TORONTO—York University’s new Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence, part of the Lassonde School of Engineering, was designed by ZAS Architects to permit the full flowering of renaissance engineering, a concept championed by founding dean Janusz Kozinski.
Just a few months after his hiring in 2010, as Kozinski recounts it, he attended a speech by pioneering engineer Claudette Mackay-Lassonde, now deceased, whom he credits with coining the phrase. Her husband Pierre Lassonde would become a major supporter of the new engineering faculty.
Students of renaissance engineering as practised at York U take basic engineering and also law and business courses. They are exposed to the humanities and fine arts and are urged to work collaboratively, travel abroad and become global citizens.
Kozinski commented on the unique program in a recent interview.
Q: What is the benefit of studying in groups?
K: In engineering, there is no one solution to a problem, there are a variety of solutions. And you can find a variety of flavours and depths. When you have a group of people working on solving a problem, what you are learning is not necessarily what the solution will be. You are learning two things, you are learning about yourself, the way you think about things and how you interact with other people. And the other thing is what it means to accept powerful ideas from others. Because in life, that is how it is going to be.
Q: What will happen when a grad of the Lassonde school decides to bid on, say, building a bridge?
K: The difference will be when they are considering what is the meaning of that bridge. The meaning of that bridge is not just to link one piece of land with another. We want our students to design with people in mind. What is the purpose? How are we going to preserve the environment? How are we going to use the least amount of energy to build it? How are we going to make it beautiful? Because for us, we have the CSS principle, class, substance and style. So beauty of design is important for us.
Q: You have a goal of gender parity — the percentage of female students is 32, compared with 18 per cent at other schools. How does this make a difference?
K: It adds tremendously to productivity and the flavour of working.
A good analogy is when you would be having dinner with your family and around the table you would not have an opportunity to listen to what your mom and sister would have to say. It is the same in a university setting. I notice the nature of the conversation is different when you have women around. It is very clear, they do care tremendously about social meaning. If you are building a bridge, the social element behind it. Male students, they have a tendency to make it as efficient as possible.
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