NAIT’s west end Patricia Campus celebrates 50th anniversary

Long-time instructors look back on a half-century of teaching and learning

If NAIT made much fanfare about the opening of Patricia Campus 50 years ago, there’s little record of it.

In his September 1976 welcome message in the Nugget student newspaper, NAIT president G.W. Carter merely mentions the newly opened building as part of a group of “satellite campuses.”

Scant details preceded that note more than a year earlier, in another (much shorter) Nugget story.

In March 1975, it reported, the Alberta government acquired an 80,000-square-foot space (the equivalent of almost five NHL rinks) in Edmonton’s west end.

It was to accommodate 750 apprentices in sheet metal, construction, heavy duty mechanics and auto body.

The campus would be used only until “NAIT’s onsite expansion program is complete,” when the growing population of trades students could return to Main Campus.

They never did.

Fifty years later, Patricia Campus is busier than ever. On a December morning, at a celebration of the facility’s half-century anniversary, the classrooms, labs and shops are full of apprentices and students. The cafeteria smells of coffee and buzzes with conversation.

Overall, the place has an unmistakable air of purpose and – in what might have been a surprise to some – permanence.

Renowned, dynamic and … temporary?

As students and then staff, Robert Csolle (Steamfitter/Pipefitter '93, Plumber '88, Gasfitter '88) and David Hughes (Steamfitter/Pipefitter ’99, Gasfitter ’81, Plumber ’81) were convinced from the start that Patricia Campus was built to last.

A plumber instructor of more than 20 years at the campus, Csolle (below) recalls being impressed by the campus during his days as an apprentice in the mid-1980s.

Even then, he says, “NAIT was one of the leading technical institutions in the industry.” Student labs “were state-of-the-art, and renowned throughout Western Canada.”

Hughes agrees, noting that many of those labs haven’t changed much, other than equipment updates. From the day they opened, “the shops were set up properly and it was a great environment in which to learn,” he says.

But the campus was nevertheless dynamic.

After starting as an instructor, Hughes (below) moved into leadership, and worked at advancing the campus. Strong ties between it and industry helped him secure frequent donations for teaching, be those boilers to practise on, plastic fittings to piece together, a sea can of toilets to install, and much more.

Hughes also introduced technology to classrooms, outfitting instructors with tablets and even building a network to link the devices to digital projectors, leaving behind the age of acetate sheets on overheads.

Throughout it all, says Csolle, the building expanded to meet demand. During his time in industry before joining NAIT, for example, he worked on an addition to house programs such as Insulator.

In fact, growth eventually saw Hughes set up in offices in a building across the street.

“They were adding on to a ‘temporary’ building,” says Csolle.

Over the years, Patricia Campus has produced tens of thousands of apprentices – more than 60,000 in the last 25 years alone.

It’s a quiet but significant accomplishment by a facility one could unknowingly drive past on the way to the nearby Costco – the better known but far younger landmark Hughes relied on to help people find the place.

Part of the “fabric of NAIT”

While students came and went, and facilities and programming evolved, Csolle sees two main things as constants at Patricia Campus.

One is the casual collegiality of its small, close community. Staff from different programs know each other by name, he says. And “any student can stop any instructor in the hall and ask for help.”

The other constant is “the desire and the satisfaction of instructors” upon seeing a concept understood by a student.

For Csolle, whenever he’s seen “the lights come on” was when he felt as though he “got paid” for the work, and purpose, of teaching.

Matt Lindberg-Fowlow (Plumber ’01), dean of the School of Construction and Building Sciences considers the outcome of that work to be tangible as much as cognitive. As proof, he points to the ongoing growth of the city and province, which NAIT-educated apprentices drive.

“Looking back on everything that Patricia Campus has accomplished, I am so proud of everybody that has contributed to the success of students,” says Lindberg-Fowlow, also a student and later an instructor at the campus. “They’re doing it because they love it.”

After 50 years, the dean adds, the campus is anything but temporary. "Patricia Campus is a place that has shaped careers, it has built families of learners and instructors, and become part of the fabric of NAIT.

“It’s a humble campus, but it’s tried, tested and true.”