10 things you’ll be surprised to learn about the University of Regina
1. Guaranteed success
The UR Guarantee program was launched in 2009; since then 1,600 students have enrolled in the program. Those who enroll in the UR Guarantee program are promised employment in their fields within six months, or they receive another year of university classes free of charge.
2. Famous alumni
Notable U of R alumni include Ralph Goodale, long-time MP for Regina-Wascana; Rachel Mielke, jewellery entrepreneur and founder of Hillberg & Berk; Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde; author Guy Vanderhaege; and Senator Pamela Wallin, former television journalist and diplomat. The University and the U of R Alumni Association take great pride in celebrating their accomplished graduates. The next annual Crowning Achievement Award Dinner will be held on Oct. 5, and will celebrate five more outstanding alumni.
3. Kickstart your career
The University of Regina Cooperative Education program alternates practical, career-related paid work terms with semesters in class. By the time you graduate, you’ll have gained 12 to 16 months of supervised work experience. Typical salaries range from $8,000 to $13,000 per semester. Last year, U of R students who participated in the co-op program earned over $9 million in wages!
4. A legacy of learning
Each year, the U of R Faculty of Arts awards eight students with the William Borden Ingram Award to cover the cost of their tuition for four years. Ingram, who died in 2007, was an accountant at the Coop Refinery. He felt the purpose of education was to increase people’s enjoyment of life, and wanted more students to pursue a liberal arts education. He arranged for the bulk of his estate to be donated to the University of Regina to fund this award in perpetuity.
5. Meeting demand for nurses
The Collaborative Nursing education program offered by Saskatchewan Polytechnic in partnership with the University of Regina serves 1,400 students over four years. More than 760 graduates have convocated from the SCBScN program in the past three years, including 59 indigenous graduates. Sask Polytech and the U of R are also working together to deliver an online Masters of Nursing Nurse Practitioner program, the first of this kind of partnership in Canada.
6. In the best of taste
Luther College’s manager of dining services is Red Seal Chef Moe Mathieu, an alumnus of Luther High School. He continues the college’s traditions of world cuisine, as well, as two long-standing, end-of-semester traditions: students receiving cookies on the last day of class and Midnight Breakfast during final exams, where Luther faculty and staff serve students breakfast at 9 p.m.
7. Best in Business
The University of Regina was among the top 20 schools selected in Maclean’s 2017 ranking of the “Best Business Universities in Canada.” The U of R’s Paul J. Hill School of Business and Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business are considered leaders on the national and international stage. There have been 26 Hill-Ivey cases on western Canadian business published since 2009 and 33,131 copies of these cases have been purchased and used in 60 countries. “We are continuing to build in these areas,” said Dr. Andrew Gaudes, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, which includes the two schools. “It’s important that we bring people from other parts of the world to Saskatchewan to find employment and make sure that people in Saskatchewan fully understand how we fit in the global economy.”
8. The future is here!
The U of R Faculty of Media, Art and Performance has gained national and international recognition as a destination for study and unique research. “I recently spoke to staff at the Canada Revenue Agency about innovation and our rebrand of the faculty in the past year. It’s not a group you’d expect to be interested in us,” said faculty Dean Rae Staseson. “What was interesting in speaking to that audience was that they were just so surprised about what we do – that in Creative Technologies we’re teaching students to design new apps and computer programs, to design wearable technology, to use creative forms of data visualization that have so many practical real world uses, in a variety of professions, from business, to medicine, to environmental science, and of course, in media and cultural industries. You saw a lot of eyes open up.”
9. On a mission
The development of the whole person – intellectually, spiritually and socially – for service within society is integral to Campion College’s identity. Its Jesuit mission is “forming men and women for others, caring for the whole person, being grounded in compassion, possessing the Jesuit sense of justice that promotes the valuing and respecting of each person, and providing depth of thought and promoting reconciliation.” Campion’s education is for who you will be, not just what you will be. You do not have to be Catholic to attend Campion College and it is open to all.
10. Researching what makes us tick
The Department of Psychology holds an annual Psychology Honours Symposium each spring to showcase the cutting edge research of its fourth-year honours seminar students, and their faculty members. The public gets a chance to learn about in-depth student research centred on topics like stress, memory, therapies – virtually anything that is a part of what makes us tick – and talk to the researchers.