By: Hailey Miller, Staff Writer

Although Burnaby Mountain is SFU’s main campus, it isn’t the only one. Most people are aware of the Surrey Central City campus and Harbour Centre in Vancouver, but the lesser-known satellite campuses are often forgotten about. They squeeze out a plethora of scholarly potential, like juice out of an orange. Students attending these satellite campuses are part of tight-knit communities. Despite this, they can sometimes feel isolated from the main campus. 

As you might assume, SFU’s satellite campuses are home to majors, departments, and programs. SFU Vancouver consists of nine of these buildings, including Harbour Centre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 611 Alexander Visual Arts Studio, 312 Main, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Charles Chang Innovation Centre (graduate residence), Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Segal Graduate School of Business, and lastly, VentureLabs. Predominantly, these campuses house the majority of courses within the contemporary arts, social sciences, communication, and business, among others. With more than 50 programs offered across SFU Vancouver, there’s something for everyone to enjoy a taste of scholarly life in the heart of the city. 

SFU Surrey offers over 30 programs across six campuses, including the main Central City campus, SFU Innovation Plaza, WearTech Labs, SFU on University Drive, and ImageTech Lab and eBrain Lab, both at Surrey Memorial Hospital. Welcome to lab land, home to most of the science departments and programs. Of course, that’s not all. The majority of courses for programs in the School of Interactive Arts & Technology (SIAT) are offered at the Surrey Central City campus, as well.

Before I wrote this piece, I didn’t realize that Surrey has six satellite campuses of its own — let alone two labs within the hospital, and a variety of centres and spaces for various technologies. Did you know that the Central City campus has a games room in Fraser Library, and a games lounge in the mezzanine that’s run by students and staff each week? Seasonal events including Multi-Fest and Winter WonderLounge are hosted here. Like Harbour Centre, Surrey offers dog therapy, too. Call me a Vancouver campus aficionado, but the artsy music major in me who has never even stepped foot on any of the Surrey campuses is learning just as much about these satellite campuses in all their science-coated glory. 

Now, not to be a biased music and sound major at the School for the Contemporary Arts (SCA), but let me gush about my favourite satellite campus of them all — Goldcorp, located inside SFU Woodward’s. Yes, it’s so fancy it has two names for the same building. Welcome to my stomping grounds. There are so many reasons I love Goldcorp. Firstly, the SCA — among Goldcorp — is home to seven programs including:

• Music and Sound
• Dance
• Visual Art
• Film
• Theatre and Performance
• Production and Design 
• Art, Performance, and Cinema Studies

The SCA is an interdisciplinary arts school, where we engage with other majors across classes, workshops, and events. From the Audain Gallery to rehearsal rooms, studios, shared spaces, and lounges, the artsy vibe is felt immediately upon crossing the doors of the concrete building, with artwork and event flyers plastered across the walls. Music resonates down the halls from student compositions, the sound of film reels hum on a constant loop, and the stomps from dancers emanate throughout the SCA. Not only is SFU Woodward’s a space for us fine arts majors to express our creativeness, it’s also a tight-knit community of interdisciplinary artists collaborating with one another. 

I would assume the same community-based scholarly environment goes for the science side of Surrey, or how different majors up on the mountain intermingle with one another. I’ve taken my share of courses in Burnaby, but once a Vancouver campus-goer, always a Vancouver campus-goer — although, the Vancouver campuses could really use a nap room of our own. From jaw-dropping views to hikes, granite greatness, and a built-in stair master of a campus, Burnaby Mountain has a lot to offer. But, don’t forget about all those hidden gems scattered around the Lower Mainland — Surrey and Vancouver have just as much in store for various programs, too. There’s so much more to explore. So, when you say, “I go to SFU,” what campus(es) are you referring to?