BIG CITY, BIG EVENTS, BIG AMENITIES, BIG FUTURE PROGRESS 2019  Page 16


GREAT EXPECTATIONS AT NEWUOF L SCIENCE AND ACADEMIC BUILDING


Tim Kalinowski LETHBRIDGE HERALD


tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com


universities, it is poised to reach even greater heightswhen the new$280- millionDestination Project Science and Academic building beginswelcoming newstudents this fall. “We already have aworld-class


W


research programin neuro-science, chemistry, bio-chemistry, physics, astronomy, and other areas,” acknowledgesUof LVice-President (Research) ErasmusOkine, “but this building has been designed as an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary facility to allowall these areas of research to exist together in the same space and collaborate. It allows our researchers to co-exist, collide and have conversations, and therefore formteams which can answer themost complex questions facing ourworld today.” For leading researchers, the Science


and Academic building allows for greater collaboration in state-of-art labs. For students, saysOkine, it gives thema hands-on education in the latest laboratorymethods under careful and knowledgeable guidance. And for industries, it creates opportunities to have questions answeredwhich they might not have the time or facilities to


hile theUniversity of Lethbridge is already rated as one ofCanada’s top three undergraduate research


Academic buildingwith the extraordinary group of researcherswe have here.” Okine says the Science and Academic


building checks all the boxes to help make theUof L an even greater centre for academic excellence in research going forward, but it also encompasses another important principle—public outreach and transparency. All laboratories are built to in awaywhich allows themto showcase the research taking placewithin by providing for public display and guided access opportunities. “Because it is science on display,”


Herald photo by Ian Martens


The new$280-million Destination Project Science and Academic building is set to welcome students beginning this fall.


undertake on their own. “We haveMakerspaceswhich allow


those industries to come and use our instruments and consultwith our researchers on questions theywant answered,” explainsOkine. “This buildingwill allowus to do that on a more consistent basis than ever before, andwill be the best in Alberta, if not in Canada, at doing that.” AndOkine is already getting phone


calls frominterested companies, ranging fromleading agriculture corporations to organizations like the European Space Agency.


“We have 21 newpartnershipswith


external partners since the newbuilding came,” saysOkine. “There used to be four or fivemain onesweworkedwith on an ongoing basis, but since this particular building has come about, and others have seen the design,we have many newpartnerswho reallywant to workwith us in this facility.These 21 newpartnerswe havewill only be the tip of the iceberg. And they are not only are expressing an interest inworkingwith us, but they are actually putting in money, so far $5.2million in cash, to get newresearch done at the Science and


explainsOkine, “we havemade provisions for schools to bring their students here fromkindergarten to high school to be able to hold guided research activities to help those students begin to understand science. In thisway, it helps to get themexcited about science, and just to see science on display so they realize it is something they can aspire to right here in their hometown.” It all adds up,Okine states, to help


make theUniversity of Lethbridge, now more than ever before, a true destination university inCanada. “Wewant to be a destination


university not only in southern Alberta, but also around theworld,” he confirms. “Wewant people to knowthey can come here and have a unique experience in terms of education, both in liberal arts and research science.Wewant to be a port-of-call for students of all types to land here.”


Agriculture EnterpriseManagementmajorwillhelptrainagmanagersof the future WithVan Raay’s


Megan McCoy FOR THE HERALD


TheUniversity of


Lethbridge is offering a newmajor thatwill bring something unique to the agriculture industry. The newAgriculture


Enterprise Managementmajor is set to begin intake in


the fall for the first time, branching off of a minor that has been held in the past. In 2015, donator Cor


Van Raay sawa need in the agriculture industry to teach students howto manage an enterprise, and thought itwould be useful to train people to fill that gap in the industry.


donation of $5million shared between the college and the university,whichwas doubled by the government, the post- secondary institutions were able to develop a diploma at the college and aminor program at the university quite quicklywhile they awaited provincial


approval for the degree program. The degree program


is flexible and allows students to do parts of theirmajor at other institutions such as the college. Beginning in


September, the new programintends to combine the finance, business, management,


operations aspects of agriculture enterprises. Shamsul Alam,


associate dean of the Dhillon School of Business, said that many of these innovationswill help keep food production safe and nutritious. “We need to


understand howto communicate and how to give value in every


step of the process fromproduction to the consumption.” Alamsaid students


will be exposed to changes in technology and the impacts that will have on the agriculture industry such at robotization, machine learning and encouraging data- driven agri-food production.


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