Industrialist Gives $20 Million
to University of British Columbia
A University of British Columbia alumnus has given the school $20 million—the largest capital gift in the university’s history—to transform its 77-year-old campus library into a 24-hour, high-tech facility serving anyone, anywhere.
Irving K. Barber, who built a forest-industry empire in small towns throughout British Columbia, said he wanted to establish a learning facility accessible to people in remote areas. “I have created some disposable income and I wanted to find a responsible way to inject this income back into the roots of British Columbia, so that it remains available, on a productive basis, to the widest range of people,” he said in the October 4 Canadian National Post.
With additional funding from grants of $30 million from the university and $10 million from the provincial government, the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre will feature open computer labs, smart classrooms, video conferencing, laptops for loan, and wireless technology.
Posted October 14, 2002.
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