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University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1908, it is the oldest university in British Columbia. With an annual research budget of $773 million, UBC funds over 10,000 projects a year.[4]

"UBC" redirects here. For other uses, see UBC (disambiguation).

Motto

Tuum Est (Latin)[1]

"It is up to you"
"It is yours"

1908 (1908)

CA$2.8 billion (2023)[2]

CA$3.4 billion (2023)[3]

Gage Averill (Vancouver) and Rehan Sadiq (Okanagan)

5,696 (Vancouver)
600 (Okanagan)[4]

10,647 (Vancouver)
835 (Okanagan)[4]

66,266[5]

44,882 (Vancouver)
8,990 (Okanagan)[5][note 1]

9,981 (Vancouver)
945 (Okanagan)[5]

Vancouver: 4.020 km2 (993 acres)
Okanagan: 2.086 km2 (515 acres)

English

The Ubyssey (Vancouver) The Phoenix News (Okanagan)

    Blue and gold[7]

Thunderbirds (Vancouver)
Heat (Okanagan)

The Vancouver campus is situated adjacent to the University Endowment Lands located 10 km (6 mi) west of downtown Vancouver.[8] UBC is home to TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, which boasts the world's largest cyclotron. In addition to the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. UBC and the Max Planck Society collectively established the first Max Planck Institute in North America, specializing in quantum materials.[9] One of the largest research libraries in Canada, the UBC Library system has over 10 million volumes among its 21 branches.[10][11] The Okanagan campus, acquired in 2005, is located in Kelowna, British Columbia.


Eight Nobel laureates, 75 Rhodes scholars, 65 Olympic medals won, ten fellows in both American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Royal Society and 273 fellows to the Royal Society of Canada, and 22 3M National Teaching Fellows have been affiliated with UBC.[12] Three Canadian prime ministers have been educated at UBC: John Turner, Kim Campbell (first female prime minister), and Justin Trudeau (current prime minister) .[13]

A water supply obtained entirely from rainwater

An on-site sewage treatment facility that converts all waste created in the building to reusable water and compost

The building's wood comes from trees killed by the pine beetle, thus, little logging was needed for construction

Relies on mainly solar energy for electricity

All areas of the building use natural lighting during the day.

[70]

University rankings

44 (2023)

34 (2024)

40 (2023)

36

36

35 (2023)

2

3

2

3

3

Frank F. Wesbrook (1st President, 1913–1918)

Leonard S. Klinck (2nd President, 1919–1944)

(3rd President, 1944–1962)

Norman A.M. MacKenzie

John B. Macdonald (4th President, 1962–1967)

F. Kenneth Hare (5th President, 1968–1969)

Walter H. Gage (6th President, 1969–1975)

Douglas T. Kenny (7th President, 1975–1983)

K. George Pedersen (8th President, 1983–1985)

Robert H. T. Smith (9th President, 1985)

(10th President, 1985–1997)

David W. Strangway

(11th President, 1997–2006)

Martha C. Piper

(12th President, 2006–2014)

Stephen J. Toope

(13th President, 2014–2015)

Arvind Gupta

(Interim President, 2015–2016)

Martha Piper

(15th President, 2016–2022)

Santa J. Ono

Deborah Buszard (Interim President, 2022–2023)

(17th President, 2023–present)

Benoit-Antoine Bacon

Student life[edit]

Student representation[edit]

The Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia, or AMS, represents UBC undergraduate students within the Vancouver campus. The society's mandate is to improve the quality of educational, social and personal lives of UBC students. The AMS lobbies the UBC administration on behalf of the student body, provides services such as the AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan, supports and administers student clubs and maintains the Student Union Building (aka SUB) and the services it houses. A constituency (undergraduate society) exists within each school and faculty of the university and acts as the subsidiary of the AMS within those schools and faculties.


The Graduate Student Society (GSS), which operates as an independent entity, represents graduate students. A council representing each graduate program and an executive elected by graduate students as a whole governs the GSS.[128]


The university also has elected student representatives sitting on, as voting members, the board of governors (three student representatives) and the academic senate (18 student representatives),[129] as laid out in the British Columbia University Act.[130] Although the university is the official body that elects the students, the university delegates these representative elections to the AMS.


On the Okanagan Campus, the Students' Union Okanagan, or UBCSUO, is the elected representation of the student body. Composed of a board of directors and executive team, the UBCSUO lobbies the administration and provincial government on behalf of the student body, manages the student health and dental plan, as well as hosts social programming throughout the year. The Student Union Offices are located within the University Centre Building. In the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the SUO initiated the Emergency Bursary Program which supported UBC students with nearly $1,000,000 in emergency funding.[131]

Student demographics[edit]

In the 2020–21 academic year, females made up 57 per cent of UBC Vancouver's student body and 53 per cent of UBC Okanagan's student body.[132]

Justin Trudeau PC MP, BEd. 1998, Canada's 23rd and current prime minister

Justin Trudeau PC MP, BEd. 1998, Canada's 23rd and current prime minister

Kim Campbell PC CC OBC KC, BA 1969, LLB 1986, Canada's 19th Prime Minister and the first woman to serve in the office

Kim Campbell PC CC OBC KC, BA 1969, LLB 1986, Canada's 19th Prime Minister and the first woman to serve in the office

John Turner PC CC QC, BA 1949, Canada's 17th Prime Minister

John Turner PC CC QC, BA 1949, Canada's 17th Prime Minister

Robert Mundell CC, BA 1953, Nobel Laureate in Economics. Involved in the creation of the Euro

Robert Mundell CC, BA 1953, Nobel Laureate in Economics. Involved in the creation of the Euro

Bertram Brockhouse CC FRSC FRS, BA 1947, Nobel Laureate in Physics

Bertram Brockhouse CC FRSC FRS, BA 1947, Nobel Laureate in Physics

William Gibson, BA 1977, author of Neuromancer, important figure in the Cyberpunk literary movement

William Gibson, BA 1977, author of Neuromancer, important figure in the Cyberpunk literary movement

Jeff Wall OC FRSC, MA 1970, prominent Canadian artist and most prominent figure of the Vancouver School

Jeff Wall OC FRSC, MA 1970, prominent Canadian artist and most prominent figure of the Vancouver School

David Suzuki CC OBC, professor emeritus of genetics. Influential academic, broadcaster and environmentalist.

David Suzuki CC OBC, professor emeritus of genetics. Influential academic, broadcaster and environmentalist.

Bjarni Tryggvason B.ASc 1972, Icelandic-Canadian astronaut and academic who participated in NASA mission STS-85.

Bjarni Tryggvason B.ASc 1972, Icelandic-Canadian astronaut and academic who participated in NASA mission STS-85.

Throughout UBC's history, faculty, alumni and former students have played prominent roles in many different fields. Many UBC alumni and faculty have gone on to win awards including eight Nobel Prizes and 74 Rhodes Scholarships.[8][189]


Former alumni have won Nobel Prizes: Robert Mundell (Economic Sciences) who graduated from the UBC Department of Economics and Bertram Brockhouse (Physics).[190][191] Five former faculty members of the UBC have also received a Nobel Prize: Michael Smith (Chemistry), Har Gobind Khorana (Physiology or Medicine), Daniel Kahneman (Economics), Hans G. Dehmelt (Physics) and Carl Wieman (Physics).[192][193][194][195]


Many former students have gained local and national prominence in government. Four Canadian prime ministers have attended UBC: Joe Clark, John Turner, Kim Campbell and Justin Trudeau.[196][197] Trudeau completed his BEd. at UBC in 1998,[198] and Clark briefly attended UBC law.[199] George Stanley, the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick and creator of the Canadian flag had also served as faculty.[200] Alumni Mike Harcourt, Glen Clark and Ujjal Dosanjh have been premiers of British Columbia:,[201][202][203] People of UBC Law have also served on the Supreme Court of Canada: former faculty member Beverley McLachlin and alumnus Frank Iacobucci.[204][205]


Other examples include:


UBC alumni have also held important positions in the academia. Notable examples are:

CITR-FM

UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research

UBC Library

UBC Okanagan

List of Canadian universities by endowment

Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act (British Columbia)

William A. Bruneau, A Matter of Identities: A History of the UBC Faculty Association, 1920–1990. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Faculty Association, 1990.

Bruneau, William A. (1994). "Toward a New Collective Biography: The University of British Columbia Professoriate, 1915–1945". Canadian Journal of Education. 19 (1): 65–79. :10.2307/1495307. JSTOR 1495307. S2CID 194722300.

doi

Eric Damer and Herbert Rosengarten. UBC: The First 100 Years. Vancouver: Friesens, 2009.

Michiel Horn."Under the Gaze of George Vancouver: The University of British Columbia and the Provincial Government, 1913–1939." BC Studies 83 (Autumn 1989).

William C. Gibson Wesbrook & His University (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press)

Sheldon Goldfarb The Hundred-Year Trek: A History of Student Life at UBC. Victoria: Heritage House, 2017.

H. T. Logan, Tuum Est: A History of the University of British Columbia. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1958.

Wayne Skene. "UBC: a Portrait." Vancouver: Tribute Books, 2003.

Lee Stewart. "It's Up to You": Women at UBC in the Early Years. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1990.

George Woodcock & Tim Fitzharris. The University of British Columbia – A Souvenir. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1986).

Official website

UBC-Point Grey travel guide from Wikivoyage

– A visual record of UBC's growth and development, from UBC Library Digital Collections

UBC Photograph Collection