Mount Royal College

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Mount Royal College
Motto:	Life Long Learning
Established:	1910
Type:	Public degree-granting community college
Endowment:	$49M[1]
President:	Dave Marshall
Staff:	1,956[2]
Undergraduates:	available
Postgraduates:	not available
Location:	Calgary,  Alberta,  Canada
Campus:	Urban
Colours:	Blue, White.
Mascot:	Cougar
Affiliations:	ACCC, CCAA, CCAA, AACTI,
Website:	Mount Royal College

Mount Royal College is an undergraduate college located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The school facilitates approximately 13,000 students and offers more than 60 degree, diploma, university transfer and certificate programs in areas such as arts, business, communications, health and community studies, and science and technology.

Contents 1 History 2 Academics 2.1 Overview 2.2 List of Faculties, Schools & Departments 3 Transportation Problem 3.1 Development 3.2 Progress 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

On 16 December 1910 Mount Royal College, named after a near by prestigious housing development, was granted a charter. A Methodist minister by the name of George William Kerby became the first principal. On September the 8th of the following year Mount Royal opened its doors to 189 new students, offering primary and secondary schooling in varying fields of study. In 1925 this relatively new institution became a secondary school of the United Church of Canada. ^[3]

In 1931 Mount Royal changed its affiliation to the University of Alberta, becoming a Junior College. In conjunction with this move Mount Royal beings offering first-year university transfer courses, and discontinues its primary school. ^[4]

Nineteen Forty-Two George W. Kerby retires at the age of 82 and Rev. Dr. John Garden succeeds him, Dr. Kerby passes away two years later. Principal Garden oversees the filling of the College with Veterans of the Second World War, who due to an amendment to the Junior college charter could begin enrolling in engineering courses. ^[5]

To honour Dr. Kerby, a Memorial Building was built in his name in 1949, the same year the G.D. Stanley gym was completed. The Mount Royal Conservatory senior symphony was disbanded to found the new Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra at this time as well. ^[6]

In 1956 and 1960 respectively, the Business Administration Department and The Reflector, the independent newspaper of Mount Royal's student body, were established. The Business Administration Department would go on to become the highly respected Bisset School of Business, and The Reflector continues on today. ^{[7] [8]}

When enrolment reached capacity in 1964, the campaign for a new Lincoln Park campus began. The College competed with the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede for the land, the site of an abandoned Second World War airbase on what was the southwest outskirts of the City of Calgary. The need to educate the influx of baby boomers lead to Mount Royal becoming a public institution of the Province of Alberta under the College Act. In the late nineteen sixties Mount Royal managed to win the bid for Lincoln Park, and the Main campus was relocated to the new buildings there in 1972. ^[9]

In 2002 a $5 million donation establishes the Bissett School of Business in honour of David and Leslie Bissett. And in 2006 David Bissett and his wife Leslie, donate an additional $7 million to Mount Royal’s Bissett School of Business. Their combined gifts equal an unprecedented $12 million, the largest individual gift to a Canadian college or technical institute. ^[10]

In 2007 Mount Royal launches its first independent baccalaureate degree — the Bachelor of Nursing and Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein begins his duties as the first endowed chair in the Centre for Communication Studies. ^[11]

[edit] Academics

[edit] Overview

MRC is in the process of becoming a University, and has been given the right to grant Bachelor Degrees in certain subjects by the Alberta government^[12]. One such degree, Nursing saw 1,000 qualified students apply for 280 places a year. As of Fall 2008 Mount Royal will be phasing out the Bachelor of Arts University Transfer Program in favor of encouraging students to finish their degree in the new MRC Bachelor of Arts program.

[edit] List of Faculties, Schools & Departments

• Faculty of Arts
• Bisset School of Business
• Centre for Communication Studies
• The Mount Royal Conservatory
• Faculty of Continuing Education & Extension
• Faculty of Health and Community Studies
• Institute for Applied Scientific Research
• Institute for Nonprofit Studies
• Integrative Health Institute at Mount Royal
• International Education/Languages Institute
• Aboriginal Education Program
• Faculty of Science & Technology
• Faculty of Teaching and Learning^[13]

[edit] Transportation Problem

One of the problems Mount Royal College faces is its location within the city. Most of the classes at Mount Royal are held at the Lincoln Park Campus and the college is the only Post-Secondary Institution in Calgary that does not have access to the C-Train. The college lacks any convenient public transportation service from the downtown core. Students have complained that the two buses that do run from downtown provide inadequate service. Because of this, those living in the northeast and southeast feel cut off. During the early stages of the West LRT route, debate centered on running the LRT line to the college. However due to costs and fewer projected users the plan was scrubbed with a proposal for future BRT routes or an LRT spur line raised as a possibility.

The City of Calgary has been reluctant to provide more busing to the college area stating that there is very little demand for public transportation. At the time of the Students' Association of Mount Royal College referendum where students approved the U-Pass, Calgary Transit made it clear that there would be no new service to the college. But as of the 2006-07 school year, Calgary Transit has introduced expanded bus service, including two express routes, namely the 181^[14] and 182^[15] which run only 3 times a day in each direction.

[edit] Development

The Students' Association of Mount Royal College plans to expand the student centre at the Lincoln Park Campus. A large library building has been identified as a necessary addition for the college as it transitions to a university. For the past few years the college has been petitioning the city for better transportation to Lincoln Park, which is finally being addressed.

[edit] Progress

Mount Royal is well underway with an amendment to the Alberta's Post-Secondary Learning Act, now allowing Mount Royal to adopt University-style governance^[16]. This means Mount Royal can now split academic and operational decision-making into separate bodies, a key condition for membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada^[17]. Another step forward was taken when the Campus Alberta Quality Council conducted an on-site review of the college, with their report giving Mount Royal the green light to take the next step.^[18]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mount Royal College
• Mount Royal's Independent Student Newspaper
• CMRC Radio

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