University of Lethbridge

March in support of the University being located in west Lethbridge

University of Lethbridge - Circa 1972.

The University of Lethbridge welcomed only 650 students when it first opened its doors in 1967. With the completion of University Hall in 1971, the University moved permanently to west Lethbridge with enrolment growing to over 1,200 students.[5] The current location of the University was only chosen after fierce community debate with the Provincial Government who wanted the University to be located in east Lethbridge. After the University's first Convocation on May 18, 1968, more than 500 students, faculty and community members held a protest march in support of having the University located in west Lethbridge. Soon after, the government decided west Lethbridge would be the University's permanent location.[5]

University Hall was designed by the renowned architect Arthur Erickson and sits within the coulees above the Oldman River. University Hall was selected as one of four buildings to appear on a Canadian postage stamp celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Architectural Institute (RAIC).[6]

Over the next half century, the student population has grown to 8,155 undergraduates and 640 graduate students as of 2019. The University now offers over 150 undergraduate degree programs in the Arts, Sciences, Management, Education, Heath Sciences and Fine Arts. Further, the University has added over 50 Masters and PhD programs.

The latest development at the University of Lethbridge is the "Destination Project", the first phase of which was a new $280M 38,500 square metres (414,000 sq ft) science and academic building. This facility, officially opened in September 2019,[7] features laboratory and teaching facilities, as well as "outreach" and "maker" spaces. The building, known as the Science Commons, houses over 100 faculty researchers in physics, astronomy, chemistry, biochemistry, biological sciences, neuroscience, and psychology.[8] In 2018, it was shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival[9]

Year 2000 to 2010

The University experienced tremendous growth in campus buildings during this period.

Library.

The 1st Choice Savings Centre for Sport & Wellness

The 1st Choice Savings Centre has become a hub of activity on campus and includes the following facilities:

1st Choice Savings Centre.

• A triple gymnasium (2 hardwood floors and 1 synthetic surface), with retractable seating for 2000 spectators; suitable for hosting major sporting events as well as conferences and speaking engagements;
• A 2,000 square foot main climbing wall;
• A new expanded fitness centre along with a four-lane 200 metre indoor running track;
• Multi-purpose studios for yoga, dance and fitness classes allow for more fitness programming for all ages; and,
• Universal change rooms and expanded locker rooms with steam room.

Turcotte Hall

Home to the Faculty of Education, Counselling Services and the campus Physical Plant.[10]

Turcotte Hall - Faculty of Education.

Markin Hall

Trading room

Named after Dr. Alan Markin in recognition of his generous financial support of the building, Markin Hall is home to the Dhillon School of Business and the Faculty of Health Sciences.[14] The building includes the Centre for Financial Market Research and Teaching (“Trading Room”) which provides direct connections to global trading markets, giving students hands-on experience with equities trading and risk management. Also has the Simulation Health Centre, which has patient simulators for the Health Sciences students. Students can engage in clinical practice on life like mannequins which can simulate body functions in a realistic setting set up to imitate a hospital.[15]

The president of the University of Lethbridge, Mike Mahon, is in his second term and has led the institution since July 1, 2010. Mahon, who previously held the role of the dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta, is also the chair of the Board of Universities Canada.

The University of Lethbridge offers both graduate and undergraduate degrees in four faculties and three schools, as described below.

The university is accredited under Alberta's Post-Secondary Learning Act[16] and is considered a "comprehensive academic and research university" (CARU), which means offer a range of academic and professional programs that generally lead to undergraduate and graduate level credentials, and have a strong research focus.[17]

The University of Lethbridge provides special first-year bridging programs for Aboriginal students. The University of Lethbridge's Niitsitapi Teacher Education Program with Red Crow Community College was developed in partnership with specific Aboriginal communities to meet specific needs within Aboriginal communities.[18]

The University of Lethbridge is a research-intensive university, named "Research University of the Year" in the undergraduate category in 2012, and consistently ranks highly in terms of TriCouncil funding, especially in the sciences, but increasingly in all fields of scholarly inquiry.[19] It is home to 60 research chairs, 8 Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, and 2 Order of Canada recipients.

The university is home to 15 centres and institutes, which transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, including include the Alberta Gambling Research Institute (AGRI), Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute (ARRTI), Alberta Terrestrial Imaging Centre (ATIC), Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), Canadian Centre for Research in Advanced Fluorine Technologies (C-CRAFT), Centre for the Study of Scholarly Communication (CSSC), Centre for Culture and Community (CCC), Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT), Centre for Socially Responsible Marketing (CSRM), Health Services Quality Institute (HSQI), Institute for Child and Youth Studies (I-CYS), Institute for Space Imaging Science (ISIS), Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy, Small Business Institute (SBI), and Water Institute for Sustainable Environments (WISE).

The university's infrastructure in the sciences and information technology is accessible to undergraduate students and the university is a provincial leader in terms of undergraduate involvement in publishable and translational faculty research and innovation.

Students' Union building at University of Lethbridge

The University of Lethbridge offers over 150 degree programs. It has seven faculties and schools that administer its bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

• Faculty of Arts and Science
• Faculty of Education
• Faculty of Fine Arts
• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Dhillon School of Business
• School of Graduate Studies
• School of Liberal Education

The Faculty of Arts and Science offers 9 pre-professional programs in dentistry, journalism, law, medicine, nutrition and food sciences, optometry, social work, and veterinary medicine, as well as an engineering transfer program, through which students take their first year at the University of Lethbridge before completing their degrees at the University of Alberta or the University of Saskatchewan.

The Agility program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship was launched at the university in 2015. This program encourages transdisciplinary innovation, including social innovation, and will soon include a large makerspace in the new science and academic building to complement existing, specialized makerspaces. The university also partners with tecconnect (Economic Development Lethbridge), RINSA, and other organizations to encourage the production of spinoffs and collaboration with industry.

The University of Lethbridge was ranked second in Canada in the primarily undergraduate university category for Maclean's 2021 university rankings.[22]

The university is represented in U Sports by the Lethbridge Pronghorns, formerly known as the Chinooks. They have men's and women's teams in basketball, ice hockey, judo, rugby union (women only), soccer, swimming, and track and field. They lack teams in volleyball after the men's team was cut in 1988 and the women in the early 1990s. The Pronghorns have won national championships in men's hockey (1994) and women's rugby (2007, 2008, 2009).[24] The university has an intramurals program.

The home gymnasium for the Pronghorns is First Choice Saving Centre, which includes 3 full-size basketball courts, an indoor track field, a rock-climbing wall, and an exercise room. The construction was finished in 2006 and is open to public on a membership basis.

An outdoor stadium is situated in the southern campus and opened in fall of 2009. It is the home for Pronghorns soccer teams and the women's rugby team.

The men's and women's ice hockey teams play at Nicholas Sheran Arena located just west of the university campus.

The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery has one of the largest collections in Canada of 19th and 20th-century Canadian, American and European art, with over 13,000 pieces including drawing, print making, painting, photography, sculpture and installation.

The previous director, Jeffrey Spalding, spearheaded this nationally renowned art collection. Josephine Mills was appointed director/curator of the Art Gallery in 2001 and maintains a strong exhibition, publication, and research program.

The collection quickly outgrew available archiving and storage space, so a new building was completed in 1999 to house large works. Additional renovations were made in 2000 and 2003 to update a study area for the collection and an incoming/outgoing art handling area.

In 2006, a comprehensive registration database was made available online of the University of Lethbridge collections.

• University of Lethbridge Students' Union
• CKXU-FM
• Lethbridge Pronghorns

• Official website

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