John Abbott College

John Abbott College
Motto	Lakeside view, global vision.
Established	1971
Type	public CEGEP
Dean	Erich Schmedt
Director General	Ginette Sheehy
Admin. staff	700+
Students	7000[1]
Undergraduates	pre-university, technical, and continuing education students
Location	Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada Coordinates: 45°24′20.68″N 73°56′30.56″W / 45.4057444°N 73.9418222°W / 45.4057444; -73.9418222
Campus	suburban (1,600 acres or 650 hectares)
Sports teams	Islanders and Lady Islanders
Colours	gold      & blue
Nickname	JAC, The Country Club
Mascot	Islanders
Affiliations	McGill University, ACCC, CCAA, QSSF, CBIE
Website	johnabbott.qc.ca
The Herzberg building.

John Abbott College is an English-language general and professional educational college (CEGEP) located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, near the western tip of the Island of Montreal.^[1] The enabling legislation is the General and Vocational Colleges Act ^[2]

History

Sir John Abbott

The college was accredited in 1970 and opened the next year. It is housed in early 20th-century buildings on a 1,600 acres (650 ha) campus shared with McGill University's Macdonald College. The college is named after Sir John Abbott, Canada's third prime minister, and former Mayor of Montreal who owned a country estate in nearby Senneville.^[3] Abbott was rated as a "failure" as a Canadian prime minister by historians J.L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer. He is most remembered for his role in the Pacific Scandal, the political corruption case which brought down the government of Sir John A. Macdonald in 1873.

Macdonald College's Main Building in the 1940's

The college originally planned to build a new campus in Pointe-Claire next to Fairview Pointe-Claire. It "temporarily" moved into buildings on the Macdonald College campus that had been vacated the previous year by McGill's Faculty of Education when it moved to its downtown campus. Additional temporary facilities were rented on Hymus Boulevard in Kirkland, known as the Kirkland Campus. A shuttle bus connected the two campuses. In 1973, the college decided to consolidate the college in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue by constructing a new building (subsequently named the Casgrain Centre) and renovating the existing buildings. The Kirkland Campus closed in December 1979, and the construction and renovations were completed in 1981.

It remained the last college in Quebec renting its campus until 2002, when it bought its buildings from the University. McGill University still owns and operates the majority of the land on campus.

Campus

Housed in century-old renovated buildings in historic Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, the college has been long recognized as a prominent landmark in Montreal’s West Island community.

Characterized by its tiled roofs and red brick buildings, the college is situated on the shores of Lake Saint-Louis. With its distinctive architecture, trees and rolling green lawns in a charming semi-rural setting, the college’s campus has earned a reputation for being one of the most beautiful in the CEGEP network.

There are a total of ten buildings on campus, all of which are connected to each other in some fashion (with the exception of Brittain Hall).

Brittain Hall

Brittain Hall houses the continuing education centre of the college, and honours the memory of Dr. W. H. Brittain, former Vice Principal of Macdonald College. It was a men's residence until 1981. Most of the building remains closed due to severe damage caused by a fire in 1981.

Casgrain Centre

The Casgrain Centre houses the sports complex, as well as the theatre and art studios of the college, and is named in honour of Thérèse Casgrain, a former Canadian senator who was an advocate for the women's suffrage movement.

The Casgrain building also houses the Munch Box. It is the smaller of the two cafeteria areas on campus, and it offers a fast-food type menu as well as Starbucks coffee. The building also houses a large student lounge along with the student Agora (named after the ancient Greek meeting place), an indoor multi-use area for hosting trade fairs, musical performances, movie screenings, exhibitions, and other student-related events and activities.

Herzberg building

The Herzberg building is the central building on campus, housing classrooms and labs for a variety of subjects including math, chemistry, physics, biology, and nursing. The building is also home to essential student services, such as the college library, the Oval coffeehouse, offices for various clubs, the Print Services office, as well as offices for both the Director General and the Academic Dean.

Other student services located in the Herzberg building include the Aboriginal Student Resource Centre, Academic Advising, Counselling services, the Cultural Diversity office, the Employment Centre, the Financial Assistance office, the Health and Wellness Centre, the Learning Centre, Legal Advisory Services, the Registrar’s office, Special Needs Services, Student Activities, Student Services, Student Success Services, and the University and Career Information Centre.

The building is named in honour of Gerhard Herzberg, a pioneering German Canadian physicist and physical chemist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1971.

Hochelaga building

The Hochelaga building houses classrooms for a variety of courses, including history, economics, political science, humanities, philosophy, religion, psychology and sociology, as well as program-specific courses for business administration, commerce, correctional intervention, information and library technologies, and police technology programs.

The building was given the native name for the city of Montreal, in honour of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples.

Penfield building

The Penfield building houses classrooms for English, creative arts, French, foreign language and geography courses. It also houses a number of professional programs, including the computer science, engineering technologies, Pre-hospital emergency care and publication design and hypermedia technology.

The building houses an auditorium, as well as the offices of the Student Union (SUJAC) and the John Abbott College Faculty Association (JACFA). The Pedagogical Computer Centre (PCC) is located on the third floor of the building, home to labs with the necessary materials to conduct courses requiring student computer use.

The building is named after Dr. Wilder Graves Penfield, a famous American born Canadian neurosurgeon.

Stewart Hall

Stewart Hall is home to a small number of classrooms, the college bookstore, the college cafeteria, as well as administrative offices and the college boardroom.

The building honours the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Stewart, benefactors to Macdonald College.

Other buildings

Stewart East is connected to the eastern side of the Stewart Apartments, and is home to classrooms for the dental hygiene program and the college’s own dental clinic.

Jones Building is located between the library and Hochelaga. While floor plans indicate that it was once possible to access the building from Hochelaga, it now must be accessed from the outside. It is home to the department of Geography and Geosciences.

The college is also planning on building a new, $50 million, Science & Technology building on campus, as well as beginning major renovations to most of the existing buildings [1].

The college is located within walking distance of the village of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, where several restaurants, bars and coffee shops cater to the student population.

Students

Bike rack, summer 2007.

Composition

Approximately 6000 students are enrolled in the Day Division and about 2100 are in the Continuing Education Division. The college primarily serves the western end of the Montreal metropolitan area, although it also has students from other parts of Quebec, the rest of Canada and approximately one hundred international students (mostly from Germany).

Stewart Apartments

The Stewart Apartments are co-educational residences for full-time students attending John Abbott College. They are the only student residences in the Montreal area that are directly operated by a public English-language CEGEP.

Student Union

The Student Union of John Abbott College (SUJAC) promotes and defends students' rights and interests. SUJAC is the official liaison between the students and the college, representing students on committees, organizing student events, and overseeing the allocation of certain student fees for the various clubs that operate throughout the college. SUJAC works on behalf of students and informs them on relevant issues and college matters. While every John Abbott College student is a member of the Student Union, SUJAC consists of the Executive and Congress.

Student life

The college community offers a variety of extracurricular activities (see webpage). The college operates its own radio station, CSKY radio. This radio station gives students opportunity to explore the world of broadcasting. Also, the student newspaper, known as Bandersnatch, has been published biweekly since the college's establishment in 1971.

Athletics

The Casgrain Sport Centre is the home to the John Abbott College Islanders and Lady Islanders who compete in basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, baseball, soccer, rugby, football, tennis and hockey.

Sports teams

John Abbott College has several sports teams named Islanders. The baseball team The Islanders finished second in the 2006 Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association's Northern Conference.^[4] The men's soccer team John Abbott College Islanders won semi-final in the 2000 provincial championship in overtime.^[5] The John Abbott Football team also boasted their best season in the CEGEP football league since winning the 2002 Bowl D'Or in 2007. Upsetting preseason favorite Andre-Grasset to clinch 2nd spot in their division. Their play was led by Selwyn House School graduates Samer Balagi and Phil Cutler, the Islanders regained much of their respect that had been lost in recent years throughout the CEGEP football leagues.^[6] There had been much speculation about folding the JAC football program following back to back 2-8 and 1-9 seasons in '05 & '06. However their recent success ensured that the program would remain around at least for the near future.^[7]

Media events

• John Abbott College students and twins Catherine and Isabelle Bourassa appeared in Playboy's March 1999 college edition.
• In the 8th season of The Amazing Race, teams had to travel to the McGill portion of the campus to engage in the sport of curling at Glenfinnan Rink.
• The movie Satan's School for Girls (2000) was shot at the college.
• A five minute scene was filmed on campus for the feature film Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) near the Stewart Hall entrance, and inside the lobby of the Herzberg building.
• Most of the interior and exterior shots of the high school in the movie The Secret (2007), starring David Duchovny, were filmed on campus.
• The Spike series "Blue Mountain State" was filmed on campus.
• The "Punisher Warzone" filmed some pyrotechnic stunts in the Britain Hall building.
• Big wolf on Campus, outside shots of the school

See also

• Higher education in Quebec
• List of universities in Quebec
• Canadian Interuniversity Sport
• Canadian government scientific research organizations
• Canadian university scientific research organizations

English-language CEGEPs:

• Champlain
• Dawson College
• Heritage College
• John Abbott College
• Marianopolis College
• Vanier College

References

• Official website

1. ^ ^{a b} "Canada's Higher Education and Career Guide", canadian-universities.net
2. ^ http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php? General and Vocational Colleges Act
3. ^ "Who was John Abbot?", official website
4. ^ "JAC baseball now on the map". The Chronicle. 8 November 2006. http://www.westislandchronicle.com/article-50276-JAC-baseball-now-on-the-map.html. 
5. ^ "John Abbott College Islanders (Men)", National soccer championships 2000, Langara College
6. ^ "John Abbott Football Results". The Montreal Gazette. 25 October 2007. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/westisland/story.html?id=982bf9cd-f397-42ee-b2f3-02d4ff49d0cb. 
7. ^ "John Abbott come from behind". The Montreal Gazette. 1 November 2007. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/westisland/story.html?id=81b93da8-76ee-4e30-8d68-58cd38283d1b.