Bonnie M. Patterson was appointed President of Trent University in 1997. Her appointment runs until 2009. Patterson holds a B.A. and a M.L.S. from the University of Western Ontario.

:




In the 2002 film "Whose University is it?," directed by Trent grads, Trent President Bonnie Patterson refers to the university as a "captive market." The President's statement, intended to lure private partners to the university, is revealing. In the context of sweeping cuts to government post-secondary education funding over the past decade, it is becoming increasingly common for cash-strapped colleges and universities to sell their students to corporations as a captive youth market.

Bonnie Patterson has changed the once small university to a "medium-sized" one and since she has been in power, Trent's size has nearly doubled.

President Patterson was announced as the winner of a 2006 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award in the Trailblazers & Trendsetters category at an official awards ceremony held by the Women’s Executive Network in late November.

Trent University’s chair of the Board of Governors, Reid Morden, lauded Professor Patterson for the commitment, determination and remarkable achievements that led to today’s announcement. "Bonnie Patterson is dynamism personified,” said Mr. Morden. “Her extraordinary contributions to Trent, to the Peterborough community and to the post-secondary education sector nationally are virtually without number. This award is so well deserved."

Trent's student paper, Arthur, often critiques Patterson's questionable motives and how Trent has changed drastically since 1997.