Western Ontario and Fanshawe College

[MolsonExport]

All about UWO thread: The University of Western Ontario. One of the most important drivers of the London Economy and one of the best-ranked universities in Canada.

[ldoto]

Sat, May 16, 2009

BEYOND CRISIS: Exploring our region's next economy

The University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College received a total of $12 million from the province yesterday to help deal with a rise in enrolment amid an increasingly tough job market.

Fanshawe, which expects its student population to jump 5% in September, received $3 million while UWO got $9 million.

The struggling economy has caused a surge in postsecondary school enrolment, something many see as a positive.

"(The) traditional jobs we are losing today are not coming back," LondonFanshawe MPP Khalil Ramal said as he announced the money. "That's why we're investing in post-secondary education -- to increase the capacity of our schools to assist students with the skills they need."

Provincewide, $150 million is being split among all post-secondary schools in the one-time handout.




Chris Bentley, the London West MPP who serves as Ontario's attorney-general, said he would encourage those struggling to find work to head back to school.

Those without postsecondary schooling should do the same, he said.

"If you've completed high school, you should really be considering some form of post-high school education," including trades, he said. "Because 70 to 80% of the jobs of the future are all going to require that.

"They say that in 15 years a huge number of the jobs won't even have been thought of today."

Bentley, who served as Ontario's minister of colleges and universities from 2005 to 2007, says there are 100,000 more post-secondary students in Ontario than in 2003, when the Liberals took over Queen's Park. That's a 25% jump.

With the post-secondary funding model in flux, schools like Fanshawe and UWO don't yet know how much money they will get for the next school year. But the enrolment increase will make every dollar all the more important, said Fanshawe's vice-president of finance.

"Often in an economy that's in a downturn, what we see are people going back to school to upgrade their skills," Scott Porter said. "We believe there are people who want to come and update their skills."

[ldoto]

btw this thread should be called Western Ontario and Fanshawe College

[ldoto]

Thanks that's better!!!!!

[ldoto]

Fanshawe College Receives $31.8-Million in New Funding

Fanshawe College is starting the new work week with a $31.8-million dollar announcement from the Federal and Provincial Governments.

$15.9-million dollars will come from Ottawa while another $15.9-million dollars will come from Queens Park.

The announced funding will allow Fanshawe College to expand its recently purchased building at 1764 Oxford Street. The Centre for Applied Transportation Technologies will accommodate 1,500 full time students who are seeking job-ready credentials in trades and technologies that support the transportation industry.

Dr. Rundle was pleased about today's announcement. "We have one of the highest confirmation rates to date for fall 2009 and there is a marked increase in demand from adult learners and Second Career applicants. This is a great step toward meeting that increased demand." said Rundle.

The investment is part of the federal government's two-year, $2-billion plan to repair and expand research and educational facilities at Canadian colleges and universities.

London West MP Ed Holder announced the federal funding today which will be put towards Fanshawe's Centre for Applied Transportation Technologies.

"This is a significant investment in Fanshawe College and all of London will benefit as a result, especially with the new jobs in the short-term. This is the stimulus spending we have been pushing, which will help our local economy recover while investing in long-term innovation," said MP Holder.

"This is an example of the swift response that is possible when the federal and provincial governments work for the best interests of our community."

[ilp]

I'll try and post some pictures of the new residence building under construction at Fanshawe once the weather turns nicer

Also, I'll try and get some pictures of the new courtyard uploaded.

[ldoto]

btw what new courtyard pics??????

[JrUrbanDesigner]

Originally Posted by ldoto

btw what new courtyard pics??????

There was a redesigned courtyard that opened last fall at Fanshawe College

[ldoto]

I see!!!!!

[ldoto]

Fri, May 29, 2009

The province and federal governments are chipping in $50 million to help build a new Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

The announcement this afternoon means the 1,000 students at the business school be under one roof instead of spread across five locations, one of them off-campus.

Western is chipping in $22.5 million and the business school is raising $27.5 million through private donations.

Construction will start at the new site, in front of Brescia University College in August and create 600 new construction jobs.

The first phase of the school should be complete by March 2011.

[ldoto]

Area MPPs announced $50 million for two new schools and renovations to three others this morning.

The Thames Valley District school board will get:

- $7 million for an addition to Glendale high school in Tillsonburg

- $10.1 million to build a new elementary school in the Stoney Creek neighbourhood in London

- $1 million to build an addition at Northridge public school in London.




The London District Catholic school board will get:

- $27 million to build a new Catholic high school in northwest London

- $5 million for an addition at St. Joseph’s Catholic high school in St. Thomas.

The cash was part of a $500 million province-wide investment.

[ldoto]

Dubbed Tornado Alley, Southwestern Ontario will soon be able to produce mini-twisters even if there aren't any in the sky.

The world's first six-sided wind tunnel able to simulate a tornado will be built at the University of Western Ontario.

The nearly $24-million facility will be the second wind-related project at UWO, home to a wind tunnel laboratory famed for wind tests run there on model structures ranging from New York's Freedom Tower to the Confederation Bridge.

The new hexagonal facility, called the WindEE Dome -- it stands for wind engineering, energy and environment -- will use a series of giant fans to create swirling winds to simulate an F3 tornado about six metres in size.

The 25-metre-diameter dome will be housed in a larger, futuristic structure about 40 metres in diameter.




"By manipulating the fans, the dome can simulate any kind of swirling wind environment," said engineering professor Horia Hangan, leading the project.

Traditional wind tunnels, such as the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel at UWO, he said, cannot simulate the swirling wind of a tornado or downdraft.

Hangan said scale models of urban buildings, power lines, field crops, forests and industrial plants will be built inside the dome.

The dome will feature a variety of terrains, so the impact of tornado winds can be accurately assessed.

Scale-model wind farms -- pint-sized versions of what's popping up across Ontario -- will also be built in the dome to determine the best design to get maximum electrical power from their turbines.

The dome could also be used to track the spread of pollutants over wide areas.

Southwestern Ontario is one of Canada's tornado hotspots, but the twisters usually prove less manacing than they look. Hangan said tornadoes have been simulated in lab conditions before, but never on the scale being tried by Western.

Western's Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel has done testing for high-profile projects around the world. More recently, a UWO research facility near London Airport -- dubbed the Three Little Pigs -- has done ground-breaking research on wind damage on typical suburban homes.

Hangan, a director of UWO's existing wind tunnel, said the WindEEE dome will reinforce UWO's reputation in wind research. "This intention is to make Western a world leader in wind research,'' he said.

Hangan said construction of the WindEEE dome should begin within a year. It should be operating a year or two later

The project had been kept under wraps until UWO received confirmation yesterday of $9.5 million in funding from the Canada Foundations for Innovation.

The project was one of four research projects that received a total of $17.6 million in foundations funding. Others were:

- Western's anthropology department received $3.9 million to collect and preserve archeological artifacts unearthed at housing and highway projects across Ontario in partnership with First Nations.

- The Robarts Research Institute and Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry received $2.5 million for research into minimally-invasive surgeries using miniature surgical tools guided remotely by medical imaging.

- The chemistry department received $1.6 million to enhance the imaging capabilities of two X-ray machines being used at a research facility in Saskatoon, Sask.

[MolsonExport]

with all the hot air blowing out of city hall, I would have thought that the city was already a world leader in wind research

[ldoto]

The next long weekend for most of us is still a week away, although if you're a city police officer or someone who lives near Fanshawe or Western -- the next couple of days might feel like a long weekend for other reasons.

This is the weekend thousands of students begin returning to London for the new school year, and Police will be out in force along Richmond Row and student neighbourhoods trying to make sure everyone behaves.

It's all part of Project L.E.A.R.N, an annual crackdown on rowdy student behaviour. Last fall, between August and October, Police issued more than 1400 tickets and laid 130 charges.

One of the most notorious areas for student partying is Fleming Drive near Fanshawe College. Stephanie Drummond lives on that street and says she always has to brace herself for this time of year.

"I'll tell ya, they're pretty wild. Not right here, but down there... they light fires, and throw beer bottles all over the place and they just act like kids." she said.

Deputy London Police Cheif Ian Peer says every year is a challenge because a fresh batch of students come into the residences.

"We're starting at square one with many people to educate them - the first year students, and trying to get them to understand that they can be sort of a student here but yet a responsible citizen that can live co-operatively with everybody."

Officials at Fanshawe College are doing what they can to assist police. Spokesperson Leanne Perrault says they're trying to get a good line of communication between the students, the college and the neighbours.

"With newsletters, and some door-to-door visits, and through-out orientation, there's a focus throughout part of the orientation providing useful information to the 7,000 plus first-year students who will be here."

London Police will be frequenting not only the areas surrounding Fanshawe College but also Western and the downtown bars.

[SlickFranky]

'They light fires' ??? I went to a lot of rowdy keggers in my day, but I don't remember fires being typical. I do remember some beer bottles being thrown though.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by SlickFranky

'They light fires' ??? I went to a lot of rowdy keggers in my day, but I don't remember fires being typical. I do remember some beer bottles being thrown though.

In recent years there have been several student fires in the Fleming Drive area. One such fire was set on a couch that was dragged out onto the street, and was caught on tape by an A-Channel news crew.

[ldoto]

At last, a hero's role for the much-maligned starling.

The dark speckled bird that some deride as a pest is one of a dozen species to get star billing in a new, $9.2-million bird wind tunnel and laboratory at the University of Western Ontario -- the only one of its kind in the world.

And in the process, the various birds at the Advanced Facility for Avian Research may provide clues to understanding aerodynamics, climate change, human obesity, language development and brain growth.

A unique aspect of the facility is that the wind tunnel can give a close-up look at birds in flight -- at temperatures, air pressure, wind speeds and humidity levels simulating conditions during migrations at altitudes as high as 7,000 metres.

"It's one-of-a-kind in the planet. You will find a facility like this nowhere else in the world except London, Ont.," said Ted Hewitt, vice-president research at UWO.

Scott MacDougall-Shackleton, head of the facility, said studying birds is important partly because they live in diverse environments, have the capability of learning language -- much like humans -- and are sentinels of ecological change.

"We need to be able to understand birds' physiology if we're going to protect them," he said.

And in the process, we just may learn to understand and protect ourselves better.

The facility includes ecologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, molecular geneticists and engineers.

Its showpiece, the wind tunnel, will help researchers delve into the aerodynamics, physics and biology of flight.

The birds are being trained to fly from their enclosures into the wind tunnel, which can reach speeds of as high as 15 metres per second and can be adjusted to simulate environmental conditions birds encounter while migrating. "It's like swimming in an endless-lap pool," MacDougall-Shackleton said.

"How can they fly (at altitude)? It's a very high-performance exercise and yet they're doing this with very low oxygen."

Starlings are ideally suited for the job because they're "incredibly bright," are easily trained to fly into a wind tunnel and have a wide range of vocalizations, he said.

The wind tunnel will also help show researchers how birds use their large stores of fat as energy during the long distances of migration. That may provide clues to reducing obesity in humans.

Researcher Roi Gurka of the engineering faculty and a specialist in fluid mechanics, is looking forward to setting up specialized cameras that can help decipher how a bird uses its energy. "How can they eat so little and still fly so efficiently? That's one of the most important puzzling questions that exist," he said.

And MacDougall-Shackleton said the research may help find answers to questions no one has yet thought to ask about bird behaviour and neurology.

[ldoto]

Province injects $2.5 million into college's equipment

The Ontario government is giving Fanshawe College $2.5-million for new equipment and upgrades to its facilities.

The money will be used to pay for state-of-the-art machines such as an X-ray unit, cardiac monitor, FM broadcast transmitter and welding machines — to better train students on each industry’s latest technologies.

The move is part of the McGuinty government’s long-term plan to invest in post-secondary education, London Fanshawe MPP Khalil Ramal said today.

“We cannot maintain our economic prosperity without keeping pace with the rapid speed of technology,” Ramal said.

The investment is part of the province’s ReNew Ontario Infrastructure program.

[sparky212]

Elbow room costly hurdle
FANSHAWE COLLEGE: Finding money for downtown London expansion may be a problem

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, THE LONDON FREE PRESS


"There is a very real and pressing need," said Rundle, pointing out Fanshawe has run out of room at its main London campus because of soaring enrolment.

But Rundle said the major challenge will be finding the money for the $30-million to $50-million project and that could mean tapping into the city's $55-million economic development war chest as well as provincial and private funding.

"The moment we have that lined up we will leap into action," he said.

Rundle said Fanshawe's satellite campus in Citi Centre is crammed with staff running community employment services and faculty and students from the theatre arts programs He said the college would like to offer complementary programs in costume design and technical theatre skills. It would also like to move the culinary arts program into a facility with a new kitchen. Other arts and media-related programs could be added in the future.

But he said there's no room to expand in Citi Centre because the employment programs alone could take up the whole space.

"In five years time when the lease expires we will be up against it. We want to be somewhere else where we can grow," he said.

Rundle said the campus could be part of a downtown arts district and could be in a new or renovated building.

He said the programs could share stage facilities with the Grand Theatre and offer training in downtown restaurants.

"This whole package is better located in the heart of the city," he said.

Rundle noted George Brown community college has a theatre arts program in Toronto's historic distillery district and the University of Waterloo runs a downtown pharmacy program.

Janette MacDonald, manager of Downtown London, said a Fanshawe campus would be a valuable addition to the city core and there are a number of suitable properties available.

"Any successful downtown we have seen has an educational presence," she said.

MacDonald said a downtown campus would be a catalyst for further development, much like the John Labatt Centre.

She said students would be more likely to live in the core and spend money at the many new bars, restaurants and retailers that cater to younger customers.

"It gives us residents, customers and feet on the street. We want downtown London to be densely populated with the creative class," she said.

Hank Daniszewski is a Free Press reporter.


This is gonna be sweet. Not to mention awsome for down town

[ldoto]

This would be great for the downtown core!!!!!