Media Releases

Professor Bruce Kidd appointed interim vice-president and principal, UTSC

February 27, 2014

TORONTON, ON — Pro­fes­sor Bruce Kidd, War­den of Hart House and past dean of the Fac­ul­ty of Phys­i­cal Edu­ca­tion and Health (now the Fac­ul­ty of Kine­si­ol­o­gy and Phys­i­cal Edu­ca­tion), has been appoint­ed inter­im vice-pres­i­dent and prin­ci­pal, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Scar­bor­ough.

Kidd, whose appoint­ment was approved Feb­ru­ary 27 by the university’s Gov­ern­ing Coun­cil, will serve until March 1, 2015 or until a suc­ces­sor is appoint­ed and takes office.

“Pro­fes­sor Kidd is an out­stand­ing cit­i­zen of the Uni­ver­si­ty and an accom­plished schol­ar, teacher and men­tor,” said Pres­i­dent Mer­ic Gertler. “I am delight­ed that he will be bring­ing his tal­ents to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Scar­bor­ough.”

Kidd has served as War­den of Hart House since 2012 and was dean of the Fac­ul­ty of Phys­i­cal Edu­ca­tion and Health from 1998 to 2010. A for­mer Olympian and an Offi­cer of the Order of Cana­da, he has an under­grad­u­ate degree in polit­i­cal econ­o­my from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, a Mas­ters in edu­ca­tion from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Chica­go and a Mas­ters and PhD in His­to­ry from York Uni­ver­si­ty. He has authored or edit­ed 10 books and hun­dreds of arti­cles, reports, plays and scripts on sports and cul­ture.

“This is an impor­tant year for UTSC,” said Vice-Pres­i­dent and Provost Cheryl Regehr, “The cam­pus is cel­e­brat­ing its 50th anniver­sary and is prepar­ing to wel­come the Pan-Am Games in 2015. Pro­fes­sor Kidd’s ded­i­ca­tion to schol­ar­ship, sport, and com­mu­ni­ty-build­ing makes him the ide­al leader for this moment in UTSC’s his­to­ry.”

Kidd takes over the role from Fran­co Vac­cari­no, who has been appoint­ed the next pres­i­dent at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Guelph.

“I’m excit­ed to be join­ing the lead­er­ship team at UTSC and I’m look­ing for­ward to work­ing with stu­dents, fac­ul­ty and staff,” said Kidd, “I’ve always liked the cul­ture at Scar­bor­ough: it pro­motes inno­v­a­tive think­ing in the con­text of a warm and per­son­al stu­dent life and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment, and I’m excit­ed to con­tribute to build­ing that cul­ture. It will also pro­vide me with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to strength­en the links between UTSC and Hart House, where all UTSC stu­dents are mem­bers.”

Dur­ing this assign­ment, Rita O’Brien will serve as Act­ing War­den of Hart House. Pro­fes­sor Kidd will con­tin­ue to con­tribute to the major ini­tia­tives under­way in Hart House, includ­ing its green her­itage infra­struc­tur­al renew­al project.