Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

For more than 100 years, Macdonald Campus has nurtured talented students and innovative ideas to benefit society. Now it is working to attract and retain the best experts, increase its student base, broaden collaborations in research and education, and strengthen its programs. Campaign McGill will provide the support Macdonald requires to develop effective solutions to resource scarcity, food and nutrition, climate change and the other complex issues threatening the health and welfare of our planet and its inhabitants.

1. Endowed Chairs

Government programs and endowed chairs have enabled McGill to recruit close to 800 new professors since 2000, and retain many more of its stars, but the international war for talent is only intensifying. Macdonald has identified five positions, each requiring an endowment of $3- million, where the development of new endowed chairs is critical to the success of teaching and research: in Nutrition and Health Promotion; Water Resources Management; Sustainable Ecosystem Management; Food Toxicology.

Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $12-million in new endowments to establish these Chairs.

2. Graduate Student Support

Graduate students are a defining strength, central to Macdonald’s academic excellence, its multidisciplinary endeavours, its ability to recruit and retain distinguished faculty and its strategy to advance undergraduate education. Fortunately, Macdonald’s reputation, location and interdisciplinary research strengths are very attractive to potential graduate students. Unfortunately, the Faculty’s current level of support is often not. Strong action is needed to secure Mac’s ability to compete with the world’s leading public universities for graduate 300 students. Macdonald is seeking to increase its graduate student support through Campaign McGill.

Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $4-million to support graduate students.

3. Undergraduate Student Support

Macdonald is proud of the growing demand for its undergraduate programs throughout Quebec, across Canada and around the world. The strong entering grades of Macdonald students and the diverse nature of the student body are key sources of strength. At the same time, the Faculty requires additional resources, to ensure it can compete with peer universities in other jurisdictions for the very best undergraduate students. Additional funding is also required to enable the Faculty to offer a Macdonald experience to potential students with the talent and drive to succeed here, regardless of their financial circumstances. Targeted funding is necessary to support students who wish to participate in internship programs or take part in international field semester programs.

Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $1.2-million in new funding to support undergraduate students.

4. Strengthening Macdonald’s Academic Infrastructure

Campaign McGill is focused primarily on people and programs. New infrastructure is, however, also required to support undergraduate and graduate education, enhance the farm and arboretum, build a bioprocessing pilot plant, complete the newly renovated Library and Learning Centre and construct an innovative food and dietetics teaching facility.

Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $1.25-million for new academic infrastructure.

5. Community Outreach

Service to society was one of the three pillars that motivated Sir William Macdonald to found Macdonald College in 1907. Macdonald’s community outreach programs encourage good nutrition practices in impoverished communities and prevent nutrition-related problems. In addition to making a tangible contribution to public health, these programs encourage students for a lifetime of community service, and place their education within a broader social context.

Campaign McGill and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are seeking $500,000 in endowments to increase the breadth and scope of this high-impact program.