UofC " This Is Now

The University of Calgary is a comprehensive research university that, in its short 46-year history, has grown to take its place among the finest institutions in Canada. Combining the best of long-established university traditions with the City of Calgary’s vibrant energy and diversity, the university aims to provide a research and scholarly foundation for students eager to acquire the knowledge and skills essential for a successful personal and professional life.

Our 213-hectare campus provides a beautiful and dynamic setting for our scholars and students. The U of C has 14 faculties (offering more than 100 academic programs) and more than 80 research institutes and centres. The 14 faculties are: Arts; Education; Environmental Design; Graduate Studies; Haskayne School of Business; Kinesiology; Law; Medicine; Nursing (Calgary), Nursing (Qatar); Schulich School of Engineering; Science; Social Work; and Veterinary Medicine. Our over 1,800 academic staff are actively engaged in research and scholarship. More than 31,000 students, including over 1,500 international students from 100 countries, are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. The U of C has more than 150,000 alumni living in 147 countries.

As one of Canada’s top seven research universities and a member of the 13 most research intensive universities in Canada (the G-13), innovation, discovery and learning are at the heart of all that we do. Our relentless pursuit of quality in our teaching and research programs is guided by our mission to contribute to the well-being of the people of Alberta, Canada and the world. Thanks to the sustained efforts of U of C faculty, students, postdoctoral researchers and staff, the U of C's research funding totals $262 million. Research brings significant benefits provincially, nationally and internationally, and is the foundation of Alberta’s economic and social vitality. Interdisciplinary research is core to the university’s teaching and research mandate.

The university offers a high quality undergraduate education that is characterized by the synthesis of research, teaching and learning. We mean to enhance the undergraduate learners’ experience by using a student-centred focus that maximizes opportunities to provide a distinctive learning experience that fully integrates the features of a research university. The university is broadening opportunities for students to take inquiry-based courses that lead to greater critical thinking skills, increased exposure to undergraduate research and greater access to leading edge scholars. International study, volunteer, work, and research programs give graduates global context while promoting diversity and innovation in teaching and research.

The U of C is the first university in Canada to offer a four-year graduation guarantee to students embarking upon four-year undergraduate degree programs in the faculties of Arts and Science. The guarantee program offers incoming students an agreement that ensures they will be able to graduate within four years, or the university will pay the tuition for any extra courses needed to finish.

Students at the University of Calgary are officially recognized for their involvement in campus activities outside of the classroom. The co-curricular record is an initiative that encourages and fosters a campus culture of volunteerism and community involvement amongst its students.

The University of Calgary stands out among Canadian universities in how it actively engages students in leadership development in all areas – the arts, athletics, science, medicine, engineering, volunteerism and business. It is also a leader in sustainability – living a set of values embraced by the campus through teaching, leadership, and campus operations.

Our efforts are to raise our global profile, enhance the quality of our undergraduate and graduate programs, promote innovation and excellence in scholarly activity and provide significant returns and tangible benefits to our community and economy.

The MacEwan Student Centre is a hub of activity at the university. There is also a museum and art gallery, four performance theatres, two childcare centres and residences for single students and students with families.

The U of C is pursuing its largest capital expansion ever to add capacity for more students and a host of new teaching and learning spaces. These major developments, including the Taylor Family Digital Library, Downtown Campus, Energy, Environment and Experiential Learning building, and a new residence.

The Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine are located on the south campus adjacent to the Foothills Hospital. Satellite institutes of the university include, the Kananaskis Biogeoscience Institute, located a short drive from the city on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, located in the foothills south of the city and a campus in Doha, Qatar, offering internationally accredited nursing degrees to students in the Middle East. Development of the university’s west campus is currently taking place, and is the site of the new Alberta Children’s Hospital.

The University of Calgary features some of the finest athletic facilities in the country, The Olympic Oval is an international speedskating facility and houses the Canadian Sport Institute, a high-performance training centre and two Olympic-sized rinks where the reigning women’s gold medal hockey team trains. There are also tennis courts, a triple gymnasium, a yoga studio, an Olympic-size swimming pool, weight rooms, jogging tracks, an Outdoor Centre offering equipment rentals, courses and instruction, and a huge indoor climbing wall. Nearby is the home of U of C Dinos football team, McMahon Stadium.

The University of Calgary has two governing bodies:

• The Board of Governors is the corporate body charged with the management and control of the University, its property, revenue, business and affairs.
• The General Faculties Council (GFC) is responsible for the academic affairs of the University, subject to the authority of the Board of Governors.

Each Faculty has a Faculty Council empowered to determine the Faculty's programs of study, conduct examinations, provide for the admission of students, determine conditions for withdrawal, and to authorize the granting of degrees, subject to conditions imposed by the General Faculties Council.

The Students' Union and the Graduate Students' Association provide for the administration of the affairs of students and the promotion of their general welfare.

The University of Calgary combines the best of long-established University traditions with Calgary's frontier spirit of originality and innovation.

Our logo was designed to reflect that spirit. The logo has two components: the Coat of Arms (including the escroll with our motto) and the wordmark. The coat of arms represents and respects our historical roots while the more contemporary wordmark reflects our focus on the future and leading edge.

The Coat of Arms consists of a shield, an escroll containing the motto and the wordmark in either a horizontal (with the wordmark to the right of the crest) or vertical (with the wordmark below the crest) format.

The shield consists of two parts, the upper part (the chief) separated from the lower (the base) by an arched line symbolizing the Chinook arch. The ground colour of the chief is scarlet, commemorating the North West Mounted Police under whose influence Western Canada was settled. Upon this colour is a pair of open books bound in gold. Between the books is a white rose, symbolic of Alberta. The ground colour of the base is gold, indicative of golden sunshine or golden grain. Upon this is a black bull's head with red horns and crossed staves bearing red flags, reminiscent of the family crest of Lt. Col. J.F. Macleod, the NWMP officer who founded Fort Calgary.

Below the shield, printed on an escroll, is the university's motto, "Mo shuile togam suas" (translated as "I will lift up mine eyes"), rendered in Gaelic uncial letters. The scroll is white; the draped ends are red. They were granted to U of C in 1966 by Lord Lyon King of Arms at Edinburgh.

The university has three official colours that appear in the Coat of Arms:

Red PMS 485; Gold PMS 116 and Black.

The University has an official tartan that incorporates the U of C's official colours of red, black and gold in its design. It was designed by Jim Odell, a U of C Education and Fine Arts graduate and accredited in a ceremony presided over by Duncan Paisley of Westerlea, President of the Scottish Tartans Society and director of the Register of All Publicly Known Tartans.

Certain formal occasions involve the use of special regalia, the significance of which is now symbolic but most of which has practical origins. In early times the mace was used first as a weapon to protect and second as a symbol of authority.

The mace carried into Convocation is a symbol of the authority of the Chancellor. It represents the Crown and the authority vested in the Chancellor to grant degrees. It is always carried in front of the Chancellor at Convocation. One interesting tradition in the use of maces is that if the real authority (the Queen) was present in person, the mace would be inverted.