Special Groups and Programs
In the early days, Carleton regarded the University of Ottawa as ‘the enemy’. I was seen as disloyal when I joined the Cercle Universitaire (along with Davidson Dunton and one other). This began to change through personal friendship of John ApSimon and Bob Fraser. This, in turn, led to the move to establish the combined institute, perhaps following the model shown by the Guelph-Waterloo Institute for Chemistry. Some of the turbulent meetings are described in other chapters of this book.
(Note by G.W.Buchanan)
In the late 1970’s the Graduate Programs in Chemistry at Carleton and the University of Ottawa underwent an assessment by the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies (OCGS). It was recommended that the two graduate programs be combined to reap the benefits from a larger faculty complement, better sharing of major equipment and joint recruiting efforts. A successful model in Ontario had just been demonstrated, with the amalgamation of graduate programs in Chemistry at the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo. With such an amalgamation the new unit in Ottawa wold have an enrollment comparable to that of programs in Canada at major Universities such as McGill, UBC, Alberta and the University of Toronto.
Accordingly discussions were initiated between the two Ottawa Universities at the Department level with John ApSimon and Cooper Langford representing Carleton and Peter Morand and Brian Conway acting for the University of Ottawa. It was agreed that joint program be established with individual faculty membership contingent upon the holding of a peer-adjudicated research grant. All graduate courses were assigned Carleton and Ottawa numbers and joint seminars were instituted in all fields of Chemistry. The Directorship was to be held on a rotating basis between the two campuses and an Associate Director from thesister campus was to be in place. A Board of Management was established consisting of the Director, Associate Director, the Chairs of each Department, one graduate student from each campus and the graduate secretary fromn each Department.
In the fall of 1980, the Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Research and Graduate Studies in Chemistry came into being. The name was later condensed to the Ottawa-Carleton Chemistry Institute (OCCI) The OCCI initial Director was Don Wigfield, and the total enrollment was about 90 students. Steady increases in enrollment have occurred over the last 26 years to the present number of approximately 140. Directors of the OCCI with their years in office are shown below:
1980 – 1985 Don Wigfield
1985 – 1987 T Durst
1987 – 1990 J.S.Wright
1990 – 1993 A.G.Fallis
1993 – 1996 G.W.Buchanan
1996 – 1999 R.Roy
1999 – 2002 R.J.Crutchley
2002 – 2005 S.Gambarrotta
2005 – present P.R.Sundararajan
Special Programs in Chemistry
Combined Honours in Chemistry and Geology Started in 1974-75
Combined Honours in Chemistry and Physics Started in 1988-89
Combined Honours in Chemistry and Computer Science Started 1998-99
Honours in Chemistry with Minor in Business Started 1997-98, terminated 2002-03
Honours in Computational Chemistry Started 1998-99
Honours in Chemistry, with concentration in Nanotechnology Started 2007-08
The Institute of Biochemistry Started 1974-75Several members of the Chemistry Department took part in this Institute, and some served as Director (Storey, Tsai, Wigfield)
The Biotechnology Program Started 1985-86
Sponsored Laboratories
Centre for Analytical and Environmental Chemistry was created in 1991 with the help of Varian Canada, who donated or supplied at reduced costs, various pieces of analytical equipment. These included GC, GC/MS, and HPLC systems. Although the Centre ceased to exist in 2006,
Xerox, Inc sponsored a laboratory of Prof Sundararajan for the development of
David Miller’s Lab?
NortelInc, has sponsored Wang’s Lab Nortel Sponsored MORE
Sponsored Events
Varian Day
Varian continues to sponsor the Varian lecture and the Varian Scholarship.
Perhaps the first special event to be established was The ApSimon Synthesis Day.
MORE
Others?