Field stations and other facilities

The Rothney Astrophysical Observatory is one of the principal research facilities within the University of Calgary’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. As one of Canada’s best-equipped astronomical teaching facilities, the RAO provides university students with the opportunity to use research-grade telescopes, an integral part of the undergraduate astronomy curriculum. It also serves the community as a resource to science educators and as a catalyst for science education in Alberta. More than 8,000 members of the general public connect with the universe each year through public events and open houses.

W.A. Ranches is a 19,000-acre cattle ranch operation northeast of Cochrane, Alberta that was donated to the University of Calgary in 2018. The ranch will become a world-class teaching, learning and research facility, as well as a real-life training facility for veterinary medicine students.

The University of Calgary operates two world-class ecological research stations in Kananaskis Country, in the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. The Barrier Lake Station, built in 1967, is located in the Kananakis Valley, 80 kilometres west of Calgary. The R.B. Miller Station, founded in 1950, is located in the Sheep River Provincial Park, 110 kilometres southwest of Calgary. Dozens of research programs conducted there address everything from the lifecycle of bark beetles, animal nutrition, plant reproduction and pollinator behaviour to climate warming, forest evolution, and stressors on mountain lakes. The more remote R.B. Miller Field Station is favoured by animal behaviour researchers for its isolated location and proximity to large animal populations. Many long-term studies have been conducted there over decades on Columbian ground squirrels, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, pikas, trout, songbirds and grouse.

UCalgary's Faculty of Social Work is the largest school of social work in Canada, offering flexible graduate and undergraduate education to students across Alberta through three campus locations. In addition to the Calgary site on the university's main campus, social work programming is offered through two additional regional sites in Alberta: one in Central and Northern Alberta (based in Edmonton) and the other in Southern Alberta (based in Lethbridge).

The Cumming School of Medicine and Alberta Health Services jointly operate three teaching centres across Calgary. The centres are staffed by fully trained family doctors and are a teaching venue for family medicine residents (recently graduated physicians).The teaching centres offer Calgarians access to family doctors who provide as up-to-date and comprehensive primary care. They effectively provide hands-on learning experiences for our future doctors while helping to serve Albertans with their primary healthcare needs.