Campus administrators meet to discuss support for student initiatives
The Campus Affairs Committee convened for the second time this academic year to discuss co-curricular programs and student services.
On October 16, the University of Toronto (U of T) Mississauga (UTM) Campus Affairs Committee (CAC) held its cycle 2 meeting in the William G. Davis Building’s Council Chamber. The CAC held the meeting to discuss experiential education, the promotion of health services at UTM, the university’s progress on its ongoing “strategic priorities,” and its various plans for the future.
“In general, the [CAC] is concerned with matters that directly concern the quality of student and campus life” and is “responsible for monitoring, reviewing and making recommendations concerning” co-curricular programs and student services, according to the Office of the Governing Council’s website. The Committee comprises students, administrative staff, and teaching staff at UTM.
In its second cycle, the committee welcomed its two newest members of administration, Tim Fricker and Career Outreach Consultant April Forbes. Forbes won her seat through a recent fall by-election, while Fricker will be taking on the role of interim dean of student experience and wellbeing.
The meeting took place amid ongoing debates on how to increase ongoing university-wide progress amid potential budget cuts in three key areas: student life, academics, and future opportunities. Many committee members presented data on tracked progress to identify the areas in which UTM is doing well and which areas could be improved to maintain U of T’s high national and global rankings, especially regarding sustainability, student welfare, and research.
Interim Associate Dean Academic Experience Vivienne Luk started by discussing how she plans to “direct her vision to expand the three distinct parts of Experiential Learning by working with both domestic and global institutions to offer UTM students more opportunities to learn inside and [outside] the academic context.”
Her plans include expanding the UTM Co-op Internship Program (UTMCIP) through incremental strategic growth by admitting “50 new students per year” until the cohort admission reaches “770 students by the 2034-35 school year” across all of its offering departments. These departments include the Departments of Biology, Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Chemical and Physical Sciences, Economics, the newly joined Department of Management, and the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology.
Health and Counselling Centre (HCC) Medical Director Dr. Erin Kraftcheck and Fricker expressed they hope to increase support for student and staff wellbeing after reviewing how 77 per cent of the 16,000 appointments at the HCC last year found counselling to be helpful.
They plan to improve the HCC through continuous offerings of same-day clinic appointments, expanding Ask the Nurse initiatives, and developing partnerships with Peel health institutions to address the notion of AI integration into healthcare and ensure meaningful student engagements.
The committee also discussed how the university uses the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement to inform decision-making regarding the allocation of funds for campus resources. Available for incoming students to fill out each year, the survey displays what students anticipate from their journey at U of T in terms of experiences and challenges.
By identifying common challenges in the survey, UTM staff can help bridge the gap between students’ expectations and actual experiences by organizing events and opportunities in anticipation of those challenges.
What is yet to come
Towards the end of the meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Deborah Brown remarked that “staff are at the core of our institution.” Considering this, she noted that departments are attempting to cut back in terms of budgets in most areas aside from those areas where staff need the most to ensure support for student initiatives.
Upcoming discussion topics include the 2025-26 school year mural currently underway at the Hazel McCallion Central Library, the launch of UTM-based nursing programs in 2026, the opening of the new residence building by Oscar Peterson Hall, and reviews of meal plan rates, student housing parking, and renovations.
These topics, alongside data on the university’s progress towards its current goals, will be reviewed during the third CAC meeting on January 26, 2026.
