The Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, operating as Sheridan College (or simply Sheridan), is a public college with three campuses in Oakville, Brampton, and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Sheridan is known for academic programs in creative writing and publishing, animation and illustration, film and design, business, applied computing, and engineering technology, among others. The Davis Campus in Brampton is its original location and its largest campus by student enrolment. Sheridan's administration is based at the Trafalgar Campus in Oakville, and the newer Hazel McCallion Campus was opened in Mississauga City Centre in 2011.
History
Founding Sheridan College was established in 1967 and named for the hamlet of Sheridan (established in 1858 and named for British playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan) on the border of Peel and Halton County (Winston Churchill and QEW). Sheridan's first home was at the old Brampton High School on Centre Street North between Church Street East and McCaul Street. The School of Graphic Design was located in Brampton, Ontario until 1970, when it moved to the new campus in Oakville, Ontario. The Brampton campus was a converted public high school that had previously been in condemned status until re-fitted for use by Sheridan College. The school and area were subsequently replaced by residential homes. The new Oakville location was still under construction when classes began in the fall of 1970. The classes were held in a large open area under triangular skylights which allowed excellent lighting for the students. The photography department used a well equipped photo studio area and darkrooms for processing film and prints. That building has become merged with many other structures as extensive expansion of the campus has occurred on an ongoing basis. The main courses taught that year were graphic design, fashion design, photography and animation.
Contributions to animation In the 1960s and early 1970s, the Canadian animation industry was little formed and virtually non-existent, excepting animation pioneers of the National Film Board, and such Canadian studios as Crawley Films in Ottawa and The Guest Group in Toronto, a group of creative companies owned and run by Al Guest. The Canadian animation landscape began to change in the late 1960s with Rocket Robin Hood, a Canadian animated series produced by Al Guest and his partner Jean Mathieson. In 1968 President Porter organized the school's first course in classical animation, even though at the time there was little evidence of demand for graduates. The school took advantage of the closing of Al Guest's studio following the production of Rocket Robin Hood and were able to buy up the cameras, animation and editing equipment. Subsequently, Guest and Mathieson served as creative advisors to Sheridan and hired a number of Sheridan graduates as key personnel for their new studio Rainbow Animation. In 1984, Sheridan student Jon Minnis created the short animation piece Charade. The five-minute film was animated by Minnis with Pantone markers on paper during a single three-month summer term at Sheridan College. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 57th Academy Awards. As Sheridan's animation department continued to grow, it produced hundreds of animators into Canadian and international studios, at one point in 1996 being called "the Harvard of animation schools" on "a worldwide basis" by animator Michael Hirsh. A significant number of graduates have held key positions at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Don Bluth Productions, Pixar Animation Studios, and DreamWorks Animation, both for traditional and CGI animation. Sheridan graduates include seven Academy Award nominees and two winners, including Domee Shi, the first woman to direct a Pixar animated short. Animation faculty and alumni have also been recognized at the Emmy awards, including animation professor Kaj Pindal and alumni Jim Bryson, Bobby Chiu and Adam Jeffcoat. In June 2018, animation alumnus Jon Klassen was named to the Order of Canada in recognition of his contributions to children's literature. Klassen is the author and illustrator of the award-winning book, This is Not My Hat. In 2018, Sheridan's animation program celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding. Today, the program aims to foster the same innovative and creative spirit in its current students as it did 50 years ago. Students now earn a four-year Bachelor's Degree in Animation, and post-graduate programs in Computer Animation, Visual Effects and Character Animation are also available. In 2019, Sheridan was ranked as the top animation school in the world outside the United States by Animation Career Review. In 2024 Sheridan College's dependence on international student enrolment was blamed for the cancellation of 40 programs and major layoffs.
Unsuccessful bid for university status Former President Jeff Zabudsky announced in 2012 that Sheridan College would seek to become a university by 2020. The college began implementing several changes to meet the non-binding criteria of a university as set by Universities Canada including: the establishment of an academic senate to set policy, increasing the number of degree-level courses, and increasing the number of instructors with master's and doctoral degrees. The college appointed former Mayor of Mississauga Hazel McCallion as its first chancellor in 2016. In 2018, it was announced that Sheridan will open a new campus in Brampton in partnership with Ryerson University (now named Toronto Metropolitan University). The campus will be located on south-east corner of Church Street West and Mill Street North in Brampton. The new campus will focus on delivering programs in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). However, this plan was cancelled in 2019. In 2019, under the leadership of President Janet Morrison, the college unveiled a new five-year strategic plan that sets out a new vision for Sheridan: to bring together key elements of colleges, polytechnics and universities to create a new, standard-setting model of higher education.
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