Taylor-made excellence

Don Taylor and his family have donated more than $100 million to the University of Calgary over the past 40 years, elevating research, teaching and learning, and student experience across faculties.

In honour of his 90th birthday, we took a tour of some of the exceptional spaces and initiatives that make UCalgary a centre of excellence — each one made possible with the Taylor Family's generous support.

The Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning is a building and a community, both dedicated to improving post-secondary education. Since 2016, this first-of-its-kind establishment has welcomed professors, researchers and students from across faculties and disciplines to learn from one another and develop new skills, explore and leverage technology to make learning more engaging and accessible, and conduct research to improve student education.

The groundbreaking biomechanics research of Professor Emeritus Dr. Benno Nigg, PhD — and his ambition to make UCalgary a global leader in sport science — inspired Don Taylor to invest in UCalgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology. In 1997, Taylor established the Benno Nigg Chair in Biomechanics, Mobility and Longevity, which gave the professor resources to attract the best of the best to Calgary and help grow the university’s now world-renowned Human Performance Lab into a premier multidisciplinary research centre.

With the support of the Taylor-funded Engineered Air Chair in Cancer Research, the Cancer Translational Research Core (CTRC) moves research into the real world to improve cancer-patient care. Research from chair-holder Dr. Paola Neri, MD, PhD, and her CTRC colleagues have resulted in two important clinical tests: one that predicts the risk of recurrence in patients in early stage breast cancer, and another that guides the selection of combination therapies, minimizing the use of potentially ineffective therapeutics and potentially harmful side-effects.

The Taylor Family Kinesiology Building — currently under construction on main campus — will take UCalgary from one of the top sport-science schools in North America to an international leader, enabling revolutionary advancements in exercise physiology, neuroscience, nutrition and more. The Taylor Family’s gift to the project will also revitalize existing spaces to improve labs and offices, enabling growth to undergraduate enrolment and drawing top scholars to the city — further strengthening excellence in both teaching and research.

In 2011, the most technologically advanced library in North America opened its doors in the heart of UCalgary’s main campus. The dazzling Taylor Family Digital Library is a hub for learning and creativity, blending study spaces, digital media labs, student services, archives, rare collections, art, and more — connecting students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader community to knowledge and each other. 

Having experienced dementia in their family, the Taylors established the Katthy Taylor Chair in Vascular Dementia in 2012, to advance research into a disease for which there is no cure and improve treatment for those affected. Which is exactly what chair-holder Dr. Eric Smith, MD, and the Vascular Cognitive Impairment Research Group are doing — driving discovery to improve diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the conditions that cause dementia and other vascular cognitive impairments.