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Macdonald Campus Building a Healthier and More Prosperous World
{ CASE FOR SUPPORT }
October 2007
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Building a Healthier and More Prosperous World
When Sir William Macdonald founded McGill’s Macdonald College in 1907, he aimed to revolutionize education in what he called the three pillars of society: home, farm and school. One hundred years later, our focus has changed, but Sir William’s vision and passion live on. The massive changes taking place in our world today – climate change, pathogens tainting our food and water, political conflicts caused by water and resource scarcity, the decimation or extinction of species, obesity in the developed world and famine in the developing world – are adding increased urgency to the agricultural and environmental sciences. Researchers and practitioners are in a race against time to discover solutions to maintain clean air, soil and water, to protect biodiversity in ecosystems and to find green alternatives for fossil fuels and CO2- producing crops. With its tradition of pioneering, interdisciplinary work in applied biosciences, food and nutrition and the environment, McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES) on the Macdonald Campus is finding solutions to some of the most urgent problems shaping the 21st century. Agriculture programs in the past focused on basic production: getting the maximum yield from plants or animals. Now, leading faculties such as FAES are focusing on research and training at the cellular and molecular levels to develop:
Value-added products such as foods that provide enhanced nutrition as well as substances that can lead to improved health (functional foods); Plants that can sequester carbon or provide biofuels; Crops that can tolerate droughts require less fertilizer and self-protect against agricultural pests.
The goal is to make it possible to undertake economic crop and animal production without causing soil, air and water pollution, while at the same time producing safe food products that meet the nutrition requirements necessary for healthy populations.
A Century of Making History
From the College’s beginnings in 1907, researchers at Macdonald have made their mark, breeding new, resilient crop varieties that made agriculture more efficient and less risky. In the 1960s, soil scientists Angus MacKenzie and Gerard Millette substantially increased crop yields in Quebec by training farmers to use a scientific approach to land management.
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Around the same time, pioneering animal scientist John Moxley examined both genetic and environmental factors in cattle to dramatically increase milk production in Quebec. The Dairy Herd Analysis Service that he started evolved into Valacta, a Quebec Dairy Production Centre of Expertise that transfers the latest research findings to the province’s dairy producers. From its inception, Mac was producing more than 50 per cent of the country’s PhDs in agricultural studies. Plant pathologist Margaret Newton, BAS’18, one of the first women to graduate from Mac in agriculture, became a national hero when she led the effort to vanquish stem rust, a fungus that attacked wheat and threatened the livelihoods of farmers across the country. John Todd, BSc(Agr)’61, MSc’63, is widely recognized as the inventor of “living machines,” which use plants, bacteria, fish, snails and microbes to clean up waste water in treatment facilities throughout the world. Mac graduates have prospered in sectors outside agriculture as well: in business (scores of executives, including former Suncor Oil CEO Ross Hennigar, BSc(Agr)’51); in academe (Robert Newton, BSA’12, the president of the University of Alberta for almost a decade); and even in literature (one of Canada’s greatest poets, Irving Layton, BSc(Agr)’39, MA’46).
Key Strengths in Teaching and Research
The Faculty, located on the green jewel of the Macdonald Campus, exemplifies McGill’s strengths in multidisciplinary studies and international diversity, while bringing its own unique advantages to the problems facing the developing and developed world.
Factors that set Macdonald apart
Hands-on learning, whether in labs or local/remote field sites, has been a fundamental element of teaching programs at Macdonald for a century. The Faculty’s dedicated financial support for undergraduate research programs allows students to design real-life experiments in a laboratory, field site, clinic or local community, building critical thinking skills and promoting interest in research careers. Interdisciplinary collaboration has long been a defining characteristic of McGill’s academic culture, and FAES is a leader in multidisciplinary research and education, addressing issues that benefit from a wide range of expertise. The McGill School of Environment, a partnership between three faculties including FAES, broadens students’ perspectives on some of the most important problems facing the planet. FAES is also designing new multidisciplinary graduate programs to prepare students to work across disciplinary and national boundaries, in order to find environmental and water management solutions. The “living laboratories” of FAES – protected ecosystems such as the R. Howard Webster Farm Centre, the Morgan Arboretum, the Stoneycroft Wildlife Area and the Molson Reserve – lie in the heart of Montreal’s urban environment. The Faculty’s
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professors and students need only walk out the door to study the impact of climate change, human traffic and urbanization on sensitive terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Mac’s location near daycares, schools and a veterans hospital also provides researchers at the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition with enhanced access to study the human population from cradle to grave. State-of-the-art laboratories, equipment and farm operations, including the newly renovated large- and small-animal research units; the R.H. Webster Centre with specialized research facilities and commercial-based dairy, swine and poultry operations; and the Mary Emily Clinical Nutrition Research Unit.
Benchmarks of Success The impact of Macdonald’s 92 professors, more than 1,300 students and$12.5-million (2005/06) in annual research funding can be readily quantified:
International Research Impact: FAES professors conduct almost $9- million worth of research per year with international partners, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) (Macdonald was designated a UNEP Collaborating Centre in Environmental Impact Assessment in 2003) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Strong and growing demand from prospective students: In contrast to the experience of peer institutions across Canada, undergraduate enrolment at the Macdonald Campus increased by 11 per cent in 2006-2007, a demonstration of the quality and relevance of its curriculum. About 20 per cent of undergraduate and more than 45 per cent of graduate students come from outside Canada. Almost 55 per cent of undergraduates claim a mother tongue other than English, including almost 35 per cent who cite French as their first language. Highly accomplished professors: The quality and intensity of research is reflected in the high number of chairs and distinctions at Mac: nine Canada Research Chairs, one NSERC Northern Chair, six James McGill Professors and four William Dawson Scholars. The McGill and Dawson awards are the highest honour McGill bestows on its faculty members.
Innovative research centres, laboratories and networks We live in a time in which complex problems require complex thinking across many disciplines – and that reaches out beyond the campus to involve partners throughout the economy and around the world. Macdonald’s networks of expertise reach across both McGill’s campuses, throughout McGill’s health sciences network, into the broader community and around the world.
The Brace Centre for Water Resources Management undertakes research, teaching and specialized training in water resources management in Quebec, Canada and internationally. Dean Chandra Madramootoo was the Centre’s founding director; The Green Crop Network, led by plant scientist Don Smith, brings Canada’s top plant researchers together with the federal government and industry partners to come up with new ways to use crops to reduce greenhouse gases, provide alternative energy sources and mitigate climate change;
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The Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions studies the mechanisms of parasitic pathogenesis and host defence and the molecular basis of drug resistance. Dr. Roger Prichard and his team of graduate students published a study in June 2007 showing that a 20-year effort to control the spread of river blindness in Africa is threatened by the development of drug resistance in the parasite that causes the disease; The Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment develops research and education programs to address concerns about traditional food systems of Aboriginal peoples around the world; in a project for International Polar Year (IPY), Grace Egeland’s work concentrates on how the Inuit will adapt to changes including climate, globalization and Westernization; The Sustainable Forest Management Network, directed by Tomlinson Professor of Forest Ecology Jim Fyles, brings together government, industry, academia, Aboriginal groups and NGOs to develop integrated sustainable forest management practices; The Collaborating Centre in Environmental Assessment – North America’s only university member in the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) – strengthens global capacity in sustainable development, environmental assessment and integrated assessment. In January 2007, the new Environmental Assessment master’s program was launched to train students in sustainable development, environmental stewardship and human well-being as part of Macdonald’s work with UNEP; Valacta, the Quebec Dairy Production Centre of Expertise, stimulates the advancement of knowledge for producers in Quebec. This was a Macdonald spin-off company dedicated to improving Quebec’s dairy industry, initially led by Macdonald Emeritus Professor John Moxley. Their research information is sought both nationally and internationally; The specialized research facilities and commercial-based dairy, swine and poultry operations at the R.H. Webster Centre, and the Mary Emily Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, Canada’s only site that enables strict, in-house monitoring and testing of research subjects over prolonged periods while they consume diets prepared in-house, maximize the impact of research and teaching at Macdonald.
Global Leadership in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
To find the next generation of solutions, the Faculty is building on three new pillars of strength:
Create an inexpensive, clean, safe and secure food supply system that extends from the field to the plate; Develop concrete solutions to protect biodiversity and ensure clean water, air and soil; Identify the links between nutrition and human health, to address the obesity and diabetes crisis (particularly in the developed world) and the links between under- nutrition, infant mortality, poor educational outcomes, increased morbidity, parasites and human health (with emphasis on the developing world).
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In the coming years, the Faculty will enhance its global leadership in teaching, research and community service in these three areas, by focusing on the following strategies:
Recruit and retain outstanding faculty, particularly in the applied biosciences, biotechnology, food and nutritional sciences, and environmental sciences; Collaborate more with other faculties to broaden the curriculum, creating a more entrepreneurial and well-rounded graduate who can better address complex and shifting challenges in environment, agriculture, food, nutrition and human health; Broaden the strong science foundation of undergraduate programs to include newer fields such as proteomics, genomics and bioinformatics, to prepare students for a job market where biotechnology is increasingly important; Collaborate more with international organizations and local industries in the fields of pharmaceutical, bioprocessing and life sciences, and support McGill spin-off companies to bring Mac innovations to the larger world; Broaden the national and international reach of student recruitment, particularly in the newly redesigned freshman program; Strengthen field research, particularly in the developing world, to create international centres of excellence in water resource management and human nutrition.
Campaign McGill and the Macdonald Campus
The Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is poised to lead the study of the environment, food, nutrition and agriculture into the future. But to fulfill Mac’s unique potential, further investment is needed.
1. Endowed Chairs Government programs and endowed chairs have enabled McGill to recruit close to 800 new professors since 2000, and retain many more of its stars, but the international war for talent is only intensifying. Macdonald has identified five positions, each requiring an endowment of $3- million, where the development of new endowed chairs is critical to the success of teaching and research: in Nutrition and Health Promotion; Water Resources Management; Sustainable Ecosystem Management; Food Toxicology. Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $12-million in new endowments to establish these Chairs.
2. Graduate Student Support Graduate students are a defining strength, central to Macdonald’s academic excellence, its multidisciplinary endeavours, its ability to recruit and retain distinguished faculty and its strategy to advance undergraduate education. Fortunately, Macdonald’s reputation, location and interdisciplinary research strengths are very attractive to potential graduate students. Unfortunately, the Faculty’s current level of support is often not. Strong action is needed to secure Mac’s ability to compete with the world’s leading public universities for graduate
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students. Macdonald is seeking to increase its graduate student support through Campaign McGill. Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $4-million to support graduate students.
3. Undergraduate Student Support Macdonald is proud of the growing demand for its undergraduate programs throughout Quebec, across Canada and around the world. The strong entering grades of Macdonald students and the diverse nature of the student body are key sources of strength. At the same time, the Faculty requires additional resources, to ensure it can compete with peer universities in other jurisdictions for the very best undergraduate students. Additional funding is also required to enable the Faculty to offer a Macdonald experience to potential students with the talent and drive to succeed here, regardless of their financial circumstances. Targeted funding is necessary to support students who wish to participate in internship programs or take part in international field semester programs. Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $1.2-million in new funding to support undergraduate students.
4. Strengthening Macdonald’s Academic Infrastructure Campaign McGill is focused primarily on people and programs. New infrastructure is, however, also required to support undergraduate and graduate education, enhance the farm and arboretum, build a bioprocessing pilot plant, complete the newly renovated Library and Learning Centre and construct an innovative food and dietetics teaching facility. Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $1.25- million for new academic infrastructure.
5. Community Outreach Service to society was one of the three pillars that motivated Sir William Macdonald to found Macdonald College in 1907. Macdonald’s community outreach programs encourage good nutrition practices in impoverished communities and prevent nutrition-related problems. In addition to making a tangible contribution to public health, these programs encourage students for a lifetime of community service, and place their education within a broader social context. Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $500,000 in endowments to increase the breadth and scope of this high-impact program.
For more than 100 years, Macdonald Campus has nurtured talented students and innovative ideas to benefit society. Now it is working to attract and retain the best experts, increase its student base, broaden collaborations in research and education, and strengthen its programs. Campaign McGill will provide the support Macdonald requires to develop effective solutions to resource scarcity, food and nutrition, climate change and the other complex issues threatening the health and welfare of our planet and its inhabitants.
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