Dean, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education
Welcome new and returning students, faculty, and staff to the 2016/17 academic year!
All U of T students, regardless of academic program, can participate in the physical activity, fitness and sport programs our Faculty provides to the U of T community -- one of the largest, most diverse university co-curricular programs on the continent.
Whether you don a Varsity Blues uniform, cheer for one of our many Varsity teams, discover your own way to be physically active through our extensive intramurals and recreational fitness programs, or take advantage of the ever popular MoveU activities and events --- all of these will enrich your academic and social experience at U of T. The doors are open to you at the Varsity Centre, the Athletic Centre, and our newest facility, the Goldring Centre --- I hope you will learn to consider them as another home.
Staff and faculty have worked diligently over the summer to fine-tune the academic and co-curricular programmes and infrastructure that our Faculty provides to the entire U of T community and to ensure that our students have the best possible university experience – and for that, I extend my appreciation and thanks. The impact and capacity of the research generated by our faculty members and their graduate students has seen tremendous growth; there are new student and student-athlete academic success support services embedded right in the Faculty; we have expanded and modernized facilities for academic and athletic programs; and, there are new plans rolling out which are designed to increase both student and community engagement in athletics and recreation. These are but a few of the dynamic initiatives that characterize the excellence that one can and should expect from a U of T and KPE academic experience.
The RIO Olympic Games made this summer particularly interesting for many of us here at KPE. We proudly cheered on almost a dozen KPE and Varsity Blues students and alumni competing in Rio. The events and issues surrounding the Games also provided terrific new teaching opportunities for us to explore with our students and colleagues --- whether observing the polarizing political, economic and sociological frameworks in sport; considering our own nation’s high performance sports aspiration; or analyzing how high-performance athletes prepare for the complexities of international competition and, in some cases, extend what were previously thought to be the outer limits of human performance.
KPE undergraduate and graduate students, no doubt you are eager to join or return to one of the most important academic kinesiology programs and research powerhouses in the country.
Over the next year, we will continue to push our own boundaries to achieve national and international excellence in research, learning, and practice and to play a formative role in increasing public awareness about the importance of physical activity for physical and mental health, and performance.
I am personally very excited about the many memorable experiences this new academic year has in store and look forward to sharing them with you. Best wishes for a challenging and rewarding 2016/17 academic year!