University of British Columbia

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University of British Columbia
Image:UBC-Crest.png
Motto	Tuum est (It Is Yours)
Established	1908
Type	Public
Endowment	$700 million[1]
Chancellor	Allan McEachern
President	Stephen Toope
Undergraduates	35,860 - Vancouver 4,000 - Okanagan
Postgraduates	7,719 - Vancouver 132 - Okanagen
Location	Vancouver & Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Campus	Urban, 402 ha
Mascot	Thunderbird
Affiliations	APRU, Universitas 21, ASAIHL
Website	www.ubc.ca

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Canadian public university with its main campus located at Point Grey in the unincorporated Electoral Area A, immediately west of Vancouver, British Columbia. It also has three satellite campuses within the city of Vancouver: a campus at Vancouver General Hospital for the medical sciences, UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver for part-time credit and non-credit programmes, and a limited series of classes at the Great Northern Way Campus. Another smaller campus, known as UBC Okanagan, is located in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Contents 1 Location 2 History 2.1 Early history 2.2 The university today 2.2.1 Tuition 3 Quality of education 3.1 Poll rankings 3.2 Recipients of honourary degrees 3.3 Famous instructors 4 Libraries 5 Landmarks and attractions 5.1 Gardens 5.2 Museums and galleries 5.3 Performance arts theatres 6 Student services and residences 6.1 Student government 6.2 Student clubs 6.3 Other facilities 7 Athletics 7.1 Sports and recreation 8 Student media 9 See also 10 External links 11 References

Location

A twenty-minute drive from downtown Vancouver, the Point Grey campus of the university is near several beaches and has views of the North Shore mountains. The 7.63 km² Pacific Spirit Regional Park serves as a green-belt between the campus and the city. The campus, along with Pacific Spirit Regional Park, the University Endowment Lands, and the residential community of University Hill, is not within Vancouver's city limits. It is part of the Greater Vancouver Regional District's Electoral Area A, which is made up of the non-incorporated areas of the Lower Mainland. As a result, UBC is policed by the RCMP rather than the Vancouver Police Department. However, the Vancouver Fire Department does service UBC under a contract. Also, all postage sent to any building on campus includes Vancouver in the address.

The Okanagan campus, formerly the North Kelowna campus of Okanagan College and later Okanagan University College, is located on the north-east side of Kelowna.

History

Early history

The information in this section is taken from "The History of the University" by former UBC President N.A.M. (Norman) MacKenzie, originally published in "The President's Report", 1957-58, available online at the UBC Archives.

A provincial university was first called into being by the British Columbia University Act of 1890. The Act constituted a twenty-one member senate with Dr. Israel W. Powell of Victoria as Chancellor.

Attempts at establishing a degree-granting university with assistance from the Universities of Toronto and McGill saw varying degrees of success. McGill University College was set up by Henry Marshall Tory^[2] in an arrangement with McGill during 1906 to 1908, as a private institution granting McGill University degrees until 1915.

In the meantime appeals were again made to the government to revive the earlier legislation for a provincial institution, leading to the University Endowment Act in 1907, and The University Act in 1908. In 1910 the Point Grey site was chosen, and the government appointed Dr. Frank Fairchild Wesbrook as President in 1913. The outbreak of war in August, 1914 compelled the University to postpone plans for building at Point Grey, and instead the former McGill University College site at Fairview became home to the University until 1925. The first day of lectures was September 30, 1915.

World War I dominated campus life, and the student body was "decimated" by enlistments for active service, with three hundred UBC students in Company "D" alone. By the end of the war, 697 members of the University had enlisted. A total of 109 students graduated in the three war-time congregations, all but one in the Faculties of Arts and Science.

By 1920, the university had only three faculties: Arts, Applied Science, and Agriculture (with Departments of Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Horticulture and Poultry). It only awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.). There were 1,189 male students and 341 female students, but only 64 academic staff, including 6 women.^[3]

In 1922 the now twelve-hundred-strong student body embarked on a "Build the University" campaign. 56,000 signatures were presented at legislature in support, and on September 22, 1925, lectures began on the new Point Grey campus.

Except for the Library, Science and Power House buildings, all the campus buildings were temporary constructions. Two playing fields were built by the students themselves, but the University had no dormitories and no social centre. Still, the University continued to grow by leaps and bounds.

Soon, however, the effects of the depression began to be felt. In 1932-33 salaries were cut by up to 23%. Posts remained vacant, and many faculty lost their jobs. Most graduate courses were dropped. Just as things began to improve, World War II broke out.

Canada declared war on September 10, 1939. Soon afterwards, University President Klinck wrote:

From the day of the declaration of war, the University has been prepared to put at the disposal of the Government all possible assistance by way of laboratories, equipment and trained personnel, in so far as such action is consistent with the maintenance of reasonably efficient instructional standards. To do less would be unthinkable.

Military training on the campus became popular, and WWII marked the first provision of money from the federal government to the University. By the end of the war, it became clear that the facilities at Point Grey had become totally inadequate. The University needed new staff, new courses, new faculties, and new buildings for teaching and accommodation. The student population rose from 2,974 in 1944-45 to 9,374 in 1947-48.

Surplus Army and Air Force camps were used for both classrooms and accommodation. Fifteen complete camps were taken over by the University in the course of the 1945-46 session alone, with a sixteenth camp, situated on Little Mountain in Vancouver, converted into suites for married students.

Student numbers hit 9,374 in 1948; more than 53% of the students were war veterans in 1947-67. Between 1947 and 1951 twenty new permanent buildings were erected.

Heavy rains and melting snowfall eroded a deep ravine across the north end of the campus, in the Grand Campus Washout of 1935. The campus did not yet have storm drains, and surface runoff went down a ravine to the beach. When the University carved a ditch to drain flooding on University Avenue, the rush of water steepened the ravine and eroded it back as fast as 10 feet per hour. The resulting gully eventually consumed 100,000 cubic yards, two bridges, and buildings near Graham House. The University was closed for 4½ days. Afterwards, the gully was filled with debris from a nearby landslide, and only traces are visible today.^[4]

The university today

UBC's current president is Dr. Stephen Toope, appointed on July 1, 2006. He succeeds Dr. Martha Piper, who was the University's first female president and the first non-Canadian born president.

The Vice-President (VP) Students is Brian Sullivan; VP External and Legal is Dennis Pavlich, VP Research is John Hepburn and VP Finance and Administration is Terry Sumner. The Provost pro tem and Vice-President Academic, is currently Dr. George A. Mackie, after the recent resignation of Dr. Lorne Whitehead.

The UBC Okanagan campus is led by Dr. Doug Owram, Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

In 2003, UBC had 3,167 full-time Faculty, and 4,612 non-faculty full-time employees. It had over forty thousand students (33,566 undergraduate students and 7,379 graduate students), and more than 180,000 alumni in 120 countries. Enrollment continues to grow. The founding of the new Okanagan campus will increase these numbers dramatically. The university is one of only two Canadian universities to have membership in Universitas 21, an international association of research-led institutions (McGill University is the other).

Buildings on campus currently occupy 1,091,997 gross m², located on 1.7 km² of maintained land.

The university's street plan is mostly in a grid of malls (for driving and pedestrian-only). Lower Mall and West Mall are in the southwestern part of the peninsula, with Main, East, and Wesbrook Malls northeast of them.

Wireless internet access is available at no charge to students, faculty, and staff inside and outside of most buildings at both campuses.^[5]

Tuition

In 2001-02, UBC had one of the lowest undergraduate tuition rates in Canada, at an average of $2,181 CAD per year for a full-time programme. This was due to a government-instituted tuition freeze.

In 2001, however, the BC Liberal party defeated the NDP in British Columbia and lifted the tuition freeze. In 2002-03 undergraduate and graduate tuition rose by an average of 30%, and by up to 40% in some faculties. This has led to increased enrollment and better facilities, but also to student unrest and contributed to a teaching assistant union strike.

UBC again increased tuition by 30% in the 2003-04 year, again by approximately 15% in the 2004-05 season, and 2% in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 years. Increases were lower than expected because, in the 2005 Speech from the Throne, the government announced that tuition increases would be capped to inflation.^[6]

In 2004-2005, the average BC tuition fee was $4735, compared to the Canadian average of $4172. ^[7]

In 2006-2007, the University faces a $36 million deficit, one million of which went as a retirement payout to former President Martha Piper. Present proposals to cover the void include raising the application cost from $60 to $100, and the registration deposit for courses from $100 to $250.

Quality of education

Poll rankings

UBC consistently ranks as one of the top three Canadian universities by Research InfoSource^[8] and ranks as second in Canada and thirty-sixth in the world by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.^[9] In 2006, Newsweek magazine ranked the University of British Columbia second in Canada and twenty-seventh in the world.^[10] The Times Higher Education Supplement of the UK ranked UBC as third in Canada and fiftieth in the world in 2006. According to Maclean's University Rankings, UBC has the highest percentage of Ph.D level professors among all public universities in North America (92%). It has received widespread recognition by Maclean's and Newsweek magazines for its foreign language program; the Chinese program is North America's largest, and the Japanese program is North America's second largest (after the University of Hawaii). In 2003 the National Post stated UBC had the highest entrance requirements for undergraduate admission out of all universities in Canada.^[11]

Recipients of honourary degrees

• The 14th Dalai Lama
• Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• Shirin Ebadi
• Raffi Cavoukian

Famous instructors

• Cyril Belshaw, anthropologist, charged with killing his wife over an affair in Switzerland
• Meryn Cadell, writer and performance artist
• Steven Galloway, novelist and playwright
• Michael Ignatieff, author and Canadian politician
• Dale Kinkade, linguist and specialist on Salishan languages
• Richard J. Pearson, archaeologist and gardener
• Rudolf Vrba, Holocaust survivor and pharmacologist
• David Suzuki, biologist
• Bill Unruh, physicist
• Har Gobind Khorana, Nobel laureate in Medicine in 1968, left UBC in 1960 because of racial discrimination
• Michael Smith, Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1993,
• George F.G. Stanley, Canadian historian, designer of Canadian flag, Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick
• Hans G. Dehmelt, Nobel laureate in Physics in 1989
• Carl E. Wieman, Nobel laureate in Physics in 2001
• Daniel Kahneman, Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences in 2002
• Joel Bakan, creator of The Corporation

Libraries

Main article: University of British Columbia Library

The UBC Library, which comprises 4.7 million books and journals, 5.0 million microforms, over 800,000 maps, videos and other multimedia materials and over 46,700 subscriptions, is the second largest research library in Canada.^[12] The library has twenty-six branches and divisions at UBC and at other locations, including three branches at teaching hospitals (St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, and Children's and Women's Health Centre of BC at the BC Children's Hospital), one at UBC's Robson Square campus in downtown Vancouver, and one at the new UBC Okanagan campus. Plans are also underway to establish a library at the Great Northern Way Campus on the Finning Lands. Currently Main library is under construction, but the Irving Barbar wing is available and completely functional.

Landmarks and attractions

Gardens

• UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research (website): the first UBC department, it holds a collection of over 8000 different kinds of plants used for research, conservation and education
• Nitobe Memorial Garden (website): built to honour Japanese scholar Inazo Nitobe, the garden has been the subject of more than fifteen years' study by a UBC professor, who believes that its construction hides a number of impressive features, including references to Japanese philosophy and mythology, shadow bridges visible only at certain times of year, and positioning of a lantern that is filled with light at the exact date and time of Nitobe's death each year. The garden is behind the university's Asian Centre, whose roof features a glass and wood structure from Japan's exhibit at Tokyo Expo.

Museums and galleries

• Museum of Anthropology at UBC (MOA) (website): mostly First Nations collections, such as totem poles. Also antique Chinese and European ceramics collections.
• Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (website): exhibit mostly contemporary North American art. Has two rooms (often divided into three).
• A copy of the Goddess of Democracy, erected by the school's Alma Mater Society stands in SUB plaza.^[13]

Performance arts theatres

• The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts: a performing arts centre containing the Chan Shun Concert Hall. It is often the location of convocation ceremonies as well as the filming location for the 4400 Center on the television show The 4400.
• Frederic Wood Theatre ("Freddy Wood Theatre"): plays performed here, mostly performed by UBC's own BFA drama students.

Student services and residences

Student government

Main article: Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia

UBC students are represented by the Alma Mater Society, or AMS. The society's mandate is to improve the quality of educational, social, and personal lives of students of UBC. The executive - comprised of the President; Vice President, External Affairs; Vice President, Administration; Vice President, Finance; and Vice President, Academic and University Affairs - are responsible for lobbying the UBC administration on behalf of the student body, providing services, such as the AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan, supporting and administering student clubs, and maintaining the Student Union Building (aka SUB) and the services it houses.

Student clubs

UBC has a vibrant campus community with over three hundred student run clubs. Some examples include the Chinese Varsity Club (www.ubccvc.com) established in 1930, the charitable organisation 5 Cents for the Homeless, the Film Society, the UBC Croquet Society, the Dance Club, the Anime Club, the Political Science Student Association, the UBC Gentleman's Club, the UBC Improv Theatre Society, and the Wine Tasting Club, as well as the UBC Amature Radio Club (VE7UBC). The AMS club directory lists all of the clubs.

Other facilities

• The Student Union Building (SUB) (website): offices of many clubs, half a dozen restaurants and cafes, a pub ("The Gallery"), a nightclub ("The Pit"), the inexpensive 425-seat Norman Bouchard Memorial Theatre ("The Norm Theatre"), several shops and a post office. The majority of the outlets and shops in the SUB are run by the AMS, however the addition of major corporate outlets in recent years by UBC Food Services has generated some controversy. The SUB Art Gallery contains mostly students' work. Beside the SUB, there is a small mound called The Grassy Knoll, which was constructed from the contents of the open pool dug near the Aquatic Centre. The Grassy Knoll is slated to be removed for the planned construction of an underground bus loop, a plan that is unpopular with some students.
• The Ladha Science Student Centre (website): Home of the Science Undergraduate Society (website). Funded through a generous donation from Abdul Ladha, a levy from all Science undergraduate students, the VP Students, and the Dean of Science, this new building on East Mall just north of University Boulevard is now open and provides space for Science undergraduates to meet, to study, and to have fun. (http://www.escience.ubc.ca/)
• Totem Park: A residence primarily for first and second year undergraduate students (houses 1163). It consists of 6 dormitory buildings (Nootka, Dene, Haida, Salish, Kwakiutl, and Shuswap Houses), and a Commons Block (Coquihalla). It is considered by some to be the "loudest" of the residences.
• All houses, except Shuswap, are co-ed, with alternating men's and women's floors.
• Shuswap house is currently the only house at Totem with co-ed floors (that is, men and women are allowed to live on the same floor).
• Place Vanier: A residence primarily for first and second year undergraduate students (houses 1370). It consists of 12 blocks constructed in 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1968, with two(Tec de Monterrey and Korea House) of the twelve houses constructed in 2002 and 2003. The buildings vary from Male and Female only, to alternating gender floors, as well as fully mixed floors. The residences have both single and double rooms, with each floor having a lounge and communal bathrooms.
• Gage Towers: A residence consisting of three 17-floor towers (North, South and East) primarily for second, third, and fourth year undergraduate students. Gage houses the most students and is closest to the Pit Pub. It consists of three interconnected towers(North, South, and West) as well as single student housing(both studio, and apartment) in a separate adjacent building. The towers are composed of "quads" which consist of 4 separate pods, each consisting of 6 individual bedrooms, a bathroom and a communal kitching/dining area.
• Fairview Crescent: A residence primarily for second and third year undergraduate students. Also houses many graduate students. Consists of an L-Shaped pedestrian-only street lined with 4, 5 & 6 student (a mix of single-sex and co-ed) townhouses. The Beanery is nestled in the middle of the residence.
• Thunderbird: A residence primarily for graduate students and fourth year undergraduate students.
• Ritsumeikan-UBC House: A residence with a Japanese cultural setting, named for Ritsumeikan University. Houses Japanese exchange students and Canadian students, who participate in unique intercultural programmes. The residence's tatami room is used for practice sessions by the UBC Urasenke Japanese tea ceremony club. Two Canadian students are typically paired with two Japanese exchange students.
• Marine Drive Residence: A new residence on the west side of campus. The first phase, consisting of Building 1 (an 18-floor tower) and Building 2 (a 5 floor building commonly called the "Podium") opened Fall 2005, and is the most expensive residence on campus. In February 2006, the Board of Governors approved plans for the second phase of Marine Drive, finally putting an end to the debacle caused by concerns over the view of Wreck beach (Phase I's Building 1 was reduced from 20 floors to 18 because of this). Phase II consists of Buildings 3 through 5 (two towers and another "Podium", respectively), and also the Commonsblock. Building 3 is expected to be open for students as of September 2007, with buildings 4 and 5 following in 2008. A separate Commonsblock (the current Front Desk being located in building 1) is expected to be completed in 2009, and will contain similar services to the Commonsblocks of other residences, such as an exercise room and a small store. The Commonsblock will mark the completion of the Marine Drive Residence, which will be one of the most populous residences on campus.
• Green College: A residential college for graduate students with an interdisciplinary focus.
• St. John's College: A residential college for graduate students with an international focus.
• The Beanery: A coffee shop located in the Fairview residence. It has study areas popular with students. There are numerous other coffee outlets on campus, including a Blenz, four Starbucks (The village, the SUB, in Forestry, and near the engineering "E") and a Tim Horton's.
• There is a new Tim Horton's opening up in the Forestry building, to replace the Bread Garden that was there before.

Athletics

UBC is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the UBC Thunderbirds. UBC is considering joining the NCAA ^[14]

Sports and recreation

• UBC REC (website): UBC's intramural program is one of the largest in Canada, including various leagues and the year-ending Storm the Wall.
• Aquatic Centre (website): offers swimming pools indoors and outdoors. At designated times students can use the facility for free.
• Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre: during final exam periods (December and April), hundreds of chairs and tables are placed inside for students to take examinations. The Centre is currently torn down, and is being restructured for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
• In between Main and Koerner Libraries is an artificial 6-metre deep valley, whose massive amount of dirt was transported to a bog in the Pacific Spirit Park decades ago, now being criticized as an anti-environmental act. The valley was intended as a student gathering place for eating lunches, meeting and relaxing, but it is mostly unused due to its lack of visibility and dangerously slippery muddy grass.
• There is a rock-climbing wall in the SUB, hidden behind the movie theatre screen, which is operated by the UBC Varsity Outdoor Club.(website)
• The UBC Bike Hub, which houses the AMS Bike Co-op and the Bike Kitchen. The Bike Kitchen is a full service student-run non-profit bike shop, which also runs workshops and provides one-on-one instruction.(website)
• The UBC Croquet Societyplays friendlies during the week on various lawns and in front of Koerner's library. Tournaments are held twice a semester.
• The UBC Debating Society is the only debating team in Canada that is a part of a university's varsity athletics programme.(website) In late 2006 it hosts the World Universities Debating Championships.
• The Student Recreation Centre houses a gymnasium, sports equipment shop, dojo, and climbing wall, in addition to rooms for special exercise programmes.
• The neighbouring Pacific Spirit Regional Park has an extensive network of running trails. On the coast to the west of campus, the park includes Wreck Beach, one of the largest clothing-optional beaches in the world.

Student media

• The Ubyssey (website), a twice-weekly student newspaper that serves the Vancouver campus. Established in 1918.
• "The Phoenix" (website), is a biweekly student newspaper that serves the Okanagan campus. Established in 1989 under Okanagan University College.
• The Graduate (website), a monthly magazine of news, opinion, and humour, by graduate students.
• Discorder ("That magazine from CiTR") (website), a music and entertainment magazine produced by the campus radio station.
• CiTR "Thunderbird Radio" (website), the campus radio station.
• The Point, a weekly student paper of athletics, clubs, and what's happening at UBC.
• The Underground, a satirical newspaper of the Arts Undergraduate Society with a vibrant arts and culture section, The Grounder.
• The 432 (website), a satirical, biweekly publication of the Science Undergraduate Society.
• The Cavalier (website), the official humour and events paper of the Commerce Undergraduate Society (CUS),
• The nEUSpaper , a humorous, biweekly publication of the Engineering Undergraduate Society, or EUS.
• The Paradigm (website), an academic, bi-annual publication of the Science Undergraduate Society.
• Perspectives (website), British Columbia's first English-Chinese student newspaper.
• The Knoll (website), a monthly magazine examining society from an activist/humanist point of view.
• PRISM international (website), a quarterly literary magazine published by graduate students in the UBC Creative Writing Program.

See also

• Faculties and Schools of the University of British Columbia
• Presidents of the University of British Columbia
• Chancellors of the University of British Columbia
• Famous Alumni of the University of British Columbia
• University of British Columbia Alma Mater Society
• University Endowment Lands
• Regent College
• Vancouver School of Theology
• TRIUMF

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