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Vancouver-based gold producer Goldcorp is donating $300,000 to Halifax, NS, Dalhousie University’s Mineral Resource Engineering program to establish a new professorship that will increase teaching capacity, expand program breadth and provide more opportunities for students.
“There is a looming skilled labour shortage in the mining industry,” said Brent Bergeron, senior vice-president, Goldcorp. “We are working to increase the number of new graduates entering this field and we’re confident that Dalhousie can expand on its current track record of graduating top notch mining engineers.”
Goldcorp established a new $300,000 professorship for Dalhousie University’s Mineral Resource Engineering program on April 15th, 2014. The new professorship will increase teaching capacity, expand program breadth and provide more opportunities for students. (L to R): Brent Bergeron (Goldcorp), Josh Leon (Dalhousie), Richard Florzione (Dalhousie), Christine Marks (Goldcorp), Peter Dey (Goldcorp), Donald Jones (beneficiary of professorship, Dalhousie).
Announced Tuesday morning at Dalhousie, the gift will establish the Goldcorp Professorship in Mineral Engineering. It will be held by Donald Jones, a senior professor in Dalhousie’s Mineral Resource Engineering program. The professorship will be focused on curriculum design in particular, expanding Dalhousie’s emphasis on health and safety and environmental aspects of mining engineering. It will also help organize employment recruitment and allow for a new permanent faculty member to be hired with a view to future growth of the Mineral Resource Engineering program.
“Many of our students have done co-op terms at Goldcorp and the company is the current or past employer of many of our graduates,” said Josh Leon, Dean of Dalhousie’s Faculty of Engineering. “We welcome this gift as an opportunity to expand our teaching capacity and to establish a mutually beneficial partnership that will positively impact our students and the program.”
Dalhousie’s Mineral Resource Engineering program is one of the oldest and most respected in the country. In recent years, responding to demand for skilled graduates in the field, the program’s enrollment has increased from 15-20 students per year to 40, increasing pressure on faculty, staff and resources. The Goldcorp Professorship will allow the program to improve its student-faculty ratio and continue to train high-quality grads for careers in fields such as mining, petroleum, government, consulting and others.
The professorship exemplifies Goldcorp’s commitment to education, and to contributing to long-term social and economic benefits in its communities. The company’s vision, “Together, Creating Sustainable Value,” focuses on being a positive catalyst for change by partnering with governments, communities and civil society to support the delivery of programs that make a lasting difference.
About Goldcorp
Goldcorp is one of the world’s fastest growing senior gold producers. Its low-cost gold production is located in safe jurisdictions in the Americas and remains 100% unhedged.
About Dalhousie University
Founded in 1818, Dalhousie University is one of the most established research institutions in Canada, attracting more than 18,500 students from more than 110 countries. Dalhousie blends the finest academic traditions with innovative thinking to provide world-class education and research opportunities in the heart of Halifax, Nova Scotia — just steps away from the Atlantic Ocean — with an Agricultural Campus in Truro/Bible Hill.
