Our community took an important step on the journey to improved well-being on campus this week, by breaking ground at the site of our future Student Wellbeing Centre. Located at the historic O'Keefe House, TMU's Student Wellbeing Centre will be a hub dedicated to well-being in the heart of our campus, consolidating well-being services under one roof and improving access to services for our entire community.
At the groundbreaking ceremony of the Student Wellbeing Centre on May 6, Mohamed Lachemi, president and vice-chancellor of Toronto Metropolitan University, praised students for supporting this important project, noting, "everyone who needs support and help will find a place here." (Photo: Alyssa K. Faoro)
While we are all very excited about what the new centre will bring - a shared home for our Centre for Student Development and Counseling, Health Promotion Programs, Medical Centre, Academic Accommodation Support, Tri-Mentoring Program, Thriving Innovations, Consent Comes First and more - it is also important to reflect on how we got to this important milestone: the vision and commitment of our students.
A dream created and championed by students
At TMU, our students are drivers of change and powerful advocates on the issues that matter most to them. For many years, our students were clear and consistent in sharing the challenges presented by having well-being services located across campus. Moving from location to location made it challenging to stay on top of their health and took more time out of their busy academic and extracurricular pursuits. These challenges called for a solution - a centrally located hub that housed all of those many services in one place.
When the university asked students what they wanted from centrally located services, they prioritized physical spaces, programs and services that allow them to be authentic, find community and receive support that reflects their lived experiences. Student feedback and support was critical to creating a vision that suited their needs and those of future TMU students. Our students further championed this vision by voting in favour of a new student levy that would help make the future Student Wellbeing Centre a reality. We would not be able to put shovels in the ground this week without our students - thank you to all of you who participated by making your voices heard and standing up for what is most important - your well-being.
Donor support
The Student Wellbeing Centre has been further solidified by the generous investments from others, including TMU Chancellor Donette Chin-Loy Chang, vice-chair and co-founder of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd., Richard Rooney, Mark S. Bonham, executive director of the Veritas Foundation, and Ed and Fran Clark; Ed is the former CEO of TD Bank, director of Thomson Reuters and chair of the Vector Institute. Thank you to all of these lead donors for recognizing the critical role that physical and mental well-being plays in academic success.
A new building designed specifically for TMU
Beyond finding the ideal place for the new centre in the heart of campus, the thoughtful and accessible design of the Student Wellbeing Centre underscores the important role the centre will have as a quality environment that focuses on health, openness and inclusivity. The use of mass timber construction, multiple passive green roofs and adaptation of an existing building will also help to reduce the building's overall carbon footprint, furthering TMU's commitment to sustainability and an ecologically responsible future.
Thank you, again, to all of you who have invested in this project; our valued donors, our design teams and especially our students and community members - to see so many groups come together to prioritize well-being in a way that is meaningful and future focused is truly inspiring.
Mohamed Lachemi
President & Vice-Chancellor
