A $1.13-million gift from the Jalynn H. Bennett Foundation will fund a number of projects at Trent University’s campuses in Peterborough and Oshawa.
Jalynn Bennett, who died in 2015, was a longtime consultant and corporate director. She joined Trent’s board of governors in 1987 and served a five-year term as chairperson from 1994 to 1999.
The university says her foundation recently provided a $1.13 million gift to encourage Trent to do something “bold, audacious and effective.”
It is one of the largest legacy gifts in the institution’s history.
“Jalynn Bennett was a trailblazer who showed leadership in everything she undertook,” said Leo Groarke, Trent’s president and vice-chancellor.
“She broke glass ceilings and encouraged others to be brave and make their mark. She did that at Trent University in many ways, with her steady hand as chair of the Board and in guiding one of Trent’s most successful fundraising campaigns.”
The funding will support the following projects:
- Nature Areas Stewardship Plan and enhancement to natural areas, trails, and teaching spaces: Funds will support student and public involvement in the review process of nature areas and invest in teaching shelters, trail improvements, and other resources.
- Forensic Crime Scene House: Funds will help build a state-of-the-art crime scene training facility designed specifically for teaching purposes. The building will support the recent launch of Canada’s first Masters in Forensic Science at Trent.
- Public Sculpture Initiative: Funds will help acquire nationally significant sculptures as part of Trent’s new public sculpture initiative, set to launch during Peterborough’s 2018 Artsweek celebrations on Sept. 21.
- Recognition of Local Indigenous Communities: Funds will assist the university to recognize the Mississauga Anishinaabeg as the treaty and traditional peoples of the area through honorific naming across the Peterborough and Durham GTA campuses, information panels, and enhancement of sacred and Indigenous teaching spaces.
- Traill College Amphitheatre: Creation of a new outdoor performance centre space at Traill College.
- Campus Arbour at Trent University Durham GTA: Natural and social space at the campus in Oshawa.
“I think she would be pleased to see that her gift will make an enormous difference in very tangible ways right across the university’s campuses, and in the spirit of Trent’s current tagline, which I think she would have liked very much: ‘Challenge the Way You Think,’” Groarke said.
Bennett was the vice-president of corporate development at Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. before founding her own consulting firm in 1989, specializing in strategic planning and organizational development.
Comments