St. Mary’s University in Calgary is poised to significantly grow its student population and campus space over the next several years.

First, the Catholic higher education institution will take over and lease the nearby Father Lacombe Care Centre as that long-term health-care society, led by the Sisters of Providence, has plans to relocate to a different facility (the Sisters will maintain ownership of the current building).

“We are going to double the size of our campus physically,” said Dr. Scott Morrison, the interim president and vice-chancellor of St. Mary’s. “We will add a little bit more than 80 residences — we’ve never had residences here before. We will add 10 new classrooms, and that building probably has the space for 20 to 25 administrative spaces. What it means is we have the facilities to expand pretty close to 2,000 (students). We’re around 1,000 now.”

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The new residences are indeed a standout element of the new growth plan — one of the three phases is public knowledge — as it could help entice aspiring undergraduate scholars from outside of Calgary to give St. Mary’s a closer look. The possibility of securing living space on campus is more appealing than having to navigate the city’s apartment rental market.

St. Mary’s is poised to take charge of the Father Lacombe Care Centre in January 2028, and the plan is for the renovations to be complete in time for September of that year. Much of the funding has already been raised.  

Another major phase one project is building a new tension fabric structure — a dome — for a gymnasium with two full-sized basketball courts, and a gathering space for liturgies and other events.

“It is just really exciting because we’ve never had a gymnasium,” said Morrison. “We have some of the finest programs around the country that are nationally ranked, but we don’t have a gym. Our athletes leave campus to play their games and practices.

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“What we’ve been saying is we want to give our students a home in the form of the residences, and we want to bring our athletes home in the form of the dome.”

Shovels are expected in the ground for the dome starting this spring, and this is key, said Morrison, as tangible signs of phase one progressing will excite stakeholders more for the phase two and three expansion plan announcements in early 2027.  

“This institution has been talking about a physical expansion for decades,” said Morrison. “We said ‘we have to demonstrate to our community that we are going to go forward with the first phase and we can achieve it.’ It was really important to us, both practically and symbolically, that we take this bold step forward.”

Morrison, who formerly served terms as executive director of the Catholic School Superintendents of Alberta and superintendent of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, acknowledged that many current students will graduate from their studies before experiencing the new facilities. Pupils who begin this upcoming fall are expected to be afforded meaningful time in both buildings.

Complementing the facilities growth, Morrison said if St. Mary’s ultimately achieves its goal of becoming “the pre-eminent Catholic university in Canada,” robust programming must be offered. A new academic plan has been developed with an objective to ensure existing courses are guided by strong faculty and that quality scholarly research is being developed. And from that solid foundation, new programs can be added.

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This May, St. Mary’s will begin offering a Master of Education with a Specialization in Catholic Leadership online graduate program for all certified teachers.

To learn more about St. Mary’s, stmu.ca.