ROM Campaign Architect Named Chief Advancement Officer

David Palmer has been appointed vice-president and chief advancement officer of U of T, and will begin his new role on September 1. He is currently president and executive director, Royal Ontario Museum Board of Governors, and spearheaded the highly successful Renaissance ROM campaign.

Lorna Jean Edmonds has been named assistant vice-president, international relations. Edmonds was the director of the Office of Research Services and an assistant professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Daniel Atlin is the new assistant vice-president, government, institutional and community relations. Atlin comes to U of T from Credit Union Central of Ontario, where he was vice-president (corporate services) and corporate secretary.

Bill Graham has been installed as Trinity’s 12th chancellor. Graham served as minister of national defence in the government of Paul Martin.In February 2006 he was appointed leader of the official Opposition, a position he held until last December.

Professor Rhonda Love will begin her role as director of the Transitional Year Programme (TYP) on July 1. Love is a professor of public health sciences at University of Toronto.

Matthew Cimone, a student in his final year of international development studies at U of T Scarborough, is spreading goodwill on a global scale: he has been chosen as a United Nations goodwill youth ambassador. In his new role, Cimone will represent both Canada and the humanitarian organization Right to Play International.

The following U of T researchers are winners of the inaugural Premier’s Summit Award in Medical Research, which celebrates world-class research in Ontario: University Professors Tak Mak of medical biophysics; Anthony Pawson of medical genetics and microbiology; Peter St George- Hyslop of medicine and the Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases; and Professor John Dick of medical genetics and microbiology. As well, Professor Parham Aarabi of electrical and computer engineering received a Premier’s Catalyst Award as the best young innovator, and Professors Spencer Barrett of ecology and evolutionary biology and Andreas Mandelis of mechanical and industrial engineering received Premier’s Discovery Awards for individual research. Each Summit Award winner will receive $5 million over a five-year period – $2.5 million from the program matched by $2.5 million from their sponsoring institution. Both Dick and Mak were sponsored by the University Health Network, while Pawson was sponsored by Mount Sinai Hospital and St George-Hyslop jointly by U of T and the University Health Network. As a Catalyst Award winner Aarabi will receive $200,000, and Barrett and Mandelis will each receive $500,000 to accompany their Discovery Awards.

Five U of T faculty members have been appointed to the Order of Canada. Appointed as officers were: Professor Emeritus Dorothy Pringle of nursing, a senior researcher at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care; Professor Emeritus Dennis Smith of dentistry, the founding director of U of T’s Centre of Biomaterials; and Professor Douglas Wigle, an internationally renowned cardiologist, teacher and scientist. Named members were Professor Emeritus Timothy Murray of medicine, who has made significant contributions to osteoporosis research and education; and David Young, an instructor in the Faculty of Music and one of Canada’s premier bassists.