October 23, 2023

Collège Boréal has opened a new campus in Toronto’s Distillery Historic District. The campus is housed in a renovated heritage building and features modern classrooms, collaborative spaces, and an events area. Thanks to a $500K gift from Desjardins Goodspark Fund, the facility also includes a dedicated hub for incubating entrepreneurial talent, dubbed the “Espace d’innovation, de recherche et d’incubation.” “It is with great pride and gratitude that we inaugurate this beautiful campus today,” said Gilles Marchildon, Director of Boréal’s Toronto campus. “Thanks in part to our expanded range of post-secondary programs, our business incubator, and our extensive employment, settlement, and socio-economic integration services, particularly for newcomers to Canada, Collège Boréal is reaffirming its major contribution to Toronto’s Francophone vitality.”

New Brunswick Community College is celebrating the success of its campaign, which has officially raised $21.8M and surpassed its original $16M goal set in June 2022. The campaign focused on raising funds to modernize NBCC’s learning environments and reduce barriers to postsecondary education for New Brunswickers. Overall, more than 700 individuals and organizations contributed to the campaign. NBCC has already used some of this funding to update technology and network capacity on campus, launch its Mobile Training Centre, develop its Wesley Armour School of Business, and provide additional supports and bursaries for its students.

NOSM University has received a $1.3M gift from the Northeastern Ontario Health Education Advancement Foundation (NOHEAF), which was matched by the FDC Foundation to create a total endowment of $2.6M. These funds will be used to establish two new awards that support first-year medical students: the NOHEAF Bursary, which provides awards of between $5K and $10K to students from Northeastern Ontario; and the Dr William McMullen Award, which awards $1K to a student from Killarney or Manitoulin Island. “NOHEAF’s ongoing support will leave a lasting impact on the health-care system in the North,” said NOSM U President Dr Sarita Verma.

Portage College has announced several changes, updates, and additions to its Environmental Sciences programming. The college has renamed its Natural Resource Technology program the Environmental Technologist Diploma (ETD) and made several alterations to the program, including changes to class hours and the inclusion of training that enables students to achieve a drone pilot’s licence. ETD has received renewed accreditation from the North American Wildlife Technician Association, which ensures that its graduates are prepared for careers in wildlife and fisheries science and management. Portage and the Alberta Mycological Society have also partnered to install a fungarium”which will be available to researchers and students”at the Lac La Biche Campus.

Bishop’s University has announced that it will offer a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Clinical Psychology Profile starting in Fall 2024 through a collaboration with the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. The PsyD program is a UQAC program offered by extension at Bishop’s. It emphasizes professional clinical psychology and will train students to conduct psychological assessments and perform psychological interventions. The program is designed specifically for bilingual students and aims to increase the number of providers who are able to offer bilingual mental health services in the region. The program is accredited by the Ordre des psychologues du Québec (OPQ) and graduates are eligible for OPQ membership clinical psychologist employment opportunities.

Western University recently received a $1.5M donation from alumnus Tim Duncanson to create a chair in ethics and technology. Through Western’s matching chairs program, the university has provided an additional $1.5M to create a $3M total endowment, which will fund the position in perpetuity. The chair–a joint appointment between the department of computer science and department of philosophy–will concentrate on exploring the moral and philosophical implications of new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). “Having someone with deep knowledge and understanding of both the technical and ethical aspects of AI opens up a whole new level of engagement around some of the biggest questions of our time,” said Western Faculty of Science Acting Dean Jeffrey Hutter.

McGill University has received a rare collection of materials related to the Enlightenment period philosopher Voltaire as an estate gift from Professor Peter Lambert-David Southam. The gift includes historical handwritten documents, some of which were written by Voltaire himself and many of which have not been published. Documents include letters, poems, essays, and memoirs. “The collection adds immense depth and richness to McGill’s already formidable holdings on the Enlightenment Period and Voltaire, now making McGill’s holdings one of the most important Voltaire repositories of books and manuscripts in North America,” said McGill University Librarian Ann Marie Holland.

Burman University has announced that its School of Business will offer two new programs: a Business Management Diploma and a Certificate in Business Administration. The Business Management Diploma is a two-year program that provides students with hands-on experiences through internships and business community connections. The Certificate in Business Administration takes one year to complete and teaches students about strategic planning, financial analysis, and leadership techniques, among other topics. Students can use the Certificate program as a stepping stone toward the Diploma in Business Management and BurmanU’s bachelor’s degrees in business.

An instructor at the Ontario Police College has been charged after a gun was discharged during a training exercise last week. According to the , Elgin Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a report of negligent discharge of a firearm that had occurred at OPC. The police indicated that nobody was injured during the incident but charged an instructor with careless use of a firearm. The instructor is scheduled to appear in court in November in relation to the charge. The OPP and Chief Firearms Office for Ontario are reportedly continuing to investigate the incident.

North West College will provide comprehensive tutoring and mental health services for students, thanks to a funding boost from Cenovus Energy. The investment will expand North West’s tutoring services, providing students with free academic support in a variety of subjects. It will also improve mental health supports, with services for substance abuse and harm reduction, community development, and culture. The funding will also further career development for students through workshops that focus on resume building, interview skills, and job search strategies. “We are excited to leverage this funding to provide invaluable support to our students, helping them achieve their academic and career goals,” said North West President Dr Eli Ahlquist. Cenovus will contribute $120K for these services over the next three years.