quiet study, research, and group work. Central to the expansion will be a wholly reimagined Innis College Library, which will be transformed into a Student Learning Centre, located near the new Student Life offices on the second floor. Expanding and improving our spaces will also intensify the amount of academic activity that takes place right here at Innis, allowing us to nurture a more cohesive scholarly community and to build pride among our students. Importantly, many of these new spaces will feature natural light, views to the outside, and interior sightlines that uplift and inspire, promoting a positive mindset that is conducive to learning.

6 dedicated individual study and writing-centre rooms within the new Student Learning Centre & Library, which will enhance student success

“I wouldn’t have gotten so involved if it weren’t for students in upper years encouraging me. In the same way, building the College for future students is a way of giving them more opportunities more than even I had to make them better students, better individuals, and better leaders for the future.”

» The Student Learning Centre & Library, relocated from the east wing, will feature expansive windows, a soaring ceiling that stretches to two floors, and views to the student lounge below. It will offer both open study areas and enclosed meeting rooms.

Student Learning Centre & Library

Student Learning Centre & Library

Didier Ha (HBSc 2022 INNIS), former chair of the Innis College Ambassador Group

Promoting Student Leadership and Success

Innis College supports the growth of the whole person, providing students with rich and varied opportunities to realize their potential, overcome personal challenges, and nurture their strengths and passions. The Innis College Renewal and Expansion will make it even easier for students to get involved, to assume leadership roles, and to thrive.

Arguably more than any other college at U of T, Innis strives to break down hierarchical barriers between students and administration. This approach dates back to our earliest days, when students played a leading role alongside faculty and staff in establishing the identity and structure of the College. To this day, students continue to have an equal say in how the College is run, through parity governance, in which students make up 50 per cent of Innis College Council and its many boards. As a further example of their commitment, students voted to support the Innis College Renewal and Expansion with a levy on their fees, which is expected to raise $1.3 million.

Just as students play a hands-on role at Innis, the College proactively seeks every opportunity to support students across all aspects of their lives. This is critical in light of well-established research, such as student involvement theory, that shows a clear correlation between academic success and levels of student engagement both inside and outside the classroom.

$1.3 M

funds expected to be raised by students over 25 years through a special levy

Our efforts in this regard include operating as a pilot site for a seminar program for first-year students that offers an array of invigorating, small-scale learning experiences. The pilot is part of a larger effort to position colleges as a one-stop resource for students who need academic or personal assistance. To that end, since 2018, we have introduced a team of in-demand student-support professionals: an accessibility advisor, a career educator, a learning strategist, and several staff devoted to student health and wellness.

The Innis College Renewal and Expansion will strengthen this connective tissue between student and college by supporting formal student activities and bringing all college-based services together within one coherent and welcoming space. Higher capacity in these areas will also enable Innis to expand its role as an incubator at U of T for innovative ideas that enhance student education and experience.

“We’re building a sense of community that is both internal and external, in the sense that students feel like they belong to a place on campus as well as to a broader community, whether it’s U of T, or the city of Toronto, or the world. I don’t think that you can feel that connection to broader community if you don’t feel comfortable as part of the community here, too.”

Professor David Roberts, Director, Urban Studies Program

» A substantially enlarged and relocated commuter lounge will afford students living off-campus the chance to congregate and socialize, along with providing necessary meeting space for student clubs and co-curricular activities.

» The new Student Learning Centre & Library will become the home for several student life and student service functions. These include the library, writing centre, and a rotating team of “on-location advisors” assisting with accessibility issues, learning strategies, and more.

» The Innis Office of Student Life, which focuses on the co-curricular dimension of student experience, will move immediately adjacent to the Student Learning Centre & Library. The Student Life office runs seminars and workshops, supports student groups and clubs, and provides one-on-one help for students with personal issues.

2,000 one-on-one academic and financial advice appointments provided by the Registrar’s Office to over 1,000 students each year

1,967

one-on-one sessions provided by Innis’s Writing Centre in 2018-19 to help students improve their writing and editing skills

Office of Student Life Lounge and Study Bar

Office

The Innis community can seem even smaller than it really is because without spaces to study, students go elsewhere. Enlargement of our space will bring students back to Innis, giving us a better sense of belonging .

Aluong Ayuen Jongkuch, originally from South Sudan, came to Innis College through a program for student refugees. He is an Engineering student and has been a student-staff member at Innis Residence.

International students can find it harder to fit in because of language and culture. So having more opportunities to join clubs or casually meet people in common areas would make a big difference and help them be more a part of Innis .

Ayaka Teshirogi, an international student, is the president of the

Innis

College Student Society for 2022-23.

Projecting Innis Pride and Identity

Innis College has evolved from a brash newcomer into an established, highly successful, and dynamic academic institution. Our home at 2 Sussex Avenue needs to keep pace not only with the expansion of our student population, but also with our growing reputation both at home and internationally.

Innis College has always taken a certain satisfaction in the modesty of its facilities, from its first home in the now-legendary “biscuit box” on Hart House Circle, to the understated street frontage of our current home at 2 Sussex Avenue. This unassuming attitude is in stark contrast to the grandeur of many other buildings at U of T, and goes hand-inhand with the feisty, underdog aspect of Innis’s DNA.

The time has come, however, to be a little less modest. Across every meaningful measure as an academic institution, Innis College is a runaway success, and our main building needs to be a more accurate reflection of our aspirations and accomplishments.

The Renewal and Expansion will dramatically heighten the physical experience of being at Innis College. New indoor spaces will inspire creativity and discovery, with sun-drenched rooms, sweeping sightlines, and greatly improved circulation and flow. Outdoors, we will renew our identity and pride of place with a more robust presence at street level and through eye-catching architectural elements.

In addition, Innis is the original home of the School of the Environment, and protecting the environment remains a core component of our identity. The Renewal and Expansion will uphold this legacy with sustainable features including a highly insulating exterior wall and strategic placement of windows to maximize natural light, with screens for shading.

» The expansion will communicate a feeling of openness and light, with lofty ceilings, extended sightlines, and connection to the outdoors.

» The newly defined Innis Green will assert itself as the heart of Innis, with busy indoor spaces overlooking this central green courtyard.

» The dramatic northwest corner of the expansion will be visible through a gap between existing buildings. This inviting glimpse of the expansion will energize our presence and entice pedestrians into our courtyard.

60% increase in usable space at Innis College after the Renewal and Expansion

» An expansive rooftop will offer an outdoor meeting space while providing environmental benefits. As a bonus, the rooftop will serve as a balcony overlooking events in the courtyard below.

“Innis is a place where you can really find yourself. I would not have gone to any other college at U of T. I just think it provides you with a very safe space to grow as a human. And it provides you with an opportunity to discover who you are and to go through that really key process.”

Southwest entrance off of Sussex Avenue

Innis Green

Jesse Wente (BA 1996 INNIS), recent director of the Indigenous Screen Office, chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, broadcaster, writer

We Can Do It

Without a doubt, the Campaign for the Innis College Renewal and Expansion is a challenge for the Innis community. To achieve our goals, we need to attain levels of donor generosity that we have never reached before. We are confident that we can do it.

Just as Innis College has grown and thrived in so many ways, our culture of philanthropy has reached the point where it is ready for this challenge. Our family of supporters is large enough, accomplished enough, and generous enough to make this campaign a success. Across so many fields of endeavour, passionate and committed Innis alumni occupy leadership positions and serve as role models for engagement and giving.

We’re also delighted that our students, who understand Innis’s current needs better than anybody, have chosen to give generously to future students by voting for a special levy to support the campaign. This is the nature of Innis College. We’ve always been prepared to roll up our sleeves and get things done. We did it when Innis formed, and in the years since, we’ve done it over and over again.

The Innis College Renewal and Expansion is our generation’s opportunity to pay forward the legacy that was granted to us — the gift of a remarkable academic community that embraces us and brings out our best. Please support the Innis College

Renewal and Expansion so we can preserve and enhance this legacy for generations of Innis students still to come.

Because we’ve always been Innis together.

“There is a slogan I’ve heard, ‘Ideas Need Space,’ that I think is certainly true for Innis. We need room to enhance learning, deliver outstanding programs, and mount events that enrich the Innis experience.”

Ceta Ramkhalawansingh (DCS 1974, BA 1977, MA 1980), Principal’s Appointee, Innis College Council. Human rights advocate, community activist, feminist, and former city councillor

From left to right Rahul Bhardwaj (BA 1987 INNIS), Professor David Roberts Al-amin Ahamed (HBSc 2020 INNIS), Emma Paulus (HBA 2022 INNIS), Principal Charlie Keil (BA 1981), Nana Koomson (HBSc 2022 INNIS), Ceta Ramkhalawansingh (DCS 1974, BA 1977, MA 1980), Didier Ha (HBSc 2022 INNIS), Professor Janet Paterson (BA 1964, MA 1975, PhD 1981), Jesse Wente (BA 1996 INNIS)

Leave Your Mark

The Innis College Renewal and Expansion will create a number of high-profile naming opportunities for generous supporters. This is a chance to leave a lasting mark on our vibrant intellectual community and to be part of one of the most prestigious academic corridors in Canada, which includes a revitalized Innis College, the famed Robarts Library, and the Rotman School of Management.

To learn more or to give: uoft.me/innisrenewal

Megan McDonald

Associate Director – Advancement

megant.mcdonald@utoronto.ca

437-788-8549