University of Calgary

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University of Calgary


Motto	Mo Shùile Togam Suas (Gaelic: I will lift up my eyes)
Established	1966
Type	Public
Endowment	$355M^[1]
Chancellor	Joanne Cuthbertson
President	Harvey Philip Weingarten
Staff	5,363^[2]
Undergraduates	19,801 full-time, 2,755 part-time^[3]
Postgraduates	4,340 full-time, 1,300 part-time^[4]
Location	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Campus	Urban, 2.13 km² or 213 hectares
Mascot	Rex
Website	University of Calgary

Arch marking entrance to campus

The University of Calgary is a public university located in the north-western quadrant of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University is composed of approximately 22,500 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students, totaling approximately 28,000 students and was founded in 1966.

The university is one of the top research-intensive universities in Canada, holding the seventh most Canada Research Chairs. It is a member of the G13 (Group of Thirteen) and has a sponsored research revenue of $252.5 million, with total revenues exceeding $800 million.

1 Academics
- 1.1 Overview
- 1.2 Faculties
2 Rankings and Reputation
3 Facilities
4 Athletics
5 Residence
6 Media
7 Alumni
8 Campus gallery
9 Notes and references
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] Academics

[edit] Overview

The University of Calgary offers over 100 programs in post-secondary education awarding bachelors, masters, and doctorate (Ph.D.) degrees. The university campus has an area of 2.13 km² and hosts, in total, 16 faculties, 53 departments and 36 research institutes and centers. The teaching staff at the university is made up of 2,596 people. In addition, the university employs 2,767 management, professional and support staff to serve the needs of the school. This puts the total of the staff to 5,363 people, making it one of four Calgary's largest employers. The university has Alberta's toughest entry requirements, and due to the higher demand in post-secondary education, has an acceptance rate of just around 50%.

With the continuous economic boom in Alberta, the government has promised $4.5 billion to post-secondary institutions in the province.^[5] With support coming from many areas, the University of Calgary aims to become one of Canada's top 5 research institutions by the year 2010.^[6]

[edit] Faculties

The University of Calgary is host to 16 faculties. Several of the university's more recognized faculties are the Haskayne School of Business, the Schulich School of Engineering, Kinesiology, a medical school (MD), and a law school (LLB).

In 2008, Western Canada's second veterinary school will open at the university, bringing the faculty total to 17.

The faculties are:

[edit] Rankings and Reputation

The School motto on display

The University of Calgary is ranked in the 151-200 area in the Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is given a regional rank (encompassing the Americas) of 76-98. Its national rank is in the area of 6-8.

Webometrics University Rankings^[7] ranks the University of Calgary 59th in the USA and Canada category and 71st in the world. It is ranked 5th in Canada.

Research Infosource^[8] ranks the top 50 research universities in Canada each year. Calgary is currently ranked 7th.

The University of Calgary's Haskayne's School of Business is internationally renowned for its strengths in many areas of undergraduate business. In 2006, at the prestigious Inter-Collegiate Business Competition, hosted annually by Queen's University, Calgary continued to outperform and rank at the top in each area of the competition. Twenty-eight Canadian Undegraduate Business schools, along with three from outside Canada competed to solve complex business problems, and complete business cases. Calgary topped the rankings in the areas of Business Policy, Debating, Finance, Labour Arbitration, Marketing and Management Information Systems. It ranked third in Accounting, missing out on the top 3 in just one category. Calgary by far came out as the most successful school at the competition, being one of only four schools to be ranked in the top 3 in more than one category (seven out of eight in Calgary's case). ^[9]

For years, the University of Calgary has consistently ranked low in Maclean's rankings. In 2005, it was ranked 14th out of 15th in the medical-doctoral category; improving slightly in the 2006 issue of the rankings to 13th.^[10] The University of Calgary and a number of other universities have argued that the methodology Maclean's Magazine uses takes data out of context and is innacurate for a true reflection of the performance of a school. After numerous requests for change and no action being taken on part of Maclean's, in 2006, 21 prominent universities along with the University of Calgary, many of those being part of the leading group of research universities known as the G13, decided to opt out of the rankings.^[11]

[edit] Facilities

The Olympic Oval

The university is home to the MacEwan Hall Ballroom, which is a live concert venue designed to hold approximately 1000 people. The Ballroom has been used for numerous concerts throughout the years, but has also been used for conferences, dinners, and even political debates, most recently the 2006 Alberta PC leadership debate.

Aside from the ballroom, the University also has the Rosza Centre, a theater and concert hall located on the south west side of campus, just off of 24th Ave. NW. The Centre hosts wind ensembles, choirs, and many other fine arts performances. Many musical competitions are held at the Centre every year and can host 384 people in the audience. The University Theater, which is located directly beside the Rosza Centre, is also on campus and is designed for plays and other acting oriented performances with seating for 504 people.^[12]

The campus is also home to the Black Lounge. For several years, The Black Lounge was the only room at the university where smoking cigarettes was allowed and it thus inherited the nickname The Black Lung, though recently the University Students' Union has enacted a no smoking policy. Throughout most of the 1990s, the room was used as a live music venue by promoters involved in Calgary's all ages punk scene. Its capacity for live music is 350 people.

The Olympic Oval, a multi-purpose ice arena, is also present on the University campus and was the site of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games, holding the claim as the fastest ice in the world. It has a 400m long track oval as well as a short track ice surface and two ice hockey rinks. The campus also has the Jack Simpson Gymnasium, which is in fact three gymnasiums in one with bleachers that cover the outer two courts capable of seating 2,700 people.^[13] The University campus also covers the McMahon Stadium, which is home to the Dinos Football Team and the Calgary Stampeders.

[edit] Athletics

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The university is represented in CanadaWest a division of Canadian Interuniversity Sport and in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference by the Calgary Dinos. The Dinos compete in 12 sports, Basketball, Cross-Country, Field Hockey, Football, Golf, Hockey, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Volleyball, and Wrestling.

The football team plays its home matches at McMahon Stadium. It has won the Vanier Cup on two occasions, 1983 and 1995.

[edit] Residence

Kananaskis Hall

The residence buildings on campus can house up to 2500 students, situated in eight buildings, all named after mountains in the Canadian Rockies. The two "traditional" buildings on campus are called Rundle Hall and Kananaskis Hall and were built in the early 1960s when the university relocated to its present campus. Five newer buildings named Glacier, Olympus, Norquay, Brewster, and Castle Halls were built just prior to the 1988 Winter Olympics to act as the athletes’ Olympic Village during the games. However, each of these buildings are considerably smaller than the traditional buildings, being only two or three stories tall, and housing between 10 to 30 students on each floor. The newest building, Cascade Hall, is considerably different from the previous five buildings in design, being five stories, making it the third largest residence building, and the size of its floors being able to house many more students than the preceding five buildings. Aside from this difference, the newest six buildings are all designed in the style of apartments whereby there is one hallway on each floor with sets of rooms that can accommodate up to a maximum of four people each. This is in contrast to the two traditional buildings which are designed with three separate hallways on each floor, with each hallway having rooms only capable of accommodating two people each, along with a common area at the centre of the building on each floor.

A new building, called International House is currently being designed to house an additional 200 international students, instructors and conference attendees. This building is being constructed as part of the University's $1.5 billion dollar capital program, and anticipates welcoming its first residents in September 2008.

[edit] Media

Campus Newspaper - "OnCampus"
Student Newspaper - "The Gauntlet"
Campus Radio Station - CJSW
Campus Television - "NUTV"

[edit] Alumni

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party, holds an MA and a B.A in Economics from the University of Calgary (1991).
James Gosling, inventor of the Java programming language, holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary (1977).
Douglas R. Hamilton, NASA flight surgeon and biomedical engineer, holds a Ph.D in cardiovascular physiology from the University of Calgary (1991).
Harold (Hal) Kvisle TransCanada Profile. the President & CEO of TransCanada Corporation holds an MBA from the University of Calgary (1981).
Bruce Livingstone, entrepreneur
Candice Olsen, interior design and host of Divine Design with Candice Olsen which airs in US & Canadian television markets. Holds a BS from the University.
Theo de Raadt, founder and leader of the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects, holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary (1992).
Robert Thirsk, Canadian Space Agency astronaut and NASA capsule communicator for the International Space Station program. Holds a B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary (1976).
Curtis Myden, three time Olympic bronze medalist in Swimming, holds a B.Sc in Exercise and Health Physiology.
Desmond Lockhart, two time Water-Sport Champion in the 10 feet belly flop competition. Mr. Lockhart holds a B.Eng and is running for President for the Iguana Habitat Museum at Santa Barbara, California. He is married to poet, Cindy Johnson, and has three children