Dear Friends,

I want to commend our faculty, students, and funding partners on contributing to the strength of multidisciplinary research and teaching achievements emerging at Ryerson University’s Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science.

The Faculty and the University is fast becoming an institution of international stature in research initiatives that address the needs of our society globally, nationally, and locally. Since the 04/05 academic year, FEAS external research funding grew seventy-five percent to a total of almost $10 million. A success that can be attributed to the collaborative culture at Ryerson University which provides many opportunities for students, researchers, and professors from around the world, to embrace rewarding partnerships with senior faculty members, research institutions, government ministries, and established industry partners.

FEAS continues to develop innovative new programs shaped by societal needs and, in many cases, crossing disciplinary boundaries. We are continuing to develop master’s degree programs in Safety Engineering and Biomedical engineering, and doctoral programs in Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Physics and Molecular Science. We are also exploring the possibility of unique programs in Environmental and Cell Biology, Digital Multimedia Science and programs Creative Art, and Commercialization. Our new undergraduate programs in Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics and its Applications, as well as graduate programs in Building Science, Architecture and Applied Mathematics are now in their second academic year.

Our contingent of faculty members is growing every year. New faculty follow in the Ryerson University tradition of being progressive and rigorous members of the research community who have made advances of distinction in their areas, who evoke new ways of thinking about our world, who lead industry members with innovation, and who have the ability to excite generations of students in their field. The Faculty is now the home of nine Canada Research Chairs, and Ryerson University’s first NSERC Industrial Research Chair, another measure of the exceptional quality of our scholarship.

Our ability to attract this level of talent has galvanized our international reputation as an institution of excellence in teaching and research. We’re seeing an increased percentage of international students who inject a further level of competition and quality into our student population, and so we actively continue our efforts to promote these intercultural links. People from everywhere in the world come to us to learn Canadian methodologies and integrate them into their country’s economy. In 2008, we signed an agreement with a leading university in Poland to offer a collaborative graduate program in Power Systems Engineering. We have also reached an agreement with Beijing University of Technology that adds an international student mobility component to our undergraduate engineering programs, and we are finalising collaborative graduate program agreements with two major European universities. Through these agreements, our faculty members and graduate students will be able to gain valuable exposure to different cultures, and internationalize their research activities.

Our Faculty and University is strongly committed to the provision of high-quality professional career educational programs to our students. In 2009, our bachelor of science program in Chemistry received full accreditation by the Canadian Society for Chemistry . This adds to the recent (2007) accreditation of seven of our engineering programs by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board and the 2006 accreditation of our Computer Science program by the Canadian Information Processing Society. Our Architectural Science program received candidacy status in 2008, which precedes full accreditation by the Canadian Architecture Certification Board. We expect positive results following this assessment in the near future. Accreditation is an external quality assurance peer review process based on national standards. Each of the Ryerson engineering and science programs achieved the highest possible rating, a remarkable achievement in which we all take great pride.

Demand for our undergraduate and graduate programs is strong with a total enrolment of more than 5300 full and part-time students. A sign of the Faculty’s significant success in offering comprehensive educational opportunities to its students coupled with a full complement of undergraduate and graduate teaching, laboratories, and research facilities.

Our First-Year and Common Engineering and our First-Year Science Offices continue to be enormously successful in providing needed support to our new students. Academic and social counselling and experienced and supportive staff members have helped numerous first-year engineering and science students in coping with the significant challenges they confronted in their new experiences at university-life.

We are proud of our engineering students’ competitive teams, and their superb accomplishments over the years. Their significant efforts and commitment, and the awards they won, speak volumes about their character, and the education they received. Please see Latest News for more up-to-date news and details.

Ryerson University is proving itself to be a leading post-secondary institution on all fronts – ensuring that Canadians benefit in tangible ways from public investment in research and university-level professional career educational opportunities, and that the Canadian society has access to highly qualified people in specialized professions.

We are creating a culture of academic excellence that extends beyond the boundaries of the institution and forms a convergence with industry and government. In creating an awareness of ourselves as citizens of the world, we are becoming leaders not just in technological advancement, but also in educating students with a profitable and sustainable vision of the future.