“We have facilities and labs as resources, and we can work on partnerships in the community without sending staff and students to Halifax or out of province,” he said. “There are researchers available and there are so many ideas and partnerships created. It’s so amazing.” The work Acadia does with industry partners is important to the school and critical to the area, according to Falkenham. “There are great things happening locally, especially with the wine industry in the area. We also deal with traditional agricultural products, but we have space for wine analytics testing,” he said. “This multi-level instrumentation work for testing wasn’t available before. This hub for research is huge, and it’s good for the valley and Acadia. It’s good for Nova Scotia, frankly.”
The constructionwas doneon a tight timeline, between April and September, and the 150,000 square feet infrastructure work was a $26 million project. “We were working largely around occupied facilities, and we had great opportunities to get input and have people identify issues in the building. In the end we produced something so many were happy with.” Acadia University works with funding agencies like Springboard Atlantic and NSERC to make innovation and partnerships possible. They are the leading small university in attracting research funding. “I work on industry engagement, and attempt to find partners Acadia can work with,” says lawyer and director of the Office of Industry and Community Engagement Leigh Huestis. Her work as a lawyer allows her to work with intellectual property, patents and contracts with those she’s involved in, and she sees Acadia as having great economic impact in the community. “Companies, government or community organizations may want to do research, and we can help facilitate that work,” she said. “We find the right expertise, faculty, students, infrastructure and facilities to help with the needs of industry partners.” For Huestis, she says there’s an idea that universities are seen as “up on the hill,” and inaccessible to some, but she says Acadia is an open community. “We want that connection with researchers, and it’s not all about deep, dark labs. It’s about marketing and helping Wolfville become a better community. It’s unbelievable what we can achieve,” she said. Acadia incorporates research into education. When students work with industry partners, do co-ops and provide such value to the community, it makes them so attractive to employers.
Nearby Huggins Hall, attached to Elliott, needed work on its exterior. “With Huggins, our problem was the exterior of the structure. There were extreme aesthetic challenges and brutalist architecture. The thermal inefficiencies were cruel, with little insulation,” he said. “We added 15,000 square feet, and the exterior frame from before became the new interior frame. We installed a curtain wall assembly and brickwork, and though it’s still neoclassical, it’s more modern and fits better with our campus.” He said seeing students in Huggins with additional common space is amazing, and the original six-foot corridors have been nearly doubled. “People can gather and study, and this entire pavilion really has become a hub for our staff and students,” he said. Work was done to improve accessibility between Huggins and Elliott, and the pavilion allowed for four industry partner labs, more teaching space and a common area. This is now a 150,000 square foot complex. It has been well received, and we always see it full of students. “This multi-level instrumentation work for testing wasn’t available before. This hub for research is huge, and it’s good for the valley and Acadia. It’s good for Nova Scotia, frankly.”
“For Acadia, what stands out is that we’re a small university accomplishing so much. Our campus and community have huge appeal, and students want to have an impact in the community. Acadia is so tied into Wolfville.”
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JULY 2019
47 JULY 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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