A vibrant industry like Canadian mining requires the skilled manpower to keep things running smoothly. It was this need that drove the Albertan industry to take on the challenge of reviving the mining engineering program at the University of Alberta when it faced closure in the early days of the 1990s. In 1991, in response to the program's struggles for survival, a Mining Industry Advisory Committee was struck for the University of Alberta, with Jim Carter, president and COO, Syncrude Canada Ltd., at the helm. "I've chaired the committee since its inception when the dean at the time, Fred Otto, asked me to chair a committee to support the program," Carter explained. "Back then, the university department was operating with lower government funding than in the past. The mining engineering and agricultural engineering programs were viewed as low priority-and were destined to close."
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