New Name
Our new name promises a future filled with possibilities
Names matter. They tell the world who we are and what we stand for. They communicate ideas, values and aspirations. They speak to the future even as they acknowledge the past.
A new name offers an invitation to be more inclusive, to imagine novel ways of thinking and creating — to open ourselves to new possibilities.
This is a new chapter for our university, informed by the pages that come before but open to the opportunities that lie ahead. Now is a time to recommit to the values that define us, to invite our community to gather around our shared mission and to shape a future in which everyone belongs.
To be metropolitan…
…is to be defined by big city life – the diversity of its cultures, the density of its landscape, and the creativity bred by the proximity of so many people. Here, in this place, collaboration runs deep.
From its earliest days, this has been a site of gathering, an area in which knowledge has been communicated between peoples. And so we continue this commitment to share ideas as we shape the future with research, scholarship and creativity. Our students carry this forward, with ingenuity, entrepreneurship and an unwavering sense of social responsibility.
Our name, our values, our mission
If cities are one of humanity’s greatest sites of innovation, then a university located at the heart of the world’s most diverse urban centre is uniquely positioned to foster new ways of thinking and doing. We are at once a benefactor of this uniquely urban ingenuity, an incubator for its growth and a platform for its dissemination.
We are defined by our city and the communities that surround us, and we measure ourselves by how we give back to them – both locally and globally. This symbiotic relationship informs all that we do. From fostering inclusivity to our pledge to prepare students for impactful careers that steward transformative change to research that meets societal needs, being metropolitan is all about a collective commitment to creating a more equitable future.
To us, a metropolis is a place of multiplicity and belonging. Here we can be central and dispersed, unified and diverse.
How we reached our new name
Drawing on lessons from the Standing Strong Task Force, the university renaming process leveraged community engagement, internal and external experts and a diverse advisory committee.