A $25-million dollar donation from Pierre Lassonde, chairman of Franco-Nevada Corp. (TSX:FNV) will usher in the future of engineering and fund an expanded School of Engineering at York University’s Keele campus. The donation will lead to the creation of the Lassonde School of Engineering.
A new age of engineering is coming to York University.
A $25-million dollar donation from Pierre Lassonde, chairman, Franco-Nevada Corp. (TSX:FNV) will usher in the future of engineering and fund an expanded School of Engineering at York’s Keele campus, said Janusz Kozinski, Dean of the Faculty of Science & Engineering, York University.
Lassonde said the time for engineers to be solely focused on mathematics or physics has passed.
“What you do as an engineer has an impact on society and you have to be able to demonstrate the impact as a net benefit to the society,” he explained.
York’s new engineering program will collaborate with the Schulich School of Business.
Lassonde said engineers are in high demand and Canada has to compete on brains, not salaries.
“Our engineers have to be simply the best at whatever they do, whether it’s space engineering, mechanical engineering, we have to graduate the very best,” he said. “But it’s not just best on getting the math right, it’s best on being able to relate to the people that will be using your product, the people that will be in your company working and understanding their needs as people.”
York is calling it a transformative donation and it will be combined with funding from the Government of Ontario and York University, totaling $100 million, said Kozinski. Prior to the donation, York did not have a full-fledged school of engineering.
“It’s going to change the character of the university and certainly a perception of the university,” said Kozinski.
Now they are focusing on program development, said Kozinski. In September 2013, classes will begin in programs like electrical and civil engineering. With that, they will have to hire up to 70 new staff plus administrative and technical staff.
Kozinski said donations like these are vital, and universities have to learn to cultivate and develop public-private partnerships.
“[Donors] are critical, particularly at a time when funding from the government for academia is shrinking, in relative terms, but it is shrinking.”
Lassonde, who attended the ceremony with his family, said education is the number one family philanthropic endeavour.
“The wealth of our nation in Canada, in my mind, it’s not oil, it’s not our minerals, it’s not our forests, but it’s our young people. To invest in our young people is to invest in the future of Canada,” he said.
“It’s the foundation of peace, it’s the foundation of environmental excellence and it’s the foundation of a nation that can provide the best country in the world to its people.”
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