Government of Alberta invests in much-needed student spaces at UCalgary

On Thursday, Marlin Schmidt, pictured above, minister of Advanced Education, announced further funding to create renewed student spaces for the faculties of Nursing and Social Work and to expand space for student-centric services and increase student study and classroom spaces within the heart of main campus.

“We welcome the provincial government's commitment to the university and thank them for providing additional funding to the post-secondary system,” says President and Vice-Chancellor Elizabeth Cannon. “The MacKimmie Complex redevelopment will play an integral role in helping provide quality teaching, learning and research space for our students, and will enable us to create a hub for entrepreneurial thinking serving the entire University of Calgary community in the heart of campus. The project also directly supports the University of Calgary’s Institutional Sustainability Strategy and aligns with our goal to be a Calgary-based global centre for discovery, creativity and innovation.”

By redeveloping the complex, the University of Calgary expects to accommodate the planned growth for the faculties of Social Work and Nursing by modernizing underutilized or currently closed spaces and consolidating programming within the buildings. Once completed, the MacKimmie Complex will provide a re-energized central hub of improved and new classrooms, centralized undergraduate and graduate student services, renewed and new student study space, and much-needed academic space.

“I’m excited about the revitalization of the MacKimmie Complex,” says Stephan Guscott, Students’ Union president. “It will increase the amount of space on campus where students can collaborate, study and build community, and all of this will help to ensure students have great experiences at the university.”

The MacKimmie Tower is scheduled to close in September, 2017 for construction preparation.