UTSC’s 60th Anniversary: An Interview with Lisa Bevacqua

Learn what UTSC’s 60th Anniversary means and how students can participate.

S is for Scarborough! // Picture by Marina Meireles, THE UNDERGROUND

In roughly a year from now, our University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) will be celebrating its 60th anniversary! Celebrations will occur throughout the year to honour the history of a campus that has become a place for different communities to meet while also serving as a second home to many. Because of that, The Underground had the chance to speak to Lisa Bevacqua, the 60th Anniversary Coordinator, about how this important moment in UTSC’s history will be celebrated and how this is a unique time for our campus.

Lisa Bevacqua is the 60th Anniversary Coordinator in the Office of the Vice-President & Principal. She works with co-chairs Fran Wdowczyk and Desmond Pouyat in the 60th Anniversary Committee to bring these celebrations to life. Lisa is not new to UofT, having previously worked at the downtown campus—but she is new to UTSC!

In her opinion, UTSC is unique because of “the sense of community and the land on which this campus is situated. The grass is literally greener at UTSC!”

Talking about the committee, Lisa explains that the team has a Strategic Advisory Committee as well as four subcommittees that support the planning for the 60th anniversary. The four subcommittees focus on Marketing & Communications, Event Logistics, Opening Activities, and the Legacy Fund Adjudication Subcommittee. These groups have important work to undertake and are actively meeting to prepare for our soft launch in Spring 2024.

As we talked about the Scarborough campus and its representation on the committee, which is mainly composed of students, faculty, and staff, Lisa pointed out that she “believe[s] the current committee membership represents the Scarborough Campus from an advisory standpoint,” and that the committee is also “actively working with partners to engage, at all levels, throughout the community, and have opportunities for members to bring their ideas to the table.”

Now, onto the fun part: celebrations! Lisa says that out of everything planned, she is most excited about their upcoming launches and what the community brings with the Legacy Fund Awards. Furthermore, she anticipates that “the UTSC campus will begin to be transformed with noticeable visuals and banners, and this will continue throughout the summer into September.” By the end of May 2024, the committee will also elevate the Spring Alumni Reunion which will focus on the 60s and 70s decades. In the summer, during National Indigenous History Month, the committee will be working with the Indigenous Initiatives team to hold a sunrise ceremony and experiential and educational activities to support the ceremony.

In Fall 2024, Lisa says the committee will integrate their activities with major events on campus.

“[The] Get Started program, move-in, orientation, and Homecoming, as well as a fun week of activities will take place the week of October 6th to 12th. After that, the really exciting stuff begins because we will see what our students, faculty, and staff Legacy Fund Award recipients will be bringing to UTSC.” Celebrations will start to come to a close with the Spring 2025 Global Summit. 

The importance of these celebrations, according to Lisa, is “to celebrate UTSC@60 in a thoughtful, highly visible, and impactful way that leaves a positive, proud, and indelible imprint in the minds of the campus and external community. UTSC is so unique in what it has to offer students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community. UTSC embodies inclusive and academic excellence, and this is an opportunity to continue the momentum toward an even more inclusive future—as there is always work that can be done.”

Lisa states that these celebrations will also honour UTSC’s and Scarborough’s history by collaborating with the “Community Partnerships & Engagement Office to ensure our community partners have a voice. These events will acknowledge and reflect on UTSC’s and Scarborough’s histories, provide space for learning and celebrating accomplishments of where we are today, and most importantly, allow us time to step back and envision a future of greater inclusive excellence.”

Finally, Lisa reinforces that she wants to hear from you, UTSC students! Lisa remembers the 50th Anniversary celebrations and how those opportunities will happen again. 

“I would like to highlight the Legacy Fund Adjudication Subcommittee because this subcommittee will soon be accepting applications from students, faculty, and staff to be awarded funds to bring their ideas to life. This was done at the 50th Anniversary where winning ideas from students ranged from Bubble Soccer to Indigenous Education Week and a faculty member brought forward the permanent installation of the Rock Walk!”

UTSC in its early years. // Photo Courtesy of History of UTSC.

UTSC’s future is now! // Photo Courtesy of ACO Toronto

So, if you want to participate in the committee that will bring the 60th Anniversary Celebrations to life, email Lisa at anniversary60.utsc@utoronto.ca.

Or, visit the 60th anniversary website, which will be updated regularly: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/principal/utsc-60th-anniversary.