P.E.I.’s Schurman family recognized for contribution to the University of Prince Edward Island
When the University of Prince Edward Island's new 48,000 square foot School of Business Administration opens later this year, one of the facility's main features will bear the name of one of the Island's most prominent business families.
The business school's dramatic, two-level entrance will be called the Schurman Market Square in recognition of the contribution made by the Island's well-known Schurman family to UPEI. With its architectural interplay of wood, stone and glass, this multi-functional space is designed to reflect the optimism, excitement and forward-thinking of a 21st-century business environment. A permanent display will highlight the Prince Edward Island Business Hall of Fame and its laureats.
Island businessman Michael Schurman, who is chair of UPEI's $50-million Building a Legacy capital campaign, which is in its final year, is proud of the Island's only university and to have his family's name on the business school's Market Square.
'UPEI is such an important element of the cultural, economic, social and educational life on Prince Edward Island,' he said recently. 'To support the university is the same as supporting the development and growth of the province. It is so easy to support UPEI because it benefits all Islanders.'
UPEI's reputation for excellence in education and research has grown immensely, says Schurman, and it continues to grow, attracting the best in faculty and students.
Contributions to the campaign have allowed the university to improve and expand its infrastructure, create scholarships, and to fund research, particularly in the science and social science fields.
The new business school will provide students with a state-of-the-art learning environment and offer new undergraduate programs such as specializations in entrepreneurship and biotech management, and proposed graduate degrees in innovative management and biotech management. It will also include the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, the Centre for Lifelong Learning, the Tourism Research Centre and the PEI BioAlliance.
The Atlantic Veterinary College has also benefited from the capital campaign. A recently completed 57,000 square foot research complex includes space for animal and human health sciences, workspace for graduate students, and centres of expertise such as the Lobster Science Centre.
'These state of the art facilities, together with the outstanding achievements of UPEI faculty, staff, students and graduates, are putting UPEI on the map,' says Wade MacLauchlan, President of UPEI. 'This could not be done without community support and the generous leadership of donors like Mike Schurman and his family, and we really, really appreciate that.'
Launched in 2003, the Building a Legacy campaign is the most comprehensive and ambitious in the history of UPEI with the goal of raising over $50 million by the end of 2008. The campaign supports capital expansion, graduate research, athletics, new research chairs and other campus-wide improvements.
Photo: Pat and Michael Schurman, their daughters Kim Horrelt (far left) and Margo Thompson (second left), and UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan (right) look over the Schurman Market Square from the second level during a recent tour of the university's new School of Business.
