Message from George Baird, Dean:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Larry S. Bourne as Interim Director of the University of Toronto Cities Centre, beginning February 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.

Dr. Bourne is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography and Program in Planning. He received his MA from the University of Alberta and his PhD from the University of Chicago. He was the Director of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Urban and Community Studies from 1973 to 1984; Director of the Graduate Program in Planning at the University of Toronto from 1996 to 1998, from 2000 to 2002, and from 2005 to 2006. He has served as Acting Chair of the Department of Geography and Program in Planning in 1999 and from 2003 to 2004. He is an honorary member of the College of Fellows of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and has received the Society’s Massey Medal. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 1999 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo. He has also served as the President of the North American Regional Science Association and of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG), and has received awards for scholarly distinction from the CAG and the American Association of Geographers. He is well known as one of Canada’s most productive scholars in the fields of urban geography and planning.

Dr. Bourne has been appointed as Interim Director of the University of Toronto Cities Centre on the recommendation of the Cities Centre Advisory Committee, with representation from the School of Graduate Studies, the Faculties of Applied Science and Engineering, Architecture, Landscape and Design, and Arts and Science, as well as Innis College. The University of Toronto Cities Centre has been initially funded through the Academic Initiative Fund in the December 2006 round of announcements. As Interim Director, Professor Bourne will develop a draft document, in consultation with representative units, for the establishment of the Centre by University governance. Once established, the Cities Centre (which will incorporate the existing Centre for Urban and Community Studies) is expected to serve as the University’s chief locus of multidisciplinary graduate research on urban issues throughout Canada and the world.