UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 12 | August
9, 2001
Commerce Prof. Stanley Hamilton heads a team working to make Robson
Square a reality
In his 33 years on campus, Commerce and Business Administration
Prof. Stanley Hamilton has worn many hats. But lately, the one he
wears most often is a hard hat.
As chair of the UBC at Robson Square transition team, Hamilton
can often be found, blueprints in hand, in the midst of the renovations
to the 6,000 square metres that are to become UBC’s new downtown
campus this fall.
But designs, drawings and drywall aren’t the only thing on his
mind. Programs need to be constructed too.
“We are working on a wide range of programs designed specifically
to meet the needs and interests of the downtown community,” says
Hamilton.
He quickly lists a dozen or so topics — art appreciation, history,
and health and wellness to name a few — that will be the focus
of seminars, public lectures, exhibits and forums when the campus
opens this fall.
Classroom courses are also being planned in e-business, information
technology, public policy, architecture, landscape architecture
and interdisciplinary themes such as entrepreneurship and the arts.
“The work we’re doing includes a great deal of consultation with
community partners to identify innovative ways to showcase the outstanding
research resources of UBC,” says Hamilton between a seemingly endless
schedule of meetings, including those with designer Sally Emmerson
and other members of the transition team.
With the design work and demolition now complete, construction
has begun on classrooms, computer labs, meeting and seminar rooms,
an information centre and offices.
The major renovations, which also include improvements to the existing
140-seat theatre and provisions for satellite outlets of the library
and UBC Bookstore, are targeted for completion by the end of September.
A faculty member since 1968 and an associate dean since 1975, Hamilton
stepped down as senior associate dean last June to head the transition
team and oversee the construction of UBC at Robson Square.
Other members of the transition team include Al Poettcker, president
and CEO of UBC Properties Trust; Jane Hutton, associate vice-president,
Continuing Studies; Derek Atkins, associate vice-president, Academic
Planning; Dana Merritt, director, Budget Office and Doug McArthur,
senior fellow in Public Policy in the Office of the Vice-President,
Academic.
