Trent University

Coordinates: 44°21′27.95″N 78°17′22.42″W / 44.3577639°N 78.2895611°W / 44.3577639; -78.2895611

Trent University is a liberal arts and science-oriented institution located along the Otonabee River in Peterborough and the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, Canada.

The enabling legislation is the Trent University Act, 1962-63. The university was founded through the efforts of a citizens' committee interested in creating a university to serve the Trent valley. The chancellor of Trent University is Don Tapscott, and Leo Groarke is the president and vice-chancellor.

The Symons campus of Trent is approximately 5.6 km² (2.2 sq mi), over half of which is a part of Trent's Nature Areas, an ecologically diverse wild-life preserve. It is divided into a series of colleges: Champlain, Lady Eaton, Catharine Parr Traill, Otonabee, Peter Gzowski, and Julian Blackburn. Each college has its own residence hall, dining room, and student government, other than Julian Blackburn which is a non-residential college and home to Trent's 1,700 part-time students. The campus plan and the original college buildings were designed by the Canadian architect Ron Thom. A large portion of the main campus consists of land that was donated by General Electric Canada. This donation included a functioning hydroelectric power plant dating from the 1890s, which still generates a substantial portion of the university's electricity; the power plant is being updated and a second generating plant being considered.