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Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is a publicly funded English-language college and member of Polytechnics Canada located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The college serves the National Capital Region and the outlying areas of Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, and Upstate New York. The college has three campuses; a primary campus located in Ottawa, Ontario, and secondary campuses located in Perth, Ontario, and Pembroke, Ontario. The enabling legislation is the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act.
History
The college was established during the formation of Ontario’s college system in 1967. Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology were established on May 21, 1965 when the Ontario system of public colleges was created. The founding institutions were the Eastern Ontario Institute of Technology (established in 1957) and the Ontario Vocational Centre Ottawa (established in 1965 at the Woodroffe Campus and known as OVC). The original 8 acres site on Woodroffe Avenue was donated to the city by Mr and Mrs Frank Ryan.
The Ottawa architecture firm of Burgess, McLean & MacPhadyen designed the midcentury academic complex with open-ended blocks alternatively faced with long glass expanses in a semi-gambrel formation that make up the curtain walls and precast aggregate panels. The corporate campus or modernist academic acropolis spread across North America in the early 1960s. The entrance is via a deeply recessed terrace that's overhung with small white ceramic tiles and vintage can lights. The long walls are bumped out to float over the foundation. The foundation plantings keep the blocks from appearing stark.
The first Principal of the Ontario Vocational Centre (OVC) was Kenneth G. Shoultz. Principal Shoultz took on the leadership of OVC in 1965 after working as a technical studies teacher and then as an inspector for the Ontario Department of Education. K.G. Shoultz continued on as the first Dean of the Technical Centre after OVC was amalgamated with Algonquin College in 1967.
Algonquin College is named after the Algonquin First Nations Peoples who were the original inhabitors of the area.
In 1964, the Rideau Campus was established. “Satellite” campuses in Pembroke, Hawkesbury, Perth, Carleton Place and Renfrew were established in the late 1960s. The Vanier School of Nursing became a part of the Woodroffe Campus when nursing programs began to be offered at the college. In 1973, the School of Prescott-Russell joined the Algonquin family and the Colonel By Campus was created through the acquisition of St. Patrick’s College. With the creation of La Cité Collégiale, 1990 marked the beginning of Algonquin as an English college. The Hawkesbury campus was transferred to La Cité Collégiale, and the Renfrew, Colonel By, and Carleton Place campuses were progressively closed. The latest closure was in August 2002, when the Rideau Campus closed and its programs were moved to the Advanced Technology Centre on the Woodroffe Campus.
Bachelor's degrees in Applied Studies were introduced. Despite having three degree programs and offering three additional degrees through affiliations with the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, the college has not been designated an Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.
Woodroffe Campus expansion
Algonquin College announced in 2016 that it is set to launch a $44.9-million building renovation project that is set to be complete by spring of 2018. This renovation is taking place in the college's original 'C' building which houses most of the administration. The purpose of this significant renovation is to improve the campus library from the once outdated facility to a new Entrepreneurship and Learning Centre. Within this new centre will be the new Institute for Indigenous Entrepreneurship, which is intended to provide indigenous Algonquin College students and alumni a collaborative space to access resources they need in order to develop or create businesses. This renovation will also contribute to the environmental sustainability of the college's research and innovation infrastructure by transforming the northern wing of C building to a high-performance green building.
Opened in the fall of 2011, the 180,000-square-foot (17,000 m2) Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence, designed by Edward J. Cuhaci, houses 600 additional construction seats and provide space for thousands more students studying in related programs. The uniquely green, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certified building showcases a teaching laboratory for best practices in sustainable construction. The new facility integrates the relocated bus station and a new below-grade transit roadway (yet to be completed) to the main campus via a $4 million pedestrian bridge constructed across Woodroffe Avenue.
Opened in the fall of 2012, the 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) Student Commons project is the result of a continued partnership between the College and its Students’ Association. Unique to most Ontario colleges, the Algonquin College Students’ Association operates many College services, ranging from the varsity athletics to the Algonquin Fitness Zone. Committed to securing additional social and study space for students, the SA Board of Directors, through consultation with its members, approved to designate part of its activity fee to secure $30 million to fund the new Student Commons. Recognizing this opportunity to improve and centralize student support services the College’s Board of Governors approved the contribution of an additional $22 million in funding for the project.
Algonquin College Mobile Learning Centre is a computer lab, designed by Edward J. Cuhaci, that delivers a collaborative learning environment using mobile and cloud computing technology.
Also opened in fall 2012, the 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) expansion of the Pembroke campus Pembroke Campus will add 300 more than full-time student spaces and create a number of positive outcomes. The new waterfront campus is seen as a new beginning for the College, the City of Pembroke, and all of Renfrew County. A new facility would allow the College to grow, allowing it to better meet the labour market needs of Renfrew County’s employers well into the future.