Meric Gertler (photo by Wade Hudson)
By Meric Gertler
It is hard to overstate how much the world has changed since 2013, the year I was given the immense privilege of serving as president of the University of Toronto. Twelve years ago, Stephen Harper was our prime minister, and Justin Trudeau was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. The president of the United States, Barack Obama, was leading negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement covering 40 per cent of the global economy, while Donald Trump was best known as a reality TV star. World powers reached an interim deal with Iran that raised hopes for stability in the Middle East, while war in Europe was almost unthinkable. The word “coronavirus” was a scientific term best known to us from the SARS outbreak a decade earlier.
U of T has changed too during this tumultuous time – though I am proud to say that we have only grown stronger, building on the brilliant legacy of past leaders and generations of faculty, librarians, staff, students, alumni and friends. Alongside our continuing global leadership in research and teaching across the disciplines and professions, we have emerged as a major hub of innovation and entrepreneurship, and we are recognized as the top university on the planet for sustainability. Our international engagement is deeper and more strategic. And our three campuses have fully embraced their city-building role in the dynamic urban region around us, making U of T an even more powerful engine of social mobility and progress.
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