Murray G. Ross, York University's first president, sitting at his desk on undeveloped Keele Campus land.
York University was founded in March 1959, when its charter was approved by the legislature of the Province of Ontario, and enrolled its first class of 76 students in September 1960.
York was originally established as an affiliate of the University of Toronto, but became independent by mutual consent in October 1965. York University moved from Falconer Hall (on Queen’s Park Crescent near the Parliament Buildings) to the Glendon campus in 1961, and each succeeding year has seen a major advance in growth.
In 1962, the Joseph E. Atkinson College first offered degree courses for evening and part-time students. In 1963, the Faculty of Arts and Science introduced its own distinctive program of degree studies, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies was established. The University accepted its first postgraduate students in 1964.
The Keele campus, which became the principal seat of the University, was opened at Keele Street and Steeles Avenue in 1965. In the following year, Glendon College was officially opened and the Faculty of Administrative Studies (now the Schulich School of Business) was established at the Keele campus.
In 1967, the Senate enacted legislation to establish a Faculty of Fine Arts. In 1968, the Faculty of Environmental Studies was established, and the Osgoode Hall Law School became the Faculty of Law of the University (under the terms of an agreement which had been entered into with the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1965).A Faculty of Science was created in 1969 by separating biology, chemistry and physics from the Faculty of Arts and Science, which then became the Faculty of Arts.
In 1971, the Senate approved the establishment of the Faculty of Education. In 2000, Joseph E. Atkinson College was renamed the Joseph E. Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies. In 1990, the Faculty of Science was renamed the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, and subsequently, in 2004, became the Faculty of Science and Engineering. In 2006, the new Faculty of Health was approved which brought together Nursing, Health Policy and Management, Kinesiology and Health Science, and Psychology.
The non-Faculty colleges appeared annually after 1964: Founders (1965), Vanier (1966), Winters (1967), McLaughlin (1968), Stong (1969), Calumet (1970), and Norman Bethune (1971). York University now graduates approximately 8,000 students annually.