Centennial College

Programs

Centennial offers more than 250 programs including: bachelor's degree, diploma, certificate, post-graduate certificate and apprenticeship programs, across many diverse fields of study.

Centennial offers the following four-year undergraduate degrees:

Founded in 1966, the college offers programs in business, communication arts, community and consumer services, applied computing, engineering technology, health sciences, animation, music theatre, film and design. Centennial College supports enrolments of 20,000 full-time students and 20,000 part-time students.

History

Centennial College was the first to be opened in Ontario during the formation of the province's public college system in the 1960s. Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology were established on May 21, 1965 under the direction of the Hon. William Davis, Minister of Education. The system has grown to encompass 24 public colleges serving 200 communities in the province.

As Centennial College's first site, Warden Woods Campus (651 Warden Avenue) opened its doors on October 17, 1966, with 514 students enrolled in 16 career-oriented programs including journalism, secretarial science and early childhood education. The campus made use of a decommissioned federal building that had been renovated to serve as a teaching institution. It evolved over the years to include the health/nutrition, hospitality, child studies and community services programs. In 1973, the Ontario government transferred responsibility for nursing education from the province’s hospitals to its colleges. Locally, the Scarborough Regional and the Toronto East General schools of nursing joined Centennial College to form the School of Health Sciences, based at Warden Woods Campus. Warden Woods Campus was demolished in 2005.

In 1992 the Scarborough Board of Education and the college made a deal to establish an adult education centre, the Scarborough Career Planning Centre, at the Centennial College. In 1994 the entities agreed to establish the centre there beginning in the fall of that year.

Centennial College grew rapidly, necessitating the establishment of additional campuses in the east end of Toronto to accommodate new programs and students. Warden Woods Campus closed in autumn of 2004 and was demolished thereafter to make way for a housing development. Most programs were relocated to the new Centennial Science and Technology Centre (Morningside Campus), which began operations the same year.

Campuses

Existing campuses are located at:

Centennial Science and Technology Centre

Located at 755 Morningside Avenue in the Morningside Avenue-Ellesmere Road area of Scarborough, this campus is commonly known as Morningside Campus. Morningside Campus opened in the summer of 2004 to house joint programs with the University of Toronto Scarborough. The campus is home to the health science and environmental science programs that the college offers. Popular programs include paramedic, nursing, practical nursing, pharmacy technician, environmental protection technology and biotechnology. Computer science and technology programs were moved to Progress Campus in September 2010 due to space issues.

Progress Campus

Progress Campus is Centennial's largest property, where approximately half of the college's students take classes. The programs offered at this campus, located at 941 Progress Avenue, near Markham Road and Highway 401 in Scarborough, are related to computer science and technology, business, and hospitality and tourism. Students in the latter often work for the Centennial College Residence and Conference Centre as hospitality staff in the student restaurant, Horizon's, or in the Student Centre kitchen run by the CCSAI. Progress Campus is the site of the new Library and Academic Facility, as well as the newly expanded Athletic and Wellness Centre, both of which opened in September 2011.

Ashtonbee Campus

Located at 75 Ashtonbee Road in Scarborough's Warden Avenue-Eglinton Avenue area, this campus is home to the largest training school for transportation technology in Canada. In 1967, the Ontario government merged its Provincial Institute of Automotive and Allied Trades with Centennial College. A large automotive service facility was purchased from Volkswagen Canada at 930 Warden Avenue to house the automotive trades, forming the college’s second campus. In 1973, the new Ashtonbee Campus building was opened adjacent to the old VW building, with enough space to train technicians knowledgeable in every form of land, sea and air transportation.

Today, Centennial boasts industry partnerships with major manufacturers, including Honda/Acura, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Volvo Trucks, Freightliner and Canadian Tire. The campus includes a fully functional aircraft hangar, licensed by Transport Canada, complete with a "fleet" of 10 aircraft which are used as training aids by the aircraft technician and avionics technician students. Each June, Centennial's School of Transportation organizes a public Show'n'Shine event for automotive buffs. Ashtonbee Campus underwent a major renovation and expansion in 2012-13, which saw the construction of a "gateway" building on Ashtonbee Road that houses a new library and student services hub. The existing campus gymnasium gained a weight room and exercise studios on the new second level.

Story Arts Centre

Located near the Danforth at 951 Carlaw Avenue in East York, this campus opened in 1994 to house Centennial's award-winning School of Communications, Media, Arts and Design, a "premiere media and visual arts learning centre" in the region according to The East York Foundation. Taught here are most of the creative communication programs such as advertising and public relations, as well as professionally oriented programs in the arts, such as digital animation and game design. The School of Communications, Media, Arts and Design also hosts Centennial College's 4 programs in performance, which include Theatre Arts and Performance, Music Industry Arts and Performance, Dance Performance and Performing Arts Fundamentals.

The building housing the Story Arts Centre was originally constructed to house the Toronto Teachers' College, and television buffs may know it as the location of the Canadian TV teen drama Degrassi High in the early 1990s. Since the closure of Toronto's francophone Collège des Grands-Lacs in 2002, Collège Boréal, a francophone college based primarily in Sudbury, also offered some French-language college programs at this facility until moving to its own new campus at One Yonge Street in 2012.

Residence

Responding to a critical shortage of affordable rental accommodations in Toronto at the time, Centennial College purchased the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel Toronto East in June 2001 across the street from the Progress Campus and converted the hotel building into a college residence in time for the fall semester. The amenities and level of finish in the hotel building were considerably higher than that of many purpose-built college residences. Amenities included an indoor pool, glass elevator, four-storey atrium and warmly decorated rooms. The Centennial College Residence and Conference Centre was originally configured to accommodate 380 student residents, based on two students sharing a room, though later configurations allowed the creation of some single-occupancy rooms.

Rapid enrolment growth, fuelled by international students, compelled the college to examine building a new residence on the Progress Campus property. The resulting eight-storey quadrangle building was designed to house 740 students in two- and four-bed suites, complete with a bathroom and kitchen in every suite, with all residents having their own private bedroom. The new building is a hybrid: the ground floor is dedicated to Centennial’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, complete with seven kitchen labs, eight classrooms and a restaurant and cafe open to the public. The conference and events centre located on the top floor can accommodate up to 450 guests. Construction broke ground in October 2014 and the residence began occupancy in August 2016. Knightstone Capital Management provided the planning, financing and management of the project; other key partners include Diamond Schmitt Architects, Canadian Campus Communities and FRAM Building Group. The old Howard Johnson property was decommissioned when the new building opened.

Academics

Centennial College offers full-time programs in more than 100 fields of study. These programs emphasize experiential learning with laboratory instruction, paid co-operative education opportunities, and industry and agency field placements. All Centennial programs are developed and kept current with the assistance of program advisory committees (PACs), made up of academic advisors and employer representatives. Their participation ensures the education and skills students receive at Centennial are up-to-date and relevant to the industry they are preparing to enter.

Centennial offers a variety of innovative degree programs. Five joint-degree programs in paramedicine, journalism, new media studies, environmental science & technology and applied microbiology are taught in conjunction with the University of Toronto Scarborough, and the Bachelor of Science Nursing program is delivered jointly with Ryerson University. Centennial was among the first colleges in Ontario to receive approval for applied-degree programs in computer and communication networking, and software systems: design, development and management.

Centennial College Schools

Community and special events

In July 2010, the students in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture participated and partnered for the very first time with North America's Largest Cultural Festival – Scotiabank Caribana (now formally called Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto (SBCCT)- Festival Management Committee and Tribal Knights with Dexter Senshuai created a Queen costume worn by Salome Odney a hospitality student under the theme "Tropical Amazon" which was presented at the Annual King and Queen Competition and then at the Annual Parade. This marked the 1st time an Ontario College took part in the festival which was a huge success in made local headlines and several pictures have surfaced. The student wearing the costume was interviewed by CP24 and various other television stations and Media Afficates.

In July 2011, the students made a return to the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Festival and participated in highly King and Queen show under a new theme "LEGENDS" Our section that was chosen between the committee and Tribal Knights would fit the multicultural diversity of international Students from china and Japanese "Legends of Orient" This year would be a little different where it was opened up to the rest of the college staff, faculty, administration to participate with the Centennial College Student Association CCSAI. This year costume was worn by Annakay McCalla who wore the costume for the first time the Centennial College – School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture to enter the competition at the Grand Parade and it will be judged with the mas band Tribal nights and made history that our costume was judged and received 4th place with Tribal Knights. The costume was interviewed by Rogers Cable, Global TV, Sway magazine, CTV, WOW TV and others. There was large media coverage of the college participation this year by CTV/ CP24 on Parade Day on July 30 there was several pictures taken which are on Facebook, YouTube, Flicker,

In May 2012 – As a part of the partnership with Festival Management Committee management of Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto (SCCT) involved for the very 1st time took Centennial College students as part of their Internship/Co-OP from the hospitality, tourism and Culture program – Post Grad Festival Management Program students such as Fabia Morgan (Assistant Gala Coordinator/ Administrative Assistant), plus the Business Administration program Shemmie Bayne (Administrative Assistant to Festival Administrator) and from Festival and Events Management Class/Hotel and Resort Management Program, Steven McKinnon (Office Assistant & Marketplace Coordinator)

Notable alumni and faculty