page_title: University of Victoria
section_title: Campus and grounds
hierarchical_section_title: University of Victoria / Campus and grounds
caption_attribution_description: Maxi-Stairs Mini-Bridge of Mystic Vale . READ INFO IN PANORAMIO/COMMENTS
context_page_description: The University of Victoria is a public research university located in the Greater Victoria municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary institution established in British Columbia in 1903. It operated as an affiliated college until 1963 when it was reorganized into the present University of Victoria. UVic has ranked as the second best comprehensive university in Canada for three successive years.
  Its campus is situated 7 km north of Downtown Victoria and is spread over 403 acres. The university operates nine academic faculties and schools including the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business and the Faculties of Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Human & Social Development, Humanities, Law, Science, and Social Sciences.
  It is the nation's lead institution in the VENUS and NEPTUNE deep-water seafloor observatory projects. The university also hosts and leads the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and is home to two Environment Canada labs: the Canadian Center for Climate Modelling and Analysis and the Water and Climate Impacts Research Centre.
context_section_description: With a total area of 403 acres (163 ha) on its main site alone, the campus lies on the border between the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, divided almost perfectly down the centre of campus (with the northeast half being located in Saanich and the southwest half in Oak Bay). This municipal boundary is marked and commemorated by undermount plates and a bronze line near the main quadrangle. Despite its name, no part of the university's main campus is located in the City of Victoria proper. The campus is several hundred feet from the Pacific Ocean at Cadboro Bay.
  The campus of the University of Victoria was originally designed by American architectural firm of Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons, which had previously achieved fame for having completed major buildings at Stanford University and UC Berkeley. The principles and concept of the original design are still being followed, with the academic portions of the campus located inside the Ring Road, forming a perfect circle 600 m (1,969 ft) in diameter. This academic ring is a distinctive feature of the University of Victoria and was intended to foster interaction, intellectual sharing, and collaboration. The area outside of Ring Road hosts important parts of the university, including the residential colleges (now residence halls), Student Union Buildings, sports facilities, as well as some of the newer academic facilities which have expanded outwards in recent years (The Faculties of Law and Theatre for example).
  The following is a list of prominent buildings on the University of Victoria campus:
  Administrative Services Building – Accommodates the university's executive team as well as other administrative functions such as accounting, research services, pension, and payroll.
  World War II Army Facilities – Nine single-storey, wood-frame utilitarian hut facilities from the Second World War (1940) on the northern part of the University of Victoria campus. These structures are retained for their historical significance and are listed on the Registry of Historic Places of Canada
  Bob Wright Centre – Home to the School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, the Department of Chemistry, and the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling & Analysis (CCCMA). Also features the Department of Astronomy dome and telescopes, lecture theatres, offices, meeting rooms, labs, and SciCafe dining outlet.
  Business and Economics Building – Besides the obvious, the Business and Economics building also houses the offices of senior university administrators and contains a student computing facility.
  Campus Services Building – Includes Career Services, the UVic Bookstore, the Computer Store, and the Centre for Accessible Learning
  Clearihue Building – Organized around a central court (or quadrangle), it is home to the Faculty of Humanities, houses the Departments of English, French, Germanic and Slavic Studies, Greek and Roman Studies, Hispanic and Italian Studies, History, Linguistics, Medieval Studies, Pacific and Asian Studies, Philosophy, and Gender Studies.  Contains numerous classrooms as well as student computing facilities, including the Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) facility and the Computer Help Desk. It is the location of the Department of University Systems, which is largely responsible for the systems, networking and support of the university, including student computing facilities and language labs.  Clearihue is the oldest building on campus, originally constructed in 1962 and augmented by an addition in 1971.  It is named after Joseph Clearihue, who was chairman of Victoria College from 1947 until it gained university status in 1963. In 2013, the Clearihue Building underwent a major $15 million redevelopment.
  Cornett Building – A sprawling complex of different courts and staircases, which includes classrooms and houses the Departments of Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology. Cornett building is often described by freshmen undergraduates as being an unrelenting maze.
  Cunningham – Contains the Department of Biology, the Centre for Forest Biology, a herbarium, and numerous specialized rese
caption: The Mystic Vale is a forested ravine acquired by the university in 1993.
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