Emily Carr University of Art and Design

Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Motto	Eye Mind and Hand
Established	1925
Type	Art and Design
Chancellor	John (Jake) C. Kerr, CM, OBC, LL.D
President	Dr. Ronald (Ron) Burnett
Provost	Dr. David Bogen
Academic staff	151
Admin. staff	83
Undergraduates	1720 full-time, 310 part-time
Postgraduates	55
Location	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 49°16′14″N 123°8′0″W
Colours	Black      White
Nickname	ECU
Affiliations	CBIE, AICAD
Website	ecuad.ca

Emily Carr University of Art and Design (formerly the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design) is a public post-secondary University located on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Initially established in 1925 as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, it is named after Canadian artist Emily Carr.

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's arms, supporters, flag, and badge were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on April 20, 2007. On April 28, 2008, the Provincial Government announced its intention to amend the University Act at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia to finally recognize Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design as a full university, named Emily Carr University of Art and Design. The university officially began its operation under the new name on September 1, 2008.

History

Emily Carr University of Art and Design, south building, main campus, Granville Island

Emily Carr is one of the oldest post-secondary institutions in British Columbia and the only one that is dedicated to professional education and learning in the arts, media and design. Formerly known as the Vancouver School of Art, it was established in 1925 as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts. In 1978, ECU was designated a provincial institute before moving to Granville Island in 1980. A second building on Granville Island was opened in 1995. In 1995, ECU was granted authority to offer bachelor degrees: BFA and BDes and honorary degrees: Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt), Honorary Doctor of Laws (D.Laws)and Honorary Doctor of Technology (D.Technology). In 1997, ECU was granted authority to offer Bachelor of Media Arts degrees (BMA). In 2006, ECI launched a Master of Applied Arts (MAA) and opened the Intersections Digital Studio. In 2007, the Great Northern Way consortium made up of Emily Carr, UBC, SFU and BCIT launched the Master of Digital Media program (MDM) at the Great Northern Way Campus.

Profile

Emily Carr is dedicated to fostering an educational environment that is professional, practice-oriented and at the same time rooted in history and critical theory. Its three undergraduate degrees in visual arts, media arts and design offer a balance of studio and academic programming. The Master of Applied Arts degree focuses on the specialized skills and knowledge needed to link art, design and media to industry and professional practice while promoting critical reflection and intellectual inquiry.

What students bring to Emily Carr—experience, vision, vitality, energy, discipline and commitment—is balanced by what the University offers in quality, breadth, vision and choice. Students who come to Emily Carr will find themselves working in studios, classrooms, and the concourse gallery, and interning with community groups or at a local company. The co-op program is one of the most active in British Columbia.

Over the last 85 years, the university has had an enormous influence on the development and growth of the arts in Canada and internationally. The alumni and faculty are among the most influential and important artists working in their respective fields. Students go on to careers in many different fields, as well as being accepted into graduate studies in all of the major universities and art institutions in the world.

Emily Carr encourages its students to develop new and innovative ways of thinking and creating within a university-based undergraduate and graduate curriculum. At the same time, we encourage students to prepare themselves for life after school. It is a learning community devoted to excellence and innovation in visual arts, media arts and design. Emily Carr's curriculum is flexible, personal, multidisciplinary and based on the learning needs of students.

Programs

Emily Carr is one of Canada's best known Art and Design institutions specializing in sustainable design^{[citation needed]}, photography, new media, visual arts, media, interactive media, animation, industrial design, product design, ceramics, sculpture, communication design and general fine arts.

The current president of the institute is Dr. Ron Burnett who has been in the position for 14 years.

Current degree programs include:

• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation, Film/Video, Visual Arts, General Fine Arts, or Photography
• Bachelor of Design in Communication Design or Industrial Design
• Bachelor of Media Arts
• Masters of Applied Arts in Visual Arts, Design and Media Arts (2006)

University research

Emily Carr University has recently launched Intersections Digital Studios, a research facility that is unique in Canada. Students and faculty have access to new state-of-the-art equipment such as a motion capture studio for research in animation, ergonomics and interactive entertainment, a CNC machine for cutting prototypes in new shapes and forms, thermal printers, spatial, full-body and flatbed scanners for work in 2D and 3D, a Bailey kiln for proto-typing in ceramics and industrial design, digital HD video cameras, and an Apple Xserve server system for high speed rendering, as well as the more traditional resources available at the University.

In November 2009, Emily Carr University teamed up Lucasfilm spinoff, Kerner Studios, announced the establishment of a stereoscopic 3-D research studio.

These dynamic technologies will significantly expand the capacity for creative exploration, experimentation and innovation. This unique research facility provides a flexible environment where researchers with specialized knowledge in art, design and technology can collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner.

Information technology

Information technology includes e-mail and web access, online registration, library computer workstations, word processing, curriculum labs, digital editing suites, digital prototyping equipment and a completely wireless campus. Smart classrooms are being introduced across the campus. The school’s gigabit LAN is connect to CA*4net, providing an advanced network environment for faculty, students, and staff.

Buildings and features

Interior view of the library in the South Building

The Emily Carr University main campus is located on Granville Island in Vancouver, separated from the downtown peninsula by False Creek. It is composed of two buildings, the South building and the North building, the latter of which was once a flour processing factory.

The University has recently expanded its campus with studio facilities on West 3rd Ave and at the Great Northern Way Campus, an educational consortium operated in conjunction with BCIT, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University on
22 acres (8.90 ha) of downtown land donated to the educational institutions by the Finning Corporation.

There is a student union, and a small radio station, Radio Free Emily. Radio Free Emily can be found at frequency 89.3, but the station's weak signal strength makes it only possible to listen to it on or near Granville Island, or online.

Non-residence

The University does not operate a residence. However, it is located near a large residential area offering a wide range of off-campus housing options and has recently established a student housing website, http://housing.eciad.ca/, to assist students in finding accommodation.

Distinguished alumni

• Arnold Belkin
• Phillip Borsos
• Molly Lamb Bobak
• Neko Case
• Douglas Coupland
• Murray Devlin
• Stan Douglas
• Ann Marie Fleming
• E. J. Hughes
• Donald Jarvis
• Lynn Johnston
• Brian Jungen
• Terence Koh
• Brian Kokoska
• Attila Richard Lukacs
• Jack Shadbolt
• Edith L. Sharp
• Michael Snow
• Heather Spears
• Jeff Chiba Stearns
• Ronald Thom
• Rita Wong

See also

• Higher education in British Columbia
• List of colleges and universities named after people
• List of universities in British Columbia

External links

• Official website
• AUCC Profile