Our Strategic Objectives

Great Student Experiences

Creating great student experiences means providing learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. It means delivering great services and supports our students need, when and how they need them. Creating great Seneca experiences also means celebrating the achievements of our students, alumni, faculty and staff – and creating an environment that makes our students proud to have chosen Seneca and our employees proud to work here.

2017-18 Initiatives

Improve academic learning services

Online tutoring services made available between campuses through Blackboard Collaborate
Supported Learning Groups launched in the schools of Accounting and Financial Services and Information and Communications Technology, with plans to expand in 2018

Continue Seneca’s efforts to further indigenize the institution

Indigenous design elements finalized for CITE and the new government-funded First Peoples@Seneca centre, to be named “Odeyto,” which means “the good journey”
An Indigenous education framework developed for presentation to the Seneca Aboriginal Education Council

Enhance student housing offerings

Renovations completed at Newnham (65 suites) and King (33 suites) residences, with positive feedback received from students

2017-18 In Review: Great Experiences Leading To Great Results

Gold for men’s basketball

The Seneca Sting won the 2017-18 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball national championship – the first in Seneca’s history. Yusuf Ali was named championship MVP, Nabil Ibrahim was named a championship first team all-star and Khalil Miller was named a Championship Second Team All-Star.

Celebrating Indigenous culture

Students, staff and alumni published A Celebration of Indigenous Culture at Seneca as part of Seneca’s 50th anniversary. The book showcases Seneca’s long history of supporting Indigenous education, art and culture.

Creative graduates recognized

Mike Suta and Cameron Kerr, graduates of Seneca’s Visual Effects for Film and Television program, were nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Supporting Role for their work on the Hulu Original series, The Handmaid’s Tale.

Also, the film When They Awake, by Pedro Marcelino, Documentary Filmmaking Institute graduate, was selected to open The Calgary International Film Festival, marking the first time a documentary has received this honour. The film, about a generation of Indigenous musicians, premiered in August 2017 at the Festival des Films du Monde in Montreal.

A focus on action for of Seneca Talks

Seneca’s second annual Seneca Talks: A Conversation about Reconciliation drew a large crowd at Newnham Campus in March 2018. President David Agnew moderated a discussion with Cree First Nations model, actor and activist Ashley Callingbull and CBC columnist Jesse Wente. Their conversation touched on topics like the power of social media and the lack of Indigenous representation in postsecondary education.

Animation accomplishments

In April and May 2017, Small Wonders: A Virtual Reality Experience was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The exhibit was created by Animation graduates Craig Alguire and Morgan Young, under the direction of Professor Priam Givord.

2D animation graduate Austen Payne’s animated short One Hell of a Party was entered in seven film festivals across North America in 2017. At the Nevada International Film Festival, it won the Golden Reel Award, and at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, it garnered the Best Canadian Short.

Soccer stars, coach inducted into OCAA Hall of Fame

The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association honoured three Senecans with Hall of Fame inductions. Sabrina Henry and Kailen Murphy, veterans of the women’s and men’s soccer teams for four seasons, entered the hall along with indoor soccer coach Vito Colangelo.

Fashion graduates showcased at the ROM

A group of recent graduates from the School of Fashion had the unique opportunity to showcase their design work at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The graduates teamed up with up-and-coming Toronto designers for the ROM Speaks Signature Event: 21st Century Atelier: Redefining Fashion in a New Age of Design, which coincided with the ROM’s Christian Dior exhibit.

DAM! Nominated for Canadian Screen Award

DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver, an animated short film produced by the Seneca Summer Animation Institute, was nominated for the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards in the Best Animated Short category.

Governor General’s Academic Award winners

Fashion Arts graduate Andree Nicole and Business Administration – International graduate Luis Antonio Yin Liao were recipients of the Governor General’s Academic Award, given to students who achieve the highest academic standing in the final year of a full-time postsecondary diploma program.

Seneca Cup – Seneca’s highest student honour awarded

Lisa Katheryn Spencer, a graduate of the Honours Bachelor of Child Development degree program, was the 2017 recipient of the Seneca Cup. As a mother of two children with complex medical histories, Lisa knows first-hand how families struggle to navigate community and education resources. She was attracted to Seneca’s program because it values diversity and emphasizes the importance of understanding different family perspectives and dynamics.

Six graduates nominated for Premier’s Award

Six experienced and accomplished Seneca alumni were nominated for the 2017 Premier’s Award for College Graduates:

Gail Courneyea (Health Sciences), President and CEAO, Angels of Flight Canada
Erin Grant (Aviation Technology), Boeing 767 First Officer, Air Canada
Janelle Griffin (Creative Arts & Design), Producer, CNN
Lalith Gunaratne (Technology), Renewable energy entrepreneur
Vic Pynn (Business), Chief Operating Officer, Amadeus North America Inc.
Monica Rutledge (Community Services), Toronto Police Service Constable