page_title: Carleton University
section_title: Contemporary developments (2000–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Carleton University / History / Carleton University (1957–present) / Contemporary developments (2000–present)
caption_attribution_description: English: Living wall at Richcraft Hall, Carleton University
context_page_description: Carleton University is a public comprehensive university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, a private, non-denominational evening college to serve veterans returning from World War II, it was chartered as a university by the provincial government in 1952 through The Carleton University Act. The legislation was amended in 1957 to give the institution its current name. The university moved to its current campus in 1959, expanding rapidly throughout the 1960s as the Ontario government expanded support for post-secondary institutions and sought to increase access to higher education.
  The university is named for the now-dissolved Carleton County, which included the city of Ottawa at the time the university was founded. Carleton County, in turn, was named in honour of Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, who served as Governor General of The Canadas from 1786 to 1796.
  Carleton has more than 159,000 alumni worldwide and is known for its strength in several disciplines including the humanities, international business, aerospace engineering, international affairs, journalism, political science, and public policy.
context_section_description: The new millennium brightened prospects for Carleton's finances, allowing it to fund the construction of several new buildings during the 2000s.  These include, inter alia, the $30-million construction of new athletics facilities, the $22-million, 9,011 m² (97,000 ft²) Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Institute Facility and Centre for Advanced Studies in Visualization and Simulation (V-SIM), and the $17-million upgrade and expansion to the University Centre. In 2008, a sustainably-designed residence hall was added named Frontenac House, primarily serving returning second-year students. During this decade, Carleton inaugurated its first female President and Vice Chancellor, Roseann Runte in 2008, who served in this position until 2017, resigning to fulfill a new position as President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Runte's leadership also pushed forward the planning and construction of three new academic buildings, Canal Building (2010), and River Building (2011), and the Health Sciences Building (2018), as well as a new residence building, Lennox and Addington House in 2011.
  At the behest of Runte's successor, Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Carleton has continued to pursue several major construction projects, notably the Advanced Research and Innovation and Smart Environments (ARISE) Building, replacing the existing Life Sciences Building, to house applied research in smart technology. The University also moved forward with the construction of the Nicol Building, providing 100,000 square feet of new learning spaces for students in the Sprott School of Business.  The cost of the building was estimated at around $65 million, but was offset through a sizeable donation of $10 million from the late Ottawa real estate developer and Carleton alumnus, Wes Nicol, for whom the building is namesake. The building is slated for completion in 2021.
  In 2018, Carleton purchased the Dominion-Chalmers United Church located in Ottawa's Centretown neighbourhood to serve as a community and cultural hub, and host to artistic performances and academic lectures. The facility represents Carleton's first building situated in Ottawa's downtown area.
caption: Green wall installed in Richcraft Hall
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