Ian Orchard wins Faculty Citizenship Award

Professor Ian Orchard says he had “the best job at U of T” during his years as principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga, and it is clear that he has helped UTM become a “campus of choice.”

Orchard is the winner of the 2014 Vivek Goel Faculty Citizenship Award, and says he is “quite humbled and honoured” to win an award named after the former provost at U of T. Orchard was vice-provost, students, from 1998 until 2002 at U of T.

He was appointed vice-president, U of T and principal at UTM in 2002. He oversaw planning, growth, governance and development of the campus, and was a force on tri-campus administrative bodies including high-level committees, Governing Council and the President’s senior university planning team.

He is credited with improving the university’s recruitment efforts and helping it prepare to meet the challenge of the “double cohort” in 2003.  One of his notable achievements was the creation of the graduate student funding guarantee, the first of its kind in Canada – which changed the landscape for graduate student funding in this country.

The phenomenal growth at UTM – enrolment doubled in eight years – has turned it into “a fully functioning university in its own right,” Orchard said. “UTM is a campus of choice now.” The campus is described by many as “bucolic” because of its green setting in Mississauga.

Another thing Orchard is proud of is the way UTM has become a major player in the Mississauga community. And he credits Mayor Hazel McCallion for being “the biggest champion of UTM,” including helping to establish the Mississauga Academy of Medicine.

Orchard was chair of the Healthy Cities Stewardship Advisory Committee and joined McCallion in London, England to receive the 2006 World Leadership Award for the committee’s work with 14 organizations in the city to collectively strive towards improvements in local health.

Since leaving the principal’s office he has continued to serve the university community, teaching undergraduate courses, and mentoring biology graduate students and professors. In January 2014, he was appointed Vice-President and Provost of the University of Waterloo, taking up that position on July 1.

The Vivek Goel Faculty Citizenship Award was created to honour the many contributions of Dr. Vivek Goel during his term as vice-president and provost of U of T.  He served in this role for five years before becoming president and CEO of Public Health Ontario in 2008. He is also a professor in clinical public health and public health policy at U of T. 

This award is presented along with several other faculty, staff and student awards under the banner of Awards of Excellence. A complete list of this year’s recipients and their citations can be viewed on the Awards of Excellence website. This award program annually recognizes the outstanding members of the University of Toronto community who have made rich and meaningful contributions to the University, their communities and to the world.

Alumni Relations within the Division of University Advancement is the steward of the Awards of Excellence program on behalf of the University of Toronto Alumni Association, and co-ordinates the vital contributions of other University stakeholder groups toward this prestigious award program.

Orchard and other 2014 Awards of Excellence recipients will be honoured at a ceremony at the Isabel Bader Theatre on April 1.