Bonnie Patterson became President and Vice-Chancellor of Trent University on July 1, 1998. An accomplished teacher and academic administrator, Professor Patterson served as President of the Council of Ontario Universities from 1995 to 1998. From 1990 to 1995, she served as Dean of the Faculty of Business at Ryerson Polytechnic University and prior to that, spent five years as Chair of the Ryerson School of Administration and Information Management. From 1975 to 1980 she was a member of faculty at the University of Western Ontario. Professor Patterson holds a B.A. and an M.L.S. from the University of Western Ontario. She has been a frequent speaker on strategic planning for technological change, integration of technology in curriculum, organizational culture and organizational change. Is Patterson trying to technologize Trent, and remove the human factors?

Western’s Bio
"I feel quite privileged to have the opportunity to lead such a fine institution into the millennium and look forward to advancing Trent's contributions to the communities it serves," she said. "Universities play a critical role in the cultural, social and economic wellness of society and in this regard, Trent is no exception."

Waterloo News
Ms. Patterson is the first woman to be elected President of the COU. Among her exceptional list of qualifications and achievements Bonnie Patterson accompanies her Presidency with another impressive first. For the past five years she has maintained her position as Dean of the Faculty of Business at Ryerson Polytechnic University, the first female Dean of Business at an Ontario university. Is Trent just another notch in her belt, that she's determined to fill with landmark events, such as elimination of debts regardless of human consequences?

More Tidbits
At the installation, a great deal of praise was extended to President Patterson on her past accomplishments. Included were remarks that she is held in high esteem in the university community and beyond. She was also noted as someone who has been a forceful and articulate advocate of a liberal arts education. HA!
In Other News...
The role of the Chair of the Board, Gary Wolff, should not be overlooked. He's been on the Board for a long time, friend of Harry Kitchen among others, long-time advocate of 'consolidation' and closing the downtown colleges. The Wolff/Patterson move is not entirely independent of Queens Park (note the role of Chris Michael and Paul Rademaecher -- hired from the Ont govt on contracts to help with the Superbuild proposal and the rationalisation plan) though it's hard to get hard data on who agreed what with whom.

Here are the figures and fiscal assertions from Bonnie's letter:
The deferred maintenance (i.e. repairs and renovations that should have been done but haven't) on the town colleges is currently $2.3 million and over the next five years this figure will grow to $6.0 million excluding major upgrades to improve accessibility. Our older buildings are over twice as expensive to operate as new ones would be and, as well, we are carrying invisible costs of having three campuses in Peterborough (for things such as mail service, telephone switches, etc.) which amount to around $200,000 a year. Those operating cost projections will need investigation, for sure.