VIU Launches Campaign to Help Complete New Buildings and Support Students

Imagine VIU is a campaign to equip and complete the three new facilities at the Nanaimo Campus – the Centre for Health and Science; the Marine, Automotive and Trades Complex; and District Geo-Exchange Energy System – and support the students who will be learning in these new facilities.

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Three exciting new projects are expanding opportunities available to students at Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Nanaimo Campus.

Thanks to funding from the federal and provincial governments, the Centre for Health and Science; an expanded and renovated Automotive, Marine and Trades Complex; and a District Geo-Exchange Energy System are increasing opportunities in key programs and introducing an innovative green technology on campus.

While students and employees are now enjoying these improved training and classroom spaces, VIU is seeking support to complete and equip the spaces with the tools and technologies students need. The institution is also seeking gifts to support the students learning in these new facilities.

“The buildings are open, but we need help now to complete these learning spaces in order to give students the opportunity to train in fully equipped classrooms, laboratories and workspaces,” says Dr. Erik Krogh, a VIU Chemistry Professor and co-director of the Applied Environmental Research Laboratories. “With the help of donors and supporters, we can work at a higher level of excellence, contribute to real-world solutions to real-world problems that affect people in our community.”

Imagine VIU – one of the most ambitious campaign the mid-Island region has ever seen – aims to ensure students receive the highest-quality education and skills training available in a setting that reflects what students would find in the workplace.

Watch: Students and faculty describe the impact of the new spaces

“This is an opportunity to give VIU students – the future workforce – the best education possible,” says Brandon James Mason, a student in the Motorcycle and Marine Technician program. “Students in these programs are the future employees that will work in the hospitals and in the automotive shops. I hope people see this as an investment that will later get their car on the road or keep their children healthy.”

For Candace Boland, a fourth-year Nursing student, the new spaces mean getting her training close to home – and close to the region in which she plans to continue living and working.

“Students who would otherwise leave the Island are going to get a quality education here, locally,” she says. “It means we’ll be meeting the needs for getting more nurses into the community and that’s important.”

Misha Zvekic is excited about the opportunities the Centre for Health and Science building is going to open up for her. The building includes state-of-the-art chemistry labs that allow VIU to begin offering a Chemistry major program and a nursing simulation centre designed to replicate real-world hospital and clinical settings.

“I’m hopefully going to be one of the first, if not the first, Chemistry graduates at VIU,” says the third-year Bachelor of Science student. “My favourite thing about the new space is the new space because there’s so much of it now that we didn’t have before. It’s going to provide that opportunity for so many more people and we’re not going to be fighting for equipment or fighting for space, it’s going to be this beautiful symbiosis of people working together. I’m so excited.”

With a fundraising goal of $5.5 million, Imagine VIU invites the community to make a gift to support the education students receive in these important new facilities. Donations can go towards supporting the capital campaign in general, or be targeted at student bursaries, awards and scholarships.

Thanks to generous supporters, the campaign has raised 80% of the $5.5-million goal.

“We’re in the home stretch now – help us ensure our students receive the best education possible,” says William Litchfield, VIU Foundation Chief Advancement Officer.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Jenn McGarrigle, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University

P: 250.740.6559 | C: 250.619.6860 | E: Jenn.McGarrigle@viu.ca | T: @VIUNews