David Turpin honoured with building renaming

The University of Victoria has renamed the Social Sciences and Mathematics Building to recognize UVic President David Turpin, who stepped down from his position on June 30 after 13 years.

The new name, the David Turpin Building, was revealed at the Shared Achievements event on June 27 when hundreds of faculty, staff and students gathered in the building’s lobby and courtyard to mark the end of the university’s 50th-anniversary year and to say farewell to Turpin.

The 9,090 square metres of office, classroom and research lab space provides for the departments of geography, political science, mathematics and statistics, the School of Environmental Studies and the UVic/Environment Canada Water and Climate Impacts Research Centre (W-CIRC), as well as having lecture theatres and meeting rooms.

Notable for its environmental features, the building has two green roofs and several patio gardens to help insulate and capture rain and moisture, energy-efficient lighting, natural ventilation, facilities for cyclists and the first architectural application of pine-beetle damaged wood in British Columbia, while the courtyard contains the Ian Ross Memorial Garden, a living laboratory of native plants. It opened in 2008 and has gold-level certification from the national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

The university can name facilities or physical assets for honorific purposes in recognition of distinguished members of the university community who have made exceptional or long-term contributions to the development or status of the university.

The university also has buildings or student residences named for former presidents Dr. David Strong, president from 1990 to 2000; Dr. Howard E. Petch, president from 1975 to 1990; Dr. Hugh Ernest Farquhar, president from 1972 to 1974; Robert (Bob) T. D. Wallace, acting president from 1968 to 1969; and Dr. W. Harry Hickman, who served as the University of Victoria’s first acting president from 1963 to 1964.