The University of Ottawa (French: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on 42.5 hectares (105 acres) in the heart of Ottawa's Downtown Core, adjacent to the residential neighbourhood of Sandy Hill, adjacent to Ottawa's Rideau Canal. The University of Ottawa was first established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the first bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, Joseph-Bruno Guigues. Placed under the direction of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, it was renamed the College of Ottawa in 1861 and received university status five years later through a royal charter. On 5 February 1889, the university was granted a pontifical charter by Pope Leo XIII, elevating the institution to a pontifical university. The university was reorganized on July 1, 1965, as a corporation, independent from any outside body or religious organization. As a result, the civil and pontifical charters were kept by the newly created Saint Paul University, federated with the university. The remaining civil faculties were retained by the reorganized university.The University of Ottawa is the largest English-French bilingual university in the world. The university offers a wide variety of academic programs, administered by ten faculties including the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, the Telfer School of Management, and the University of Ottawa Faculty of Social Sciences. The niversity of Ottawa Library includes 12 branches, holding a collection of over 4.5 million titles. The university is a member of the Canadian U15 group of research-intensive universities, with a research income of CA$324.581 million in 2017.The school is co-educational and enrolls over 35,000 undergraduate and over 6,000 post-graduate students. The school has approximately 7,000 international students from 150 countries, accounting for 17 per cent of the student population. The university has a network of more than 195,000 alumni. The university's athletic teams are known as the Gee-Gees and are members of U Sports.The university was established on 26 September 1848 as the College of Bytown by the first Roman Catholic bishop of Ottawa, Joseph-Bruno Guigues. He entrusted administration to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The college was originally located in Lower Town, housed in a wooden building next to the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica. However, space quickly became an issue for administrators, triggering two moves in 1852 and a final move to Sandy Hill in 1856. The Sandy Hill property was donated by Louis-Theodore Besserer, where he offered a substantial parcel from his estate for the college.[8] The college was renamed College of Ottawa in 1861, following the city's name change from Bytown to Ottawa. In 1866, the college received its first charter, as well as university status, making it the final institution in Canada to receive a Royal Charter from London before the British North America Act, 1867 made education a provincial responsibility. By 1872 the university had already begun to confer undergraduate degrees, with master's degrees coming in 1875 and doctoral degrees in 1888. On 5 February 1889, the university was granted a pontifical charter from Pope Leo XIII, elevating the university to a pontifical university.The university faced a crisis when fire destroyed the main building on 2 December 1903. After the fire, the university hired New York architect A. O. Von Herbulis to design its replacement, Tabaret Hall. It was among the first Canadian structures to be completely fireproof, built of reinforced concrete. Women first enrolled in 1919. Tabaret Hall under construction in 1903 (completed in 1905). Construction began earlier in the year after fire destroyed the university's main building.In the fall of 1939, a Canadian Officer Training Corp was established at the university, with training beginning in January 1940. The Canadian Officers' Training Corps, University of Ottawa Contingent, which comprised a company, headquarters and three platoons in 1939, was authorized to become a battalion in 1940. By 1941, the unit swelled to 550 men. An air force Officers' Training Corp was created in 1942 and a naval Officers' training corp in 1943. Participation in one of the three corps became mandatory for all students over 18, although they were not obliged to participate in the actual war at the end of their studies. During this time, the Royal Canadian Air Force used parts of the university's grounds for training and the university constructed barracks to house members of the Canadian Women's Army Corps. In total 1,158 students and alumni of the university enrolled the Canadian Forces during the Second World War, of which 50 died overseas. The unit was eventually disbanded during the unification of the Armed Forces in 1968.The Ottawa architecture firm of Burgess, McLean & MacPhadyen designed the Eastern Ontario Institute of Technology (later to merge with the Ontario Vocational Centre and renamed Algonquin College), opened its new Rideau Campus on a 12-acre city owned Lees Avenue site in 1964. After being unused for a number of years, the midcentury academic complex was sold to the University of Ottawa in January 2007.Created in 1967 as the University Archives, our unit’s title changed to Records and Archives Management in 2018 (AC Feb. 14, 2018). Since December of 2019 we have been known as the Information and Archives Management Service. Our unit is responsible for the effective management of all information produced or collected by the University of Ottawa community. Here is some of what we do:Provide tools for employees to help them manage their informationProvide research support for archival materialEnsure the preservation and accessibility of University information throughout its lifecycleThe university was reorganized on 1 July 1965 as a corporation independent from any outside body or religious organization, becoming publicly funded. As a result, the civil and pontifical charters were transferred to the newly created Saint Paul University, federated with the corporation, while the remaining civil faculties were retained by the reorganized university. In 1970, 100 Laurier East became property of the University of Ottawa, acquired at a cost of $1,120,900. Previously named Juniorat du Sacré-Coeur, the property became the university's oldest building after it was acquired. At a cost of $28,000, it was built by Joseph Bourque, a Hull contractor and church builder, and completed in 1894. The Juniorat du Sacré-Coeur provided classical education for young men who wished to pursue a religious life and join the Order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The building was expanded in 1937, an expansion that was indistinguishable from the original structure. The huge cross that used to dominate the top of the building was removed after its purchase, leaving only small references to the building's religious history as the Juniorat du Sacré-Coeur. The property now houses the university's department of Visual Arts. It is located at the corner of Laurier Avenue and Cumberland Street, near the Rideau Canal.
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