UBC receives $4 million from Hong Kong philanthropist Simon K. Y. Lee for Hong Kong University-UBC House, UBC’s fourth international student residence.
April
UBC research funding reaches $466.5 million, up from $138 million in 1997/98.
Trek program of student volunteers now has 1,000 participants, up from 30 students in inaugural year 1999.
UBC fund-raising reaches $100 million annually, putting UBC’s endowment fund in the top three among Canadian universities.
March
Prof. Carl E. Wieman, Nobel Laureate in Physics, and United States Professor of the Year in 2004, joins UBC. Wieman will be only the second Nobel laureate working at a Canadian university.
February
UBC creates North America’s first Buddhism and Contemporary Society program.
Opening of $10-million Aquatic Ecosystems Research
laboratory.
Opening of the Life Sciences Centre, a $134-million interdisciplinary teaching and research facility.
October
Donation of $10 million from UBC alumnus Irving K. Barber, founding chairman of Slocan Forest Products Ltd. establishes The Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences at UBC Okanagan and a permanent endowment of $15 million to support both initiatives.
September
Opening of the $30-million Michael Smith Laboratories, named for the late UBC Nobel Laureate.
April
UBC hosts three Nobel Laureates – His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr. Shirin Ebadi.
February
UBC now ranked 35th among the world’s 500 top universities, according to a study cited in the Jan. 24 issue of the Economist.
UBC opens Tec de Monterrey House where up to 100 students from Mexico’s Tec de Monterrey University will reside. In October 2002, students from Korea University moved into a new integrated residence with 100 UBC students.
July
UBC chosen as site of 2010 Olympics ice hockey venue.
June
Dr.William L. Sauder and Mrs. Marjorie-Anne Sauder give $20 million to UBC’s Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration – the largest private donation ever made to a Canadian business school – to create the Sauder School of Business.
May
For the first time, almost 200 UBC grads sign sustainability pledges to be socially and environmentally responsible.
April
Marco Marra’s research team complete DNA sequence of SARS virus — a world first.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited UBC as part of the Royal Jubilee celebrations.
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre created at UBC thanks to $20-million gift from Irving K. Barber that transforms Main Library. It is the largest donation for a single capital project that UBC has ever received. The provincial government contributed an additional $10 million and UBC matched these funds with a further $30-million investment.
September
Campus wireless roll-out UBC now has largest and most advanced wireless network on any campus in the world.
July
The vision for a distinctive “university town” community at UBC announced at first meeting of the new University Neighbourhoods Association.
April
Research funding reaches $376.8 million, an increase of 48 per cent over previous year. Indirect costs of research now included in university research funding from federal government.
January
UBC and its affiliated teaching hospitals received almost $76 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), placing us first in the country.
Finning International donates land near downtown Vancouver valued at $33.8 million to UBC, Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the B.C. Institute of Technology to create a hub high-tech learning and research hub.
UBC opens new downtown Vancouver campus, UBC at Robson Square.
January
The Provincial Medical Education Plan developed, to increase education opportunities throughout the province for students in Faculty of Medicine, to ease doctor
shortage in rural and northern areas of the province.
UBC’s Learning Exchange, a new resource centre for the Downtown Eastside community, is home base for UBC student volunteers and a place where the community can learn about and access UBC’s resources.
May
UBC to establish 160 research chairs as part of new Canada Research Chairs program that will establish 2000 research professorships in universities across the country by 2008.
Launch of Trek program with 30 student volunteers serving schools, non-profit organizations, and community centres in inner-city neighborhoods of Vancouver.
March
Leon and Thea Koerner University Centre opened, replacing the Faculty Club.
UBC alumnus and diamond explorer Stewart Blusson and wife Marilyn provide unprecedented $50-million donation for research.
September
UBC creates Humanities 101 — the first program
of its kind in Canada — to give residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside an opportunity to study
humanities-related courses free of charge.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting brings heads of 18 leading economies around the Pacific Rim to campus. Protests concerning human rights violations in some member countries leads to significant anti-APEC demonstration at the meeting, which RCMP control with controversial force. A RCMP Public Complaints Commission inquiry followed.
September
More than 5,000 first-year students participated in IMAGINE UBC, UBCs first-ever orientation for new students.
August
UBC and the Greater Vancouver Regional District develop an Official Community Plan for the university area.
Canada’s newest School of Journalism, and Western Canada’s first graduate journalism program, opens with classes starting Fall 1998.
