{"id":48400,"date":"2019-01-26T15:08:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T22:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=48400"},"modified":"2021-02-08T08:13:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T15:13:59","slug":"same-students-same-staff-but-a-whole-new-u-at-acad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2019\/01\/26\/same-students-same-staff-but-a-whole-new-u-at-acad\/","title":{"rendered":"Same students, same staff, but a whole new ‘U’ at ACAD"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With Bated Breath: <\/strong>Four guest speakers, front row from left, Simone Saunders, Casey Eaglespeaker, Marlin Schmidt, and Ricardo Miranda at the launch of the Alberta University of the Arts, on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. The event transformed what was once known as the Alberta College of Art and Design. (Photo by Megan Maher\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>he Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD)<\/a> became a thing of the past on Jan. 17, as the Calgary post-secondary achieved university status.<\/p>\n

T<\/span>he renamed Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts) celebrated the change in its main hall as a crowd of more than 200 staff, students, and supporters applauded.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat cities need great universities, and now we have another great university,\u201d Mayor Naheed Nenshi<\/a> told the gathering.<\/p>\n

The change is nine years in the making, as AUArts president Daniel Doz first tried to apply for university status when he accepted the position in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he started years ago he asked the previous government but they wouldn\u2019t entertain the discussion,\u201d said Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmid<\/a>t.<\/p>\n

The official application went in four years ago, while schools like Red Deer College were vying for university status.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a recognition of all the work we\u2019ve done but it\u2019s an incentive to dream big,\u201d said Doz.<\/p>\n

Although the funding for ACAD was limited, due to a lack of student housing and parking lots, the provincial government has provided money to make the change work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe donated an official $4.6 million in 2015,\u201d said Schmidt.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo students have access to a modern learning facility, we have donated half a million dollars for this purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The change of status has also brought worry about tuition costs and changes to the curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government brought in legislation that limits tuition increases, so they will only allow tuition increases that match cost of living increases,\u201d said Schmidt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll work with AUArts to make sure that we get…a high-quality education experience, at a cost that\u2019s affordable for students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Bouchard is an ACAD alumnus who now teaches ceramics at AUArts. She wondered about the funding and how it will be distributed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the faculty gets compensated properly and fairly with the change,\u201d said Bouchard.<\/p>\n

She was also concerned that there would be significant changes to the curriculum, similar to when Mount Royal<\/a> became a university.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange is inevitable and I have seen programs cut already,\u201d said Bouchard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad because once a program is cut it will never come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the long wait and the limited funding for ACAD, AUArts seems to already be gaining notoriety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kinds of investments in higher education and arts education is key to the future success of our province,\u201d said Schmidt.<\/p>\n

Doz had been trimming the budget every year because of the lack of outside revenue, but is relieved now that the college is a university.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt clearly demonstrated a belief in us and our role because we have a very unique student population.<\/p>\n

\u201cEighteen per cent of our students have at least one declared disability,\u201d said Doz.<\/p>\n

With the change of status, there will be an eventual change in curriculum, and students and alumni are looking forward to learning new skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to see AUArts keep growing in innovative ways that can send students into the world as critical creative thinkers along with a sense of business language and understanding,\u201d said Bouchard.<\/p>\n

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Nenshi Knows:\u00a0<\/strong>Mayor Naheed Nenshi shows his support in Calgary on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. A long time fan of the arts, Nenshi gave a speech at the unveiling of the Alberta University of the Arts. (Photo by Megan Maher\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) is a thing of the past, due to an unveiling of their university status on Thursday afternoon. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":48403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 AUArts","footnotes":""},"categories":[1590,1433,13,1580],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-48400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts","8":"category-auarts","9":"category-news","10":"category-post-secondary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48400"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48506,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48400\/revisions\/48506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}