Sod Turning Launches Work on Guelph-Humber Building

By Lori Bona Hunt

Digging in at the ceremonial sod turning for the University of Guelph-Humber building are, from left, U of G students Mike Stephenson and Natalie Ross; Dianne Cunningham, minister of training, colleges and universities; students Kendra Holliday, Kathleen Duncan, Vance Mcpherson and David Hornsby; and president Mordechai Rozanski.
PHOTO BY DAVID LUI, HUMBER COLLEGE AV GRAPHICS

Ground has officially been broken for the new $45- million University of Guelph-Humber building.

A symbolic sod-turning ceremony was held Nov. 29 at Humber College's northwest Toronto campus, attended by Dianne Cunningham, minister of training, colleges and universities; president Mordechai Rozanski; Humber College president Robert Gordon; and student leaders and officials from both institutions. The Ontario government committed close to $29 million from the SuperBuild fund for the four-storey building, scheduled to open at Humber in fall 2003.

Guelph-Humber will be the first institution in Ontario to offer both an honours university degree and a college diploma to its graduates in just four years of study.

"I know that I am the envy of all the provinces - you cannot imagine how proud I am to be here today," Cunningham said, adding that such a university-college partnership has been needed for decades.

She congratulated U of G and Humber on their "great spirit of collaboration" and said the project is also "about staying ahead of everyone else and about innovation" because it offers students a wider range of choices in high-quality post-secondary education.

"We have to focus on what the students need, what the community needs and where the jobs are," Cunningham said. "These students will hit the pavement running and be out ahead of many students in North America. . . . It's a great time to be a student in Ontario."

Guelph-Humber will accept 200 students next fall into three programs: business, computing and media studies. Additional program offerings - including early childhood services, gerontology, family and community social services, and justice studies and police foundations - will be added in 2003. By 2005, the university will accommodate about 2,000 students.
Tuition will be comparable with that of other Ontario university programs in the Toronto area, and courses will be taught by faculty from both Guelph and Humber.

"Today's groundbreaking ceremony is an important milestone in the ambitious goal we set for ourselves more than two years ago," said Rozanski. "Our goal was to provide an innovative third path to post-secondary education in Toronto, one that faithfully combined the individual strengths and traditions of the University of Guelph and Humber College into a seamless curriculum."

Guelph-Humber delivers the best of both educational sectors, he said. "At its core, Guelph-Humber is all about students, focused on expanding student accessibility and opportunity."

Gordon agreed, adding: "We have developed a curriculum that meets the emerging needs of employers for strategic skills and will enable students to pursue post-graduate studies if they choose to continue their education."

The new building will have specialized laboratories and classrooms, an Internet café, a learning commons and an atrium for major events.