George Brown College is a public, fully accredited

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

applied arts The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univers ...

and technology with three

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-li ...

es in downtown

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

(

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

). Like many other

s in Ontario, GBC was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and opened the next year.

Programs

George Brown offers more than 160 full-time programs in art and design, business, community services, early childhood education, construction and engineering technologies, health sciences, hospitality and culinary arts, preparatory studies, as well as specialized programs and services for recent immigrants and international students. The college offers

diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

programs, advanced diploma programs as well as degree programs, two in conjunction with

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

. The college offers the following degrees: Arts, Design & Information Technology * Honours Bachelor of Brand Design * Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Business * Honours Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Services) * Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Business Analytics) Community Services & Early Childhood * Honours Bachelor of Interpretation (American Sign Language) * Early Childhood Education (consecutive diploma/degree) * Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership Construction & Engineering Technologies * Honours Bachelor of Technology (Construction Management) Health Sciences * Honours Bachelor of Behaviour Analysis * Bachelor of Science in Nursing Hospitality & Culinary Arts * Honours Bachelor of Commerce (Culinary Management) * Honours Bachelor of Food Studies * Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Hospitality) Graduate and

certificate Certificate may refer to: * Birth certificate * Marriage certificate * Death certificate * Gift certificate * Certificate of authenticity, a document or seal certifying the authenticity of something * Certificate of deposit, or CD, a financial pr ...

programs, pre-college and apprentice programs round out the college's full-time offerings. As of 2022, there are 180

continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. ...

certificates/designations available. In 2021, there were 27,128 full-time students — 29 percent international students — as well as 3,123 part-time students and 58,119 continuing education registrants. George Brown has 15,000

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

students studying in over 35 countries. One of the most popular distance education programs offered by the college is its award-winning Electronics Technician distance education program, developed by Dr. Colin Simpson. George Brown was named one of the

Greater Toronto's Top Employers Canada's Top 100 Employers is an annual editorial competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work. First held in 1999, the project aims to single out the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional working conditions ...

for 2022. In 2022, George Brown College was ranked among the top 10 research colleges in the country, ranking 8th for overall research income, and ranking 4th for both the number of paid students and for the number of completed projects. Research Infosource, which publishes annual rankings reports on research and development at institutions across Canada, released the results for the top 50 colleges in January 2022.

History

The college was established during the formation of Ontario's

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior s ...

system in 1967. Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology were established on May 21, 1965. The college is named after George Brown, who was an important 19th-century politician and newspaper publisher (he founded the '' Toronto Globe'', forerunner to ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'') and was one of the

Fathers of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

. The college's predecessor, the Provincial Institute of Trades (PIT), was founded in 1951 to offer

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

training on behalf of the provincial Department of Labour. In 1952, the PIT began operation at 21 Nassau Street in Toronto's

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Ca ...

and, after expanding with the construction of two additional buildings on the site, was offering programs in lathing and structural steel, barbering, diesel mechanics, jewellery arts, watchmaking and welding by 1961. In 1962 the province opened the Provincial Institute of Trades and Occupations (PITO), a sister training institute, at 555 Davenport Road near Casa Loma. When George Brown College was formed in 1967, it absorbed both the PIT and PITO and opened its Kensington and Casa Loma campuses at the two institutes' former facilities. George Brown College also went on to absorb, in 1969, four former Toronto Board of Education Adult Education Centres in a third campus at 507 College Street and, in 1973, five Toronto-area Schools of Nursing in 1973, including: St. Joseph's, St. Michael's, Toronto General, Atkinson (Toronto Western) and Nightingale. In 1973, a new expanded Casa Loma campus was opened. In 1976, the St. James Campus opened at 200 King Street East in buildings formerly belonging to Christie Bakery and

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...

. The Hospitality building (300 Adelaide E.) opened at St. James Campus in 1987, the same year that the College Street Campus closed. Kensington Campus closed in 1994.

Presidents

* Gervan Fearon 2021 - present * Anne Sado 2004 - 2021 * Frank Sorochinsky 1994 - 2004 * John Rankin 1991 - 1995 * D.E. Light 1978 – 1991 * C.C. Lloyd 1968 - 1978

Casa Loma campus

Casa Loma campus is situated on the stretch of Kendal Ave. between Davenport Rd. and MacPherson Ave. Nearby features include Casa Loma, and the

City of Toronto Archives The City of Toronto Archives is the municipal archives for the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It holds records created by the municipal government and its amalgamated former municipalities from 1792 to the present day, as well as non-governmen ...

. The campus itself is a collection of five buildings. In 2004, the old and mostly unused A building was torn down due to health concerns and to create a green space on campus. Students attending classes in building A were experiencing illness, thought to be due to

sick building syndrome Sick building syndrome (SBS) is an unsubstantiated diagnosis where health problems are attributed to buildings. The cause of the health problems are unknown. Symptoms attributed to SBS may or may not be a direct result of inadequate cleaning or ...

. There is a moose sculpture in the green space.

St. James campus

St. James campus consists of five buildings. The first is a large brick building at 200 King St. E. The second and third are located at 290 and 300 Adelaide St. East and are connected. They are home to

Financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

Creative Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

and the faculty of Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. This campus is where the chef school is located.

Waterfront campus

In September 2012, George Brown opened the Waterfront Campus located at 51 Dockside Dr., south of Queen's Quay between Jarvis and Parliament Streets (between

Corus Quay Corus Quay, originally named First Waterfront Place, is an eight-storey commercial office tower located on a waterfront site in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building is the first major development planned for the East Bayfront district, and co ...

and

Redpath Sugar Refinery The Redpath Sugar Refinery is a sugar storage, refining and museum complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Health Sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences are those sciences which focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple a ...

. In 2019, the college expanded its Waterfront Campus to the Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts complex at 3 Lower Jarvis St. - home to the School of Design. And the latest Waterfront Campus expansion, Limberlost Place, is set to open at 185 Queens Quay E. in the summer of 2024. The 10-storey tall-wood, mass-timber building will be the first institutional building of its kind in Ontario and will house the School of Architectural Studies and the School of Computer Technology. It will also house a research institute and a child care centre.

Toronto Metropolitan University campus

This associate campus is in the Sally Horsfall Eaton building (SHE building) at

. The address is 99 Gerrard St. E. George Brown also has classes from the Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Assistant and Activation Coordinator Gerontology programs at the Sally Horsfall Eaton (SHE) Building at TMU (located at the corner of Gould St and Mutual St.).

Young Centre for the Performing Arts

The Theatre School at George Brown College presents a season of productions at the

Young Centre for the Performing Arts The Young Centre for the Performing Arts is a theatre in the Distillery District in downtown Toronto, Canada. It is a brand-new theatre built into 19th-century-era Victorian industrial buildings. It is home to the Soulpepper Theatre Company and th ...

in the

Distillery District The Distillery District is a commercial and residential district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, east of downtown, which contains numerous cafés, restaurants, and shops housed within heritage buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery. ...

in downtown Toronto. It is a brand-new theatre built into 1800s-era Victorian industrial buildings, with the incorporation of additional teaching facilities. The theatre arts program enjoys a partnership with the

Tarragon Theatre The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country.

and

Soulpepper Theatre Company Soulpepper is a theater company based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest non-profit theater in the city. History Soulpepper was founded in 1998 by twelve Toronto artists aiming to produce lesser-known theatrical classics. Soulpepper has sinc ...

Student Residence, The George

George Brown’s student residence, The George, opened in 2016. Located at 80 Cooperage St. E., near Cherry and Front streets, close to Toronto’s Distillery District, the building was part of the 2015 Pan Am/Para Pan Am Games Athletes Village before George Brown took ownership. The building also houses the Lucie and Thornton Blackburn Conference Centre. The facility is named after a wife and husband who escaped slavery and established Toronto’s first cab company, helped found the Little Trinity Anglican Church and worked on anti-slavery initiatives. Their story is told in a student-created mural at the conference centre.

Sports

The school's team name is the Huskies, and varsity sports include: * Badminton * Baseball * Basketball * Cross Country * Esports * Indoor Soccer * Soccer * Volleyball The volleyball team has been coached by, among others, Olympian

Sam Schachter Samuel Schachter (born May 8, 1990) is a Canadian Olympic beach volleyball player. In 2010 he won the FIVB World Junior (U-21) Championship with Garrett May. At the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel, he and Team Canada won a silver medal. He and pa ...

Media

'' The Dialog'' is the student newspaper on campus and is a service provided by the Student Association of George Brown College, The Dialog is a member of

CUP A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cl ...

Libraries

George Brown College students have access to several libraries: * 341 King St. Library Learning Commons * Casa Loma Library Learning Commons * Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts e-Library * Toronto Metropolitan University – Sally Horsfall Eaton Academic Resource Centre * St. James Library Learning Commons * Waterfront Library Learning Commons * Sunnybrook Health Science Centre Library – Orthotics & Prosthetics Collection Each of the college libraries primarily house materials suitable for the programs taught at their respective campuses. Students, faculty and staff have access to an extensive range of electronic resources including, ebooks, articles, and image databases. These are available for use in the library and remotely.

Notable alumni

Katherine Barrell Katherine Barrell is a Canadian actress, writer, producer, and director. She is best known for her role as Sheriff Nicole Haught in the Syfy supernatural weird West television series '' Wynonna Earp''. In 2020, she joined the cast of the fa ...

, actress, writer, producer, director *

Samantha Bee Samantha Anne Bee (born October 25, 1969) is a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host. Bee rose to fame as a correspondent on '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', where she became th ...

, comedian, writer, actress, television host *

Shaun Benson Shaun Benson (born January 16, 1976) is a Canadian actor and director. Early life Benson was born in Guelph, Ontario. He is the son of Eugene Benson, an English professor and a prolific novelist, playwright and librettist."Just Cause for Benson: ...

, actor * Ryder Britton, actor *

Robin Brûlé Robin Brûlé is a Canadian actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and televisio ...

, actress *

Valerie Buhagiar Valerie Buhagiar (born May 12, 1964) is a Maltese-Canadian actress, film director and television host. She studied acting at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario, graduating in 1986. Her debut as a filmmaker was ''The Passion of Rita Camill ...

, actress, film director * Darwyn Cooke, comics artist, writer, cartoonist, animator *

Lynn Crawford Lynn Crawford (born July 18, 1964) is a Canadian chef and television personality. She is known for her appearances on the Food Network show '' Restaurant Makeover'', which is seen in over 16 countries worldwide. Biography Lynn Crawford was bo ...

, television chef *

Christine Cushing Christine Cushing is a Canadian celebrity chef and television program host. Her television debut took place in May 1998 when she was working at a small food company and a TV producer approached her, asking her to audition for one of his new sh ...

, television personality * Mary Jo Eustace, actress, singer, chef * Natasha Falle, activist, professor, abolitionist * John Henry, politician * Simin Keramati, multidisciplinary artist *

Daniel MacIvor Daniel MacIvor (born July 23, 1962) is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom '' Twitch City''. Personal MacIvor was born in Sydney, No ...

, actor, playwright, theatre director, film director *

Dan MacKenzie Dan MacKenzie is a Canadian sports administrator and marketing executive. He has served as president of the Canadian Hockey League since September 2019. He served as the vice-president and managing director of National Basketball Association ...

, sports and marketing executive *

Michael Mahonen Michael Mahonen (born 27 April 1964) is a Canadians, Canadian actor, Film director, director and screen writer. History Mahonen has Finnish Canadians, Finnish ancestry. After graduating from the Theatre Arts Program at George Brown College in 198 ...

, actor, director, screenwriter *

Mark McEwan Mark McEwan is an American-born Canadian celebrity chef based in Toronto, Ontario. He was head judge on Food Network Canada's ''Top Chef Canada''. McEwan had his own television show on Food Network Canada entitled ''The Heat'', which followed h ...

, celebrity chef * Keith Mondesir, Saint Lucian politician *

Roger Mooking Roger Mooking is a Trinidadian-Canadian chef, musician, and television host. Mooking is the host of the television series ''Man Fire Food'' (2012 to present). He is also the host and co-creator of '' Everyday Exotic''. Both programs aired on the ...

, chef, musician, TV host *

Jayde Nicole Jayde Nicole (born February 19, 1986) is a Canadian model and businesswoman. She was ''Playboy''′s Playmate of the Month for January 2007 and was named the 2008 Playmate of the Year in the June issue of the men's magazine. She is the first Cana ...

, model *

Aaron Poole Aaron Poole (born March 17, 1977) is a Canadian actor. Early life Poole grew up in Barrie, Ontario and attended Barrie Central Collegiate. He is a graduate of the Etobicoke School of the Arts and George Brown College. He is of Italian descent. ...

, actor * Rob Rainford, television chef, broadcaster *

Ted Reader Ted Reader is a Canadian chef and author of several cookbooks. Biography Reader is from Paris, Ontario, and is a graduate of George Brown College's culinary management program. Beginning his career in local restaurants, he eventually became execut ...

, chef, author *

Lou Rinaldi Luigino Rinaldi (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2011 and again from 2014 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Northumberland and Northumberland—Q ...

, politician, entrepreneur * Gigi Gorgeous, YouTube personality * Michael Smith, Chef *

Aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...

, WWE Superstar

References

External links

* {{authority control Universities and colleges in Toronto Educational institutions established in 1967 Education in Toronto Colleges in Ontario 1967 establishments in Ontario Hospitality schools Cooking schools in North America