{"id":31526,"date":"2022-06-23T14:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T18:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31526"},"modified":"2022-06-23T14:04:31","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T18:04:31","slug":"town-and-york-university-announce-further-collaborations-for-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/town-and-york-university-announce-further-collaborations-for-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Town and York University announce further collaborations for community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

York University has expanded its outreach to Aurora through its Scholar\u2019s Hub, a successful series of virtual programs hosted in conjunction with the Aurora Public Library \u2013 but this could be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the university\u2019s presence in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the Town and York University signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster mutually-beneficial initiatives in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signed by Mayor Tom Mrakas and York University President & Vice Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton in the Skylight Gallery at Town Hall, Mayor Mrakas says the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will look at \u201cfurther enhancement of community technology, professional development opportunities for Council and staff, learning and employment options, such as experiential education, and learning opportunities in key areas of urban planning and legal services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have had a long-standing relationship with York University,\u201d says Mayor Mrakas. \u201cWe have worked together on many things [such as] the scholar hub with the Library and we have always looked at how we can improve and enhance the Aurora Community. The MOU formalizes our relationship with York University and how it can partner and work with things in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUltimately this is a great opportunity for the Town as well as for York University. I think that is something that will help us continue to develop strategic goals to enhance the life of our residents, our employees, students of York University. Ultimately it is going to serve as a model for other communities to follow. There are lots of exciting possibilities through the partnership and we\u2019re going to be part of many things to come as far as that partnership with York University. I think we\u2019re excited, I know York University is excited and I think ultimately the community will be excited with a lot of outcomes that develop through this partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future opportunities could include \u201cplaces where people can gather and learn, and opportunities in urban planning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are opportunities where possible you have internships and also where we work with students that are coming in and develop new types of plans, more geared towards pedestrian-friendly complete communities; those types of things where we can work with students where they get to put forward their expertise but we get to basically reap the benefits of their expertise and their learnings and get to implement them within the Town and the downtown core as we continue to revitalize,\u201d says Mayor Mrakas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe MOU strengthens that partnership and an agreement that kind of bonds us together. We are going to have a strong partnership and we\u2019re going to continue to work on things to continue to make sure that partnership benefits the Town and the university. Ultimately what it does is help our residents and anyone who is looking at furthering their education, possibly. Those are all the things we\u2019re going to continue to work through as this partnership continues to grow and flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Ms. Lenton, this MOU is an extension of York\u2019s commitment \u201cto serving the wellbeing of communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have so many bold aspirations for the university and see what we can do for students, for communities, but we need the collaboration,\u201d she said at Monday\u2019s signing. \u201cWhen you think about experiential education and research collaboration, even space infrastructure, it is all now through partnership. In many ways this pandemic has really served to underscore that: the urgent need for cooperation and collective action to ensure we have the talent that is needed, that we\u2019re feeding that talent pipeline, that we\u2019re undertaking the research that is needed, driving the innovation, to really invest and build the socio-economic sustainability of the global communities we serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt York and Aurora, we share the common goals of mobilizing new knowledge, innovation and learning experiences. The MOU we\u2019re signing today will help York University and the Town of Aurora explore more opportunities for collaboration. For example, together we can create opportunities for smart communities, cities that are equipped with the skills, tools, expertise to apply digital and data technology, to optimise and improve how we live, work and interact with each other. The MOU will also foster opportunities in professional development, experiential education, work-integrated learning — all key elements of delivering a 21st<\/sup> century education and training for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

York University has expanded its outreach to Aurora through its Scholar\u2019s Hub, a successful series of virtual programs hosted in conjunction with the Aurora Public Library \u2013 but this could be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the university\u2019s presence in the community. On Monday, the Town and York University signed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2022-06-23-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8cu","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 23:26:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}