The roots of Lethbridge College, like the teaching and applied research that happen here every day, are tied to innovation and aspiration. Starting with rented class space at a downtown high school and growing into the bustling campus on the south end of the city today, the college has consistently existed and expanded in response to the needs of the community it serves, both in the immediate area and around the world.
A number of factors contributed to the creation of Canada’s first public community college, including a growing population, the prosperity of post-war southern Alberta and especially the size and wealth of the city of Lethbridge, and the lack of post-secondary educational opportunities in the southern part of the province.
Although the city was growing at an exceptionally quick rate in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the closest post-secondary institution was a 225-kilometer drive away in Calgary. The city risked losing future generations (and its eventual workforce) to the bigger cities to the north.
Even with all of these factors in play, it took the determination of a handful of people to actually turn the idea of a community college into reality. Gilbert Currie Paterson, a teacher-turned-lawyer, was at the heart of the movement to establish the college in Lethbridge. “Education,” Paterson stated, “should assist us not only to make a living but also to make a life. Life, we are told, is not a goblet to be drained but a measure to be filled.”
The support of the surrounding area was also vital to the success of the proposed community college. Mrs. Kate Andrews, who lived down the street from Gilbert Paterson when both were growing up, was to provide the vital link with the surrounding area. If Paterson was the visionary who saw the need and potential, it was Kate Andrews who was able to give substance to the dream. She was deeply committed to education and to the welfare of children and youth.
With the support of other key Lethbridge figures and organizations, including the Lethbridge Herald, the proposal to open Lethbridge Junior College was approved by the provincial government in 1957. Kate Andrews was elected Chairman of the first board, ensuring that rural southern Alberta was well represented in the new school, and Gilbert Paterson was chosen as vice-chair. Respected history teacher W.J. Cousins was named the acting “dean” of the college.
Thirty-eight students enrolled that fall and attended classes in space leased at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute. The first faculty members were asked to teach classes at both the high school and the college.
While the first classes got underway, the board started searching for a permanent site for the college. In the end, the college settled on the Whitney property, 80 acres of land south of the city, and construction began on the first building, which opened in 1962.
Lethbridge Junior College was unique in many ways, including in that it offered and housed both university and non-university courses in the same place in those early years. While the main emphasis was on providing first-year and, in 1965, second-year university courses, R. James Twa was hired to shape the vocational side of the campus. The college’s first technical building opened in 1963, and the science building opened in 1967. That same year, C.D. Stewart was hired as the first president of the college.
In 1964, a push began to open an autonomous university in southern Alberta, and with the July 1966 announcement approving the establishment of the University of Lethbridge, new questions and a bit of concern arose. How would it be organized? Would it be situated on the same campus as the college? What would happen to the college? In the end, after extensive, drawn-out debate, it was decided that the university would be built on the west side of Lethbridge, and that the college would separate its university section from its technical and vocational section.
The institution, which changed its name to Lethbridge Community College in 1969, used the separation as an opportunity to refine its mission and motivations. Up to that point, the main emphasis of the college had been university transfer programs while the technical and vocational programs had been incidental. After the separation, efforts went into developing a true community college concept with an emphasis on one- and two-year career programs that were designed to meet the needs of employers and industry in the southern Alberta region.
Illustrating its continued innovation and awareness of the opportunities new technology offered, the college became the first educational institution in Canada to use a computer to facilitate administrative decisions in April 1972. The pilot project, paid for by the Alberta Colleges Commission, made use of the computer located at NAIT. When the project was finished the college continued to use the computer, soon expanding its use for academic classes, particularly for business.
Other new additions to the campus included a new administration building in 1970; a bank and day care centre in 1974; the student facility known as “The Barn” in 1975; residences in 1977; and a new trades building in 1981; a technology wing in 1983; the College Centre in 1985; the Val Matteotti Gym in 1990; the Instructional Building in 2002; the Kodiak House residence in 2010; and the first phase of a new trades and technologies facility in 2015. The second phase of that facility will open in 2017.
Eight leaders have guided the college as it has grown from the small post-secondary classrooms of 38 students to the thriving campuses of more than 4,000 students today. They are:
- W. James Cousins, Dean, 1957-1963
- Carl B. Johnson, Principal, 1963-1967
- Dr. Charles D. Stewart, 1967-1975
- Donald W. Anderson, 1976-1979
- G. Les Talbot, 1979-1990
- Dr. Donna J. Allan, 1990-2005
- Dr. Tracy L. Edwards, 2005-2012
- Dr. Paula Burns, 2012-present
The college celebrated its 50th anniversary in August 2007 and marked the milestone with another name change, this time to Lethbridge College.
Lethbridge College is proud to celebrate its 60th year in 2017, and is recognizing the anniversary by celebrating the people and partnerships who have made the college what it is today. During this anniversary year, the college is also celebrating its residency on traditional Blackfoot territory, its commitment to Indigenous education and its work to improve its practices to better serve First Nations, Métis and Inuit people. Finally, as part of the anniversary year, the college is celebrating its role in and contributions to the community.
While the college has evolved as the needs of the community changed these last six decades, certain values have remained constant: a dedication to excellent teaching, learning, innovation, and opportunity. Those values should carry the college well into the next century as students from around the region – and around the world – continue to “fill their goblets” with the education and experiences provided in the classrooms and beyond at Lethbridge College.