Laurentian University (French: Université Laurentienne), which was incorporated on March 28, 1960, is a mid-sized bilingual university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

While primarily focusing on undergraduate programming, Laurentian also houses the east campus of Canada's newest medical school—the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, which opened in 2005. Its school of Graduate Studies offers a number of graduate-level degrees. Laurentian is the largest bilingual provider of distance education in Canada.


Overview

The university's campus is located on the south side of Ramsey Lake, just south of Greater Sudbury's downtown core in the Bell Grove neighbourhood. The city's Idylwylde golf course borders on the university campus to the west and the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area borders on the campus to the south. The Lake Laurentian Conservation Area contains a network of trails used for running, mountain biking and nordic skiing.

The university has a federated school structure, similar to that of the University of Toronto. The school also has two separate student unions (in addition to the part-time and graduate student associations). Students choose a student association when they register for their courses; the Francophone Students Association (AEF) is for francophones, while the Students General Association (SGA) is for both anglophones and francophones.

History

Laurentian's historical roots lie in the Roman Catholic church. The Collège du Sacré-Coeur was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1913. According to a plaque at the entrance to the R. D. Parker Building, the school began granting degrees in 1957 as the University of Sudbury.

A university federation combining representatives from the Roman Catholic, United, and Anglican churches was incorporated as a "non-denominational, bilingual institution of higher learning" in 1960.[6] The new Laurentian University held classes in the University of Sudbury facility, as well as in a variety of locations in the city, including the Sudbury Steelworkers Hall, until its current campus was opened in 1964.

The federated colleges included Huntington College (United Church), University of Sudbury College (Roman Catholic, descended from the Collège du Sacré-Coeur), and Thorneloe College (Anglican) which joined in 1963. Collège universitaire de Hearst in Hearst is the only remaining affiliated college while both Nipissing University College in North Bay and Algoma University College in Sault Ste. Marie were previously affiliated with Laurentian.[6] Nipissing and Algoma were established as independent universities in 1992 and in 2008 respectively.

Laurentian opened a campus in Barrie, Ontario in 2001 in partnership with Georgian College. In 2016, the university announced that it would shut down operations in Barrie by May 2019.

In recent years, the university has expanded its professional programs, launching the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in 2005 and receiving approval to launch the Northern Ontario School of Architecture in 2011.

Partnership

Northern Ontario School of Medicine

Located in a city where the major industry is mining, Laurentian has strong ties with the mining industry, and is one of the few schools in Canada offering mining engineering. The Willett Green Miller Centre, a provincial building located on campus, houses the Ontario Geological Survey, the Ontario Geoscience Laboratories, the J.B. Gammon Mines Library, and the Mining and Minerals Division of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. It also houses the Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO), a not-for-profit applied research and technical service company formed through collaboration between Laurentian University and the private and public sectors, and the Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC), a semi-autonomous research and teaching centre whose focus is field-based, collaborative research on mineral deposits and their environments.

The university is also a partner in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), the world's deepest underground laboratory. The observatory studies the composition of the sun and the origins of the universe.

In 2004, the university, along with Lakehead University, formed the Northern Ontario Medical School.

In addition, Laurentian University has a partnership with St. Lawrence College Tri-campus for its Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Bachelor of Business Administration.

The university is a member of L'Association des universités de la francophonie canadienne, a network of academic institutions of the Canadian Francophonie.

Administration

The Board of Governors heads the university with the president. Directly to the left and right of the president is the assistant to the president, and the Laurentian University senate. Judith Woodsworth was the president of Laurentian University until 2002, at which time Dominic Giroux became president until she left the university to become President and Vice-Chancellor of Concordia University, Montreal.

Aline Chrétien, the wife of former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, was named the university's first chancellor on September 22, 2010. She was succeeded by Steve Paikin on October 26, 2013.

Laurentian University's affiliate universities each have a chancellor. The chancellor is largely a ceremonial role, and has little participation in the day-to-day operations of the university. The chancellor for the affiliated University of Sudbury is Sudbury lawyer André Lacroix ; the chancellor for the affiliated Thorneloe University is Anne Germond; the first chancellor of the affiliated Huntington University is Edward (Ted) Conroy, another Sudbury lawyer. University administration is the responsibility of the Board of Governors, headed by the chairperson of the Board of Governors. As of 2016 this post is held by Jennifer Witty.