Ryerson University - History

History

In 1852 at the core of the present main campus, the historic St. James Square, Egerton Ryerson founded Ontario's first teacher training facility, the Toronto Normal School. It also housed the Department of Education and the Museum of Natural History and Fine Arts, which became the Royal Ontario Museum. An agricultural laboratory on the site led to the later founding of the Ontario Agricultural College and the University of Guelph. St. James Square went through various other educational uses before housing a namesake of its original founder.

Egerton Ryerson was a leading educator, politician, and Methodist minister. He is known as the father of Ontario's public school system. He is also a founder of the first publishing company in Canada in 1829, The Methodist Book and Publishing House, which was renamed The Ryerson Press in 1919 and today is part of McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Canadian publisher of educational and professional books, which still bears Egerton Ryerson's name for its Canadian operations.

The Toronto Training and Re-establishment Institute was created in 1945 on the former site of the Toronto Normal School at St James Square, bounded by Gerrard, Church, Yonge and Gould. The Gothic-Romanesque building was designed by architects Thomas Ridout and Frederick William Cumberland in 1852. The site had been used as a Royal Canadian Air Force training facility during World War II. The institute was a joint venture of the federal and provincial government to train ex-servicemen and women for re-entry into civilian life.

The Ryerson Institute of Technology was founded in 1948, inheriting the staff and facilities of the Toronto Training and Re-establishment Institute. In 1966, its name was changed to Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. It became a university-degree granting institution in 1971 accredited by both provincial government legislation and by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). That year, it also became a member of the Council of Ontario Universities (COU). In 1992, Ryerson became Toronto’s second school of engineering following accreditation from the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board.

In 1993 Ryerson received approval to also grant graduate degrees (master's and doctorates). The same year it changed its name to Ryerson Polytechnic University, reflecting a stronger emphasis on research associated with graduate programs and its expansion from being a university offering undergraduate degrees. Students occupied the university's administration offices in March 1997, protesting escalating tuition hikes.

In June 2001, the school assumed its present name as Ryerson University. Today, Ryerson University offers programs in chemical, civil, mechanical, industrial, electrical, biomedical and computer engineering. The B.Eng biomedical engineering program is the first standalone undergraduate biomedical engineering program in Canada. The university is also one of only two Ontario universities to offer a program in aerospace engineering.