Named for a man who embraced education and served to continually better his community, the Dr. Foster James Penny Building will stand as a testament to lifelong learning and the University of Lethbridge’s commitment to the Lethbridge community.

The U of L officially opened the Penny Building on Thursday, May 16, reenergizing the former Capital Furniture building and breathing new life into the city’s downtown core. Gifted to the University in 2012 by longtime businesspersons Jim and Hazel Penny, the building is named after their son Dr. Foster Penny, who passed away in 1992 after a five-year illness with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was only 44 years old.

They've been judged, they've toured southern Alberta, they've hiked all over campus and by all accounts have  had a ton of fun, but there is still more to come for the participants of the 52nd annual Canada-Wide Science Fair, which takes place on the University of Lethbridge campus and in the community until Friday, May 17.

Details of some of the events are outlined below.

GRAND FINALE AWARDS CEREMONY, MAY 16

Thursday, May 16, 2013, beginning at 3 p.m. at the Enmax Centre, 2510 Scenic Drive S.

Nearly $1 million in cash, prizes and scholarships will be awarded to top students.

The late artist Nicholas de Grandmaison is a cultural icon of southern Alberta. He is well known for his portraits of politicians, families and unknown subjects.

During a previous exhibition of his work at the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, there was a great deal of interest in discussing stories of the artist and of his Aboriginal subjects. The gallery is subsequently undertaking a project that invites individuals visiting the exhibit to share their unique experiences with the artist or the subjects of his paintings. The project will be publicized during the exhibition of paintings donated by BMO Financial Group at the U of L Art Gallery May 2 to June 27.

The City of Lethbridge, Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge and the University of Lethbridge are excited to announce the Grand Opening of CASA, a truly functional 42,000 square foot arts centre with a striking building design.

CASA is the realization of a 20-year dream, shared by many in the Lethbridge arts community, to expand or replace the Bowman Arts Centre and provide a home for the arts in one central location.

Canada-Wide Science Fair participants will not just be sitting by their projects this week.

In addition to a host of local and regional tours and activities, faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students and staff from the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College have developed a large number of hands-on activities for the students to participate in, and which showcase the diversity of research and creative activities taking place on both campuses.

All events run from 1:30 p.m. to approximately 5 p.m., on Monday, May 13.  Events are hands-on, and media friendly.

The University of Lethbridge is excited to welcome the country’s top young scientists to campus, May 11 to May 18, as the 52nd annual Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) 2013 comes to Lethbridge.

Approximately 1,100 students, chaperones, judges, sponsors and dignitaries are expected to attend CWSF 2013, an event that will award close to $1 million in cash, prizes and scholarships to the best students.

University of Lethbridge Faculty of Health Sciences researcher Em Pijl Zieber is one of two local registered nurses who have been named the inaugural recipients of the Wendy Lipinski Memorial Scholarship for Advanced Education.

The General Faculties Council at the University of Lethbridge has approved the creation of three new collaborative, and diverse, research centres, which will focus on the creation of oral history, develop community-based collaborations and bring together chemistry and biochemistry researchers from around the world to further their expertise in fluorine technologies.

Growth of research centres and institutes in strategic areas, and the continued development of existing centres and institutes, is a key feature of the Strategic Research Plan of the University of Lethbridge.

By capturing the faces of the First Nations people he encountered, Canadian painter Nicholas de Grandmaison (1892-1978) left a deeply personal record of history.

His documentation was grounded in the belief that the soul of a person was found in the face, and many of the individuals he painted during his prolific career were from the southern Alberta area, in particular the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Kainai and Piikani communities.

New works of art on display from the de Grandmaison collection, recently acquired by the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery as a gift from BMO Financial Group, feature 28 pastel portraits drawn from the 67-piece gift, which was received in 2012.