Media Releases

Ontario’s 28th Lt. Governor Hon. David Onley joins U of T faculty, champions the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games

September 25, 2014

TORONTO, ON — The Hon. David Onley has stepped down as Ontario’s 28th and sec­ond longest-serv­ing Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor and will return to his roots at Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Scar­bor­ough (UTSC). Effec­tive Octo­ber 1st, Onley will assume the role of senior lec­tur­er and dis­tin­guished vis­i­tor, teach­ing class­es in the Depart­ment of Polit­i­cal Sci­ence and work­ing with stu­dents on research projects, using papers from his term in pub­lic office. Onley will also archive his papers while at UTSC, work­ing with staff of the UTSC Library.

Onley will also serve the Uni­ver­si­ty as Spe­cial Ambas­sador for the Pan Am and Para­pan Amer­i­can Games, con­tribut­ing to the momen­tum lead­ing up to the Games at a series of events on both the UTSC and St. George cam­pus­es, which will both host Games com­pe­ti­tions.

“I am hon­oured to be assum­ing my new respon­si­bil­i­ties at UTSC and am tru­ly look­ing for­ward to shar­ing my expe­ri­ences as Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor in class and on cam­pus. I’m excit­ed as well to be Ambas­sador for the U of T to the 2015 Pan Am/Para Pan Games,” says Onley.

An alum­nus from the Class of 1975, Onley is also the recip­i­ent of an hon­orary Doc­tor of Laws from U of T in 2009. He was stu­dent coun­cil pres­i­dent at what was then known as Scar­bor­ough Col­lege. The ear­ly 1970s was a time of great stu­dent activism, and Onley remem­bers the admin­is­tra­tion reach­ing out to involve stu­dents in the deci­sion-mak­ing process. That was, he says, lead­er­ship that was enor­mous­ly impres­sive. Now Onley will be reach­ing out to today’s stu­dents.

“We are delight­ed to wel­come home our dis­tin­guished alum,” says Prof. Bruce Kidd, inter­im vice pres­i­dent Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to and prin­ci­pal, UTSC. “We have much to learn from his expe­ri­ence as a jour­nal­ist and activist, and from his out­stand­ing years in pub­lic ser­vice.”

Prof. Grace Skogstad, chair of UTSC’s Depart­ment of Polit­i­cal Sci­ence, echoes the enthu­si­asm for Onley’s next career step. “Here is a man who fol­lowed his pas­sion, carv­ing a niche for him­self as one of Canada’s lead­ing experts on NASA’s shut­tle pro­gram and launch­ing a sto­ried and dis­tin­guished career,” Skogstad says refer­ring to Onley’s best-sell­ing nov­el about the space pro­gram, his role as found­ing pres­i­dent of the Aero­space Her­itage Foun­da­tion of Cana­da and his years as City-TV’s sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy reporter, CP24 news anchor and host of the tech­nol­o­gy series Home Page. “Our stu­dents have much to learn from Mr. Onley and the unique per­spec­tive he will offer from his years at Queen’s Park, which have been among the most event­ful in recent mem­o­ry.”

“We are so pleased and grate­ful that David Onley has agreed to take on these new posi­tions,” says Prof. Mer­ic Gertler, pres­i­dent of U of T. “He is a bril­liant com­mu­ni­ca­tor who com­bines a mag­nif­i­cent record in pub­lic office with deep knowl­edge of and com­mit­ment to U of T Scar­bor­ough.”

Regard­ing Onley’s role as the University’s Spe­cial Ambas­sador to the Toron­to 2015 Pan Am and Para­pan Amer­i­can Games, Gertler says “Dur­ing his term as Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor Mr. Onley rep­re­sent­ed Ontario at many oth­er world sport­ing events. He is also a great cham­pi­on of the ParaS­port move­ment. We could not ask for a more per­fect rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Uni­ver­si­ty com­mu­ni­ty.”

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Don Camp­bell
UTSC Media Rela­tions
Tel: (416) 208‑2938
Cell: 905–424-8894
dcampbell@utsc.utoronto.ca