DID YOU TAKE THE CALL?
From the halls of the Frank Kennedy Centre, in a noisy room, sits a group of bright, articulate and eager students who have a difficult job to do – asking strangers for money. Did you take the call?
Each year the Dean of the Faculty of Education meets with these student callers to bring the latest news from
Dr. David Mandzuk
the faculty, along with a pizza dinner. This is an opportunity for the student callers to meet the Dean, Dr. David Mandzuk, ask questions and learn about the faculty’s strategic priorities for the future before they start calling you, our valued graduates.
This year, the students learned from the Dean about investing in visionary ideas, inspiring global citizenship, attracting trailblazing graduate students, creating space to innovate and our desire to renew facilities and technology.
Carrying that vision forward to you, the student callers have spent the past few months reaching out to all Faculty of Education alumni to update you on the faculty, and ask for your financial support. Calls were answered about 25.4 percent of the time, and about 20.7 percent of those of you who answered, ended up donating. All told, our student callers were responsible for raising over $42,000. Thank you for taking the time to speak with them, and for supporting the Faculty of Education!
In case you missed the call, you can find a brief synopsis of some of the exciting opportunities within the Faculty of Education:
Invest in Visionary Ideas
The University has partnered with CanU Canada – an after-school program that inspires hope and confidence in inner-city youth. Each week grade 5 and 6 students from central Winnipeg come to the University of Manitoba where they strengthen their literacy skills, learn to cook healthy foods, and engage in a wide variety of physical activities with Bison athletes. In addition to practical life skills and new friends, our participants and mentors leave CanU with a greater understanding of each other and what community leadership can look like. Increased support will ensure the continuation and potential growth of the program that tries to instill in young people that if you open yourself to possibility, the impossible can disappear.
Inspire Global Citizenship
With donor support, we will enhance the experience of our students and ignite their passion in their home communities and communities throughout the world. We will create scholarships to celebrate excellence and bursaries to ensure that no student gets left behind because they don’t have the financial means.
Attract Trailblazing Graduate Students
We will attract and retain the best minds in the world by providing them with fellowships, rewarding research, and mentorship opportunities. This investment will allow us to set an aggressive target of better supporting Masters and Doctoral students so that they can present their work at conferences across Canada and abroad.
Create Space to Innovate
An outstanding student experience is about more than just what happens in the classroom. Student experience is also shaped by a welcoming physical space that gives students the freedom to think, collaborate, debate, discover and dream. We think that by creating collaborative learning spaces for like-minded students to come together, in a comfortable environment, we will be able to enhance the student experience. Located in the heart of the bustling Education Building, a Student Resource and Learning Centre would be the focal point for student activity within the faculty. This is where students could come together to support each other on their professional journeys.
Facilities and Technology
To fulfill our vision, facility renewals are planned for three Faculty of Education science laboratories. In order to capitalize on the expertise we have in science education, we must create state-of-the-art learning spaces to ensure our graduates receive 21st century preparation in the teaching of science with technology. Fully equipped laboratories would support learning and skills development. It will expose education students to the technologies they will encounter in the workforce.
Make a Gift
To support the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba and contribute to a world-class teaching and research university in the heart of the Canadian Prairies visit the Make a Gift link on the Faculty of Education website.