UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

'The University of Western Ontario' (known as 'Western', as well as 'UWO' or 'Western Ontario') is a research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. It is one of Canada's oldest universities, having been founded in 1878 by Bishop Isaac Hellmuth and the Anglican Diocese of Huron as ''The Western University of London Ontario''. The first students graduated in arts and medicine in 1883. The University covers 1.6 km² of land on the north branch of the Thames River. The main campus consists of 75 buildings; the university has extensive land holdings outside of the main campus.
Western is one of Canada's leading universities, ranked #1 in the ''Globe and Mail'' University Report Card 2005 for overall quality of education.^[2] It ranked #3 among medical-doctoral level universities according to Maclean's Magazine 2005 University Rankings.^[3] In 2006, Western and many other universities refused to provide ''Maclean's'' with data due to concerns regarding the magazine's ranking methodology.^[4] In that year, it ranked #5 in the Medical-Doctoral category. ^[5]
The University's Chancellor is Arthur Labatt, and its President is Dr. Paul Davenport. Through its twelve faculties and schools, and three affiliated colleges, the University offers more than 200 different degree and diploma programs.

Contents

History

Faculties

Student life

Groups

Theatre Western

Media

Greek life

Government

Libraries

Athletics

Reputation and rankings

See also

References

General sources

External links

History

The University was founded in 1878 by Bishop Isaac Hellmuth of the Anglican Diocese of Huron as "The Western University of London Ontario." It incorporated Huron University College, which had been founded in 1863. The first four faculties were Arts, Divinity, Law and Medicine, and there were originally only 15 students when classes began in 1881. The first of these students graduated in 1883. In 1916 the current site of the University was purchased from the Kingsmill family, and in 1923 the name of the University was changed to its present form. The first two buildings constructed at the new site were the Arts Building (now University College) and the Natural Science Building (now the Physics and Astronomy Building). These were built in a neo-Gothic or "Collegiate Gothic" style. The University College tower, one of the most distinctive features of the University, was named the Middlesex Memorial Tower in honour of the men from Middlesex County who had fought in World War I (all 40 male students at Western in 1914 had enlisted). Classes on the present site began in 1924.
Although enrolment was low for many years, after World War II the University began to increase greatly in size, and by the 1970s 10% of university students in Ontario were enrolled at Western. After World War II, the University saw the addition of new faculties such as the Faculty of Graduate Studies (1947), the School of Business Administration (now the Richard Ivey School of Business) (1949), the Faculty of Engineering Science (now the Faculty of Engineering) (1957), the Faculty of Law (1959), and Althouse College for Education students (1963).
Other notable buildings on campus include Thames Hall (built in 1949), the Stevenson-Lawson Building (built in 1959), Middlesex College (with its clock tower, another distinctive feature of the university, built in 1960), Talbot College (built in 1966), Alumni Hall (built in 1967), London Health Sciences Centre University Hospital, the John P. Robarts Research Institute, the Lawson Health Research Institute, the D.B. Weldon Library, the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre, the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory, the University Community Centre, the Social Science Centre, and T.D. Waterhouse Stadium (built in 2001). There is also the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory, built in 1940 as one of the first observatories at a Canadian university, and named after the grandfather of actor Hume Cronyn. The McIntosh Memorial Art Gallery was built in 1942, and is now the oldest university art gallery in Canada.
The school colours are purple and white, and the school's motto is ''Veritas et utilitas'', meaning ''Truth and usefulness''.

Faculties

The University has thirteen faculties:

★ Arts and Humanities, website

★ Education, website

★ Engineering, website

★ Graduate Studies, website

★ Health Sciences, website

★ Information and Media Studies, website

★ Western Law, website

★ Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, website

★ Don Wright Faculty of Music, website

★ Richard Ivey School of Business, website

★ Science, website

★ Social Science, website
The University also has three affiliated colleges:

★ Brescia University College (Catholic; the only university-level women's college in Canada)

★ Huron University College (Anglican; includes the Anglican seminary)

★ King's University College (Catholic; includes St. Peter's seminary)
In addition, there is a Continuing Studies facility in the downtown Galleria Mall for the purposes of adult education. Western was the first Canadian University to offer an Aviation Management program.

Student life

There are approximately 25,000 undergraduate and 5,000 graduate students at Western. King's University College has about 3,100 students (2003/2004), Huron University College about 1,000, and Brescia University College about 500. The student residences on the main campus are:

★ Traditional-style residences

★
★ Saugeen-Maitland Hall (1252 students)

★
★ Medway-Sydenham Hall (600 students)

★
★ Delaware Hall (450 students)

★
★ Perth Hall (445 students)

★
★ Westminster Residence (240 students — closed as of May 2006)

★ Suite-style residences

★
★ Essex Hall (500 students)

★
★ Elgin Hall (400 students)

★
★ Alumni House (250 students)

★
★ London Hall

★ Huron University College residences

★
★ O'Neil/Ridley

★
★ Southwest (suite-style)

★
★ Hellmuth

★ King's University College residences

★
★ Alumni Court

★
★ Townhouses

★
★ Wemple
There are additional campus apartments and townhouses for upper-year students.
The University Community Centre is home to many student-run clubs and media outlets, including ''The Gazette'', Western's daily student newspaper, TVWestern.ca, the campus television station, and 94.9 CHRW, legally known as Radio Western. The campus also houses the popular student lounge with pub section, the Spoke, as well as the Wave, a restaurant/dance club. School spirit runs high at Western, as social events are well attended. Orientation (Frosh) Week and Homecoming are especially popular. Western's O-Week is a $600,000 program, and the largest of its kind in Canada. USC representatives have led several seminars at other universities teaching them how to run an O Week comparable to Western's.
Western has financial aid bursaries and competitive scholarship programs. The University's top scholarships are the National Scholarships, which include the ''President's Scholarship'', the ''Faculty Scholarship''and the ''National Merit Awards''

Groups

Western is home to over 175 clubs for academic, religious, cultural, and other pursuits, which are governed by the University Students' Council. Some of these groups are the University of Western Ontario Debating Society, the oldest student association at the university and one of the largest debating societies in Canada, and student political clubs such as the UWO Tories. Western's conservative club has hosted current Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay, for example.

Theatre Western

Theatre Western, meanwhile, produces a season that includes an annual musical revue of modern and classic Broadway, Purple Shorts: Western's One-Act Play Festival, and a major musical production each spring. Recent productions include West Side Story, Cabaret, Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd.
The Faculty of Music, meanwhile, performs various styles of concerts throughout the year, which are open to the public. UWOpera, operating out of Talbot Theatre, also performs a wide variety of repertoire ranging from operetta to full operatic works.

Media

The campus radio station CHRW is celebrating 25 years on FM in 2006. Several alumni including former ABC, and current Global TV anchor Kevin Newman have gone on to other careers in the music and broadcasting industries.
The student television station at Western, TV Western.ca, has existed for a decade. TV Western.ca features original video programming created for students by students, including coverage of sports, arts, information and culture. It is working on putting a university-based television show on the local cable station for fall 2006.

Greek life

Western also provides an opportunity for students to experience life in the "Greek community" with Fraternity or Sorority membership. There are currently five nationally chartered sorority houses; Alpha Phi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Pi Beta Phi; As well as 13 fraternities; Alpha Epsilon Pi, Acacia Fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, Delta Upsilon, Zeta Psi, the Kappa Alpha Society, Kappa Sigma, Pi Kappa Alpha, Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Lambda Phi. The Greek system is active on campus as well as throughout the city of London, through numerous philanthropy events and special events at local bars and clubs. Though the practice was discontinued in the 1970s, Western frosh would wear a beanie throughout Orientation Week in September.

Government

The University Students' Council (USC) is a $22-million dollar corporation; over half of Western students are involved with the USC through its various levels, volunteer-driven Orientation program. The Students' Council also publishes The ''Gazette'', Canada's only daily student newspaper (Tues-Fri), which was founded in 1906 and given its present name in 1930.

Libraries

The library system at Western has seven major service locations with more than 7.7 million items in print, microform and electronic formats. Together, they constitute one of the largest research library systems in Canada. There are many special collections, such as those in the areas of Canadiana, Art History, Sport History, Music and Law. Western's libraries include:

★ Archives and Research Collections Centre housing:

★
★ A copy of ''Decretallium libri V. Georgorii Papae cum ordinaria glossa Berhardi'', printed in Basel in 1478

★
★ A 1668 edition of John Milton's ''Paradise Lost'' purported to be his personal copy

★
★ A copy of ''Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain'', published in Paris and dated 1613

★
★ A copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe's ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', published in Boston in 1852

★
★ A copy of Herman Melville's ''Moby Dick'', published in New York in 1851

★
★ The poem "My Window" by Jesse McKean, published in the form of an upholstered sofa by the Silly Sasparili Press, Toronto, 1996

★
★ The Canadian Tire Corporation Archives which hold the entire corporate archive of the company

★ Business Library

★ Education Library

★ John and Dotsa Bitove Family Law Library

★ Music Library

★ The D. Perlman Library

★ Allyn and Betty Taylor Library

★ The D.B. Weldon Library

★ The Pride Library
The campus is also the home of art and performance facilities, and the McIntosh Gallery, the oldest university art gallery in Canada. The permanent collection of the McIntosh includes over 3000 works in various media dating primarily from the early 19th century to the present, including works by the Group of Seven.

Athletics

Western has more than 20 sports teams, which are called the The University of Western Ontario Mustangs. From 1939 to 1948 the football team was undefeated, and they have won six Vanier Cups. For 30 years the football team was coached by John P. Metras, for whom the Canadian Interuniversity Sport's best defensive linesman award is named. Football games have been broadcast continuously since 1980 on the Western station 94.9 CHRW. The men's basketball team has also won many championships. Further, the men's squash team has won 24 consecutive Ontario University Athletics (OUA) titles.
In 1929 J.W. Little Stadium was built, named after former Mayor of London and vice-chair of the Western Board of Governors John William Little. This stadium served as the site of convocation until 1960, and continued to be used as a sports stadium until 2001 when it was torn down and replaced with TD-Waterhouse Stadium. The new stadium was the primary site of the 2001 Summer Canada Games, which were held in London.
Until the 2005–06 season, Western's men's hockey team played on campus at Thompson Arena, completed in January of 1975 with a capacity of 4,159. The arena also hosts an indoor track, while its curling rink is being removed as part of a large renovation to create additional recreational space. Men's hockey games now take place in downtown London at the state-of-the-art John Labatt Centre, also the home of the London Knights.
After years of debate, the Ontario University Athletics board of directors voted in May, 2006 to let schools provide athletic financial awards (AFAs) to first-year student-athletes.
Western is also home to one of Canada's two university-level marching bands, the Western Mustang Band. It was started in 1938 by alumnus Don Wright (for whom the Music Faculty is now named). The only other Canadian university marching band is the Queen's Bands of Queen's University.
The Mustang Cheerleading team have won 22 consecutive Canadian Collegiate Championships (since 1985). The squad, which was formed in 1929, is the longest running collegiate cheer team in Canada.
Athletics facilities on campus include the 8,000-seat TD Waterhouse Stadium, the Thompson Recreation and Athletic Centre, which contains an ice rink, an indoor track, curling sheets and tennis facilities, and Alumni Hall, a multi-purpose auditorium for basketball, volleyball and other indoor events. Campus Recreation, found in the UCC, is a facility available to all students and the general public.

Reputation and rankings

Entrance requirements to the university are high, with increasing admission averages; the entrance average for those admitted in 2005-06 class was 86%. The student/faculty ratio for the 2003-04 year was about 21 students per member of faculty.
As a research university, external support for research projects totals nearly $190 million per year. There are about 1,200 faculty members at the university and affiliated colleges.
Notable Western alumni include actors Alan Thicke and Kelly Rowan, Ontario premier David Peterson, ''60 Minutes'' host Morley Safer, Olympic rowers Marnie McBean and Silken Laumann, insulin discoverer Sir Frederick Banting, NHLer Steve Rucchin and World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan.
Western's fundraising department is called "Campaign Western". Asteroid ''(15025) UWOntario'' is named after the university. An episode of ''3rd Rock from the Sun'', an NBC comedy for which Western alumnus Andrew Orenstein wrote, featured a school whose football team was known as the "Western Mustangs" and which wore purple jerseys. In the comic strip, ''For Better or For Worse'', Michael Patterson studies journalism there and in the graduation storyline, UWO's Alumni Hall is depicted.

See also

★ Group of Thirteen (Canadian universities)

★ List of botanical gardens in Canada Sherwood Fox Arboretum

★ List of Ontario Universities

★ List of University of Western Ontario people

★ Old Four

References

1. University of Western Ontario: Annual Report to the Board of Governors (pg.46) [Accessed 19th May 2006]
2. Globe and Mail University Report Card
3. 2005 Macleans M-D Rankings
4. 11 universities bow out of Maclean's university rankings Dalhousie University, et al.
5. 2006 Macleans M-D Rankings

General sources

★ Barr, Murray Llewellyn. ''A century of medicine at Western : a centennial history of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Ontario''. London: University of Western Ontario, 1977

★ Gwynne-Timothy, John R. W. ''Western's first century''. London: University of Western Ontario, 1978

★ Talman, Ruth Davis. ''The beginnings and development of the University of Western Ontario, 1878-1924''. MA Thesis, University of Western Ontario, 1925

External links

★ University of Western Ontario homepage

★ University Students' Council

★ Western Events Calendar

★ Western Film