Kyle Bobiwash, Assistant Professor and Indigenous Scholar in the Department of Entomology, is working to better understand Canada’s pollinator populations and help farmers protect them.
A year in review
2025, what a year!
There were so many great things happening this year on campus: from researchers making major medical breakthroughs in ALS, to welcoming our largest number of students, to winning national titles in athletics and drilling into Canada’s oldest ice core. UM students, staff and community were front and center shaping this incredible year.
Here are just some of the things that had our “horns up” with pride in 2025:
Food security, brought to you by science and insects
Two great stories to bite into:
Fresh produce is scarce in some communities. Enter Miyoung Suh, a professor in the Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, who is working with Opaskwayak Cree Nation to grow “supercharged” greens that could help close nutrition gaps.
About one out of every three bites of food you take exists because of pollinators like bees and birds. But climate change is threatening their survival, and with it, global food security. That’s why Kyle Bobiwash, Assistant Professor and Indigenous Scholar in the Department of Entomology, is working to better understand Canada’s pollinator populations and help farmers protect them.
The Loch Ness Monster is fake but Manitoba’s version is real
Artwork by Mitchell Baker, Adam Isaak and Melina Jobbins, with a model based on that of ©eggeater (Thingiverse).
A University of Manitoba led research project introduces a 390-million-year-old fish from Manitoba. Say hello to Elmosteus lundarensis, it was hiding in Lake Manitoba until Department of Earth Sciences’ Melina Jobbins discovered it. It is one of our oldest ancestors with jaws and is pivotal to our understanding of the origin of jaws and teeth in the evolution of life.
We’re the best and we have the trophy, and coaches, to prove it
After an 11 year hiatus, the Bisons women’s volleyball hoisted the national trophy of the country’s best volleyball team, and we did it on our home court to a sold out, and wild, crowd!
And this year, legendary Bisons football coach Brian Dobie retired after 29 seasons with the team. His last game was in 2024 but not officially retired from UM until 2025. He also won the Distinguished Alumni Award for professional achievement this year. The crazy part is, it took us a while to hire him! It wasn’t until his third application that we gave him a shot, and then it was for only six months. What were we thinking?!
Easy does it. That’s 10,000 years old climate data you’re holding
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Arctic Ice, Freshwater Marine Coupling, and Climate Change, led a team in extracting a 600-meter ice core. This core, the oldest ever taken in Canada, is the key to unlocking roughly 10,000-years of climate and sea conditions in the Canadian Arctic. We told you Bisons do bold things. We weren’t joking.
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Keeping in the Arctic, the Port of Churchill has received a lot of ink and attention this year. At the centre of many conversations has been the work and ideas of Feiyue Wang, Canada Research Chair in Arctic Environmental Chemistry. Here he is speaking with the alumni magazine about the risks and opportunities a changing Arctic bring.
Time for Action
Ten years ago, Elder Carl Stone lead the ceremonial procession across the Fort Garry Campus at the NCTR opening.
The University of Manitoba took a significant step forward in its commitment to Reconciliation with the launch of its Truth and Reconciliation Framework: Time for Action (Framework). The Framework was launched at an event on March 3, 2025, at the Fort Garry campus, and marks a turning point in UM’s ongoing journey to address the legacies of colonialism and foster meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities.
This year also marked 10 years for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). A decade ago, Survivors’ testimonies, sacred items and archival records from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada found a permanent home with the establishment of the NCTR at the University of Manitoba (UM). But the building has never been sufficient for NCTR’s goals and ambitions and now NCTR and UM are raising funds to build a new, permanent home that will be an international beacon of learning. Manitobans, as usual, are stepping up in big ways, investing $20 million, and the Mastercard Foundation providing $25 million in support for programs.
Her passion is felt
UM was stomping the runway at New York Fashion Week with Tijen Roshko, lead designer of Kolye TJN and UM professor of Interior Design. They debuted an innovative collection of felt neckwear on the international stage at Sony Hall, just off Times Square, with support from the UM IDEA START entrepreneurial access program. “During my education in nuclear physics, I was trained to view the world through a filter of verifiable facts. My experience with art and design fundamentally altered my strategies for viewing my environment and inspired our goal of democratizing art,” Roshko says.
“Nîpîy Iskôtêw–Water Fire” bison illustration by Peatr Thomas, Ininew (Swampy Cree) and Anishinabe (Ojibwe) artist.
Step aside Aquarius…it’s the dawning of the Age of Billy
We launched a new, bold logo. You see it all over. People come up to you at parties or on the street and tell you they love the new logo. It’s so hot right now. And the new Billy? If he was in felt neckware (see above story) he’d break the internet. UM not only launched these new things this year, but also a big, bold, new Indigenous artists series of designs.
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Meet Dave Angus, the new Chancellor
The University of Manitoba installed its 15th Chancellor this past year. Dave Angus takes the job at his alma mater and if you’re in the same building as him, you’ll probably hear him laughing. He seems to be loving the job and is actively engaging the community, like in this new series.
I will remember you...
Growing gains, not pains
The Rady Faculty of Health Science’s Class of 2025 may well be the last to graduate on the Bannatyne campus because enrolment has swelled and convocation can no longer fit in the Brodie Atrium, as is tradition. Other news to smile about happened as well, like the College of Nursing holding its largest pinning ceremony in its history and Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry receiving over $6 million to improve access to care for marginalized Manitobans and provide students with experience in caring for underserved populations.
Convocation this year was memorable, as always, from the honorary degree recipients, to the stories of incredible students.
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Looking for more?
What will the future of vaccines look like?
How will connectivity change life in the North?
A story on concussions you wish never need be written.
Or maybe you prefer to listen? Check out President Michael Benarroch’s award-winning podcast, “What the Big Idea?”
Thanks for reading. See you in 2026!