New Student Orientation
You might be wondering what the series of letters and numbers that make up your classroom means. No worries, we have a simple guide to help you de-code the riddle.
Classroom locations (usually) follow a standard formula:
- Building
- Floor
- Room
Some examples:
T B 11 - This means Tory Building, Basement level, classroom 11.
ED 1-128 - This means Education Building, North Section 1st Floor, classroom 128.
Buildings
Main buildings on campus are identified with an acronym. This is a partial list, and a full list can be found through the University of Alberta campus map.
| Acronym | Building | What We Call It |
|---|---|---|
| AF | Agriculture/Forestry Centre | AgFor |
| BS | Biological Sciences* | BioSci |
| BUS | Alberta School of Business | Business |
| CCIS | Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science | CCIS |
| CAB | Central Academic Building | Cab |
| C | Gunning/Lemieux Chemistry Centre* | Chem |
| CSC | Computing Science Centre | CompSci |
| ESB | Earth Sciences Building | ESB |
| ECHA | Edmonton Clinic Health Academy | ECHA |
| ED | Education Centre North and South* | Ed |
| ETLC | Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex | ETLC |
| GSB | General Services Building | GSB |
| HC | Humanities Centre* | Humanities |
| MCM | Pavillon McMahon | |
| MEC | Mechanical Engineering | Mec Eee |
| NRE | Natural Resources Engineering | NREF |
| SAB | South Academic Building | Sab |
| SUB | Students' Union Building | Sub |
| T | Henry Marshall Tory Building* | Tory |
| TL | Tory Lecture Theatres* | Tory Lecture |
| VVC | Van Vliet Complex | Van Vliet |
*A few buildings are more complicated than others:
- The Biological Sciences building is divided into 5 wings: CW, G, M, P, Z. Room numbers look like: BS M-149. This means it is in the M wing, on the first floor, room 149. Signage is pretty good in the building, so make sure you floor them.
- The Chemistry building might have rooms that look like C E1-60. This means it is in the east side of the building, first floor, room 60.
- Rooms in Education might look like: ED 1-128. The "-" means that it is in the northern section of the building. There is no indication for the southern part of the building, rooms there will be indicated like: ED 232
- The Humanities Center also has a separate acronym for their lecture theatres. If you see HC L1-L1/L2/L3/L4 this does not indicate the level it is on, but rather that it is a lecture theatre, which are all located on the first floor. Signage in the building will help you navigate.
- Tory can be divided into 3 different sections that each have their own acronym. T (Tory), TL (Tory Lecture), and T BW (Tory Breezeway). While Tory and Tory Breezeway are connected, Tory Lecture Theatres are located in a separate building just to the north of Tory.
Floor
Secondly comes the floor number. B or L means basement, 1 is main level, and a number above 1 means an upper floor. Some building have multiple basements, which are represented with L1, L2, or L3.
Sometimes the floor can get mashed together with the room number. For example:
- MCM 318 is a room in the Pavillon McMahon Building, on the 3rd floor, room number 318.
- ESC 3-27 is a room in the Earth Sciences Building, on the 3rd floor, room number 3-27.
- CCIS L2-440 is a room in the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, on the 2nd basement level, room number 440.
Usually a good rule of thumb is that the first number of a room number is what floor it is on, except if there is a B or L in there.
Room
Thirdly comes the room number, which you should be able to navigate to using the signage in the building.
This should be all you need to find your way come Orientation. Good luck, and don’t be afraid to ask one of our many volunteers for assistance in getting where you need to go!
Phone
780-492-1480
Email
orientation@su.ualberta.ca
New Student Orientation
Suite 2-800
Students' Union Building
University of Alberta
8900 - 114 Street NW
Edmonton, AB
T6G 2J7
