Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World War II veterans. Carleton was chartered as a university by the provincial government in 1952 through The Carleton University Act, which was then amended in 1957, giving the institution its current name. The university is named after the now-dissolved Carleton County, which included the city of Ottawa at the time the university was founded.
Carleton is organized into six faculties and with more than 65 degree programs. It has several specialized institutions, including the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs, the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, the Carleton School of Journalism, the School of Public Policy and Administration, and the Sprott School of Business.
As of 2021, Carleton yearly enrols more than 27,000 undergraduate and 4,000 graduate students. Carleton has a 150-acre campus located west of Old Ottawa South, close to The Glebe and Confederation Heights. It is bounded to the North by the Rideau Canal and Dow's Lake and to the South by the Rideau River. Carleton has more than 165,000 alumni worldwide, producing 7 Rhodes Scholars, 2 Pulitzer Prize awardees, 8 Killam Prize winners, and several recipients of the Order of Canada. Additionally, the university is affiliated with 53 Royal Society Fellows and members and 3 Nobel laureates. Carleton is also home to 28 Canada Research Chairs, 1 Canada 150 Chair, 13 IEEE Fellows and 10 3M National Teaching Award winners.
Carleton competes in the U Sports league as the Carleton Ravens. The Carleton Ravens men's basketball team has won 16 of 19 national championships since 2003.
History
I learned very early the life lesson that it is people, not buildings, that make up an institution. And if we put our hearts to it we can do something worthwhile. – Henry Marshall Tory
Carleton College (1942–1957) Discussions on establishing a second post-secondary institution in Ottawa began in the fall of 1938 among a committee of members from the local YMCA chapter, who looked to create a school to meet the educational needs of Ottawa's sizeable non-Catholic population. While the Second World War abruptly ended the committee's activities, a new committee was organized by Henry Marshall Tory as the Ottawa Association for the Advancement of Learning at a meeting held in December 1941, with formal incorporation in June 1942.
Established in 1942 as Carleton College, a non-denominational institution, the school began offering evening courses in rented classrooms at the High School of Commerce, now part of the Glebe Collegiate Institute. Classes offered during the first academic year included English, French, history, algebra, trigonometry, chemistry, physics, and biology. With the end of the war in 1945 and return of veterans from the frontlines, the college experienced an unexpected upsurge in student enrolment during the 1945–46 academic year, enrolling about 2,200 new students.
To accommodate increased enrollment, the school rented facilities in various buildings throughout the city, including classrooms at the Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Ottawa Technical High School, and the basements of several local churches. Higher enrolment also gave way to an expansion of the college's academic offerings with the establishment of the Faculty of Arts and Science, and new coursework in journalism and engineering.
In 1946, the college gained possession of its first campus, situated at the corner of Lyon Street and First Avenue in The Glebe neighbourhood. The four-story building was the former location of the Ottawa Ladies' College, which was purchased during the Second World War for use as barracks for the Canadian Women's Army Corps. Carleton's first degrees were conferred in 1946 to graduates of its Journalism and Public Administration programs.