News

It’s no secret that Red River College, Manitoba’s largest institute of applied learning, exists to educate and train students across Manitoba. Today, RRC celebrates its commitment to creating personal and professional learning opportunities for employees — almost half of whom are alumni themselves — an accomplishment that once again earns the College a spot on Manitoba’s Top Employer list for nine years running.

“When it comes to educating students, providing training and research opportunities, and meeting the needs of industry — what we’re doing is working,” says Melanie Gudmundson, RRC’s Chief Human Resource Officer. “And it’s the dedicated efforts of our staff and faculty members who make this statement a reality every day, through their commitment to the College and our students.

“This is why we are continually striving to build a work environment that has programs and supports, including training and professional development opportunities, that ensure staff and faculty success.”

Learning is a core value at Red River College, which is committed to providing an exceptional learning environment for employees, as well as students. As such, the College focuses on staff learning and development-related activities and events, led by industry experts and members of the larger RRC community.

“Every week you will hear of a different department hosting an event. From research lunch and learns, to traditional Sweat Lodge ceremonies, to mental health speaker series, to daily fitness classes — there are countless opportunities for staff to engage in new professional and personal development activities,” says Gudmundson. Read More →

James Favel, founder and executive director of Bear Clan Patrol Inc., will host a presentation on personal-safety best practices this Fri., Nov. 23, at Red River College’s Exchange District Campus.

The presentation will also explore the role and function of the Bear Clan Patrol, and how students and staff can get involved in their communities. It’ll be hosted by RRC’s Indigenous Education department, and will provide a safe, inclusive environment in which attendees can learn from Favel’s growing — and widely celebrated — volunteer-based organization.

The College is committed to the safety of all its staff and students; engaging community experts like Favel is just one of the ways RRC is working to enhance and maintain personal safety.

The initiative also falls under one of the College’s strategic goals: to strengthen partnerships with Indigenous communities and advance Indigenous achievement.

Operating out the Ndinawe Youth Resource Centre in the city’s North End, the Bear Clan Patrol is comprised of volunteers who work with the community to increase security in the inner city in a non-threatening, non-violent and supportive manner. The Patrol is a community-based solution to crime prevention, one that provides a sense of safety, solidarity and belonging to both its members and the communities they serve.

Favel’s presentation takes place at noon in Room P107 at the Roblin Centre.

Photo credit: Nardella Photography

A Red River College instructor is flying high after being honoured for his efforts by Apprenticeship Manitoba.

Gary van der Zweep is the academic coordinator of the Apprentice Aircraft Maintenance Journeyperson (AMJ) program at RRC’s Stevenson Campus in Southport, just south of Portage la Prairie.

Earlier this month, he was named Instructor of the Year at Apprenticeship Manitoba’s Awards of Distinction gala, held at RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg.

“It’s nice to get kudos here and there,” says van der Zweep. “I’ve been told by other teachers that you take it when you can get it, because it doesn’t come around all that much.

“It’s a great honour and it’s a nice recognition for both myself and the school, for all that we do.”

The AMJ program provides students who are already employed in the aviation and aerospace industries with the training they need to acquire their Transport Canada aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) license. It’s the only Transport Canada-approved AME apprenticeship program in Canada.

Though van der Zweep has taught at Stevenson for almost 18 years, his time there actually predates RRC’s involvement with the training centre. In 2002, Stevenson Aviation merged with RRC to form the Stevenson Campus.

“I’m working with some of the students that I taught,” van der Zweep says. “It just shows how old I am. I’ve been around so long they’re already teachers themselves.

“It’s a lifestyle. It’s fulfilling when you can see the lights going on in a student’s eyes, when they’re finally getting certain theory they were struggling with. It’s just like getting an airplane ready to fly. You’re doing the same thing with the students. You’re getting them fixed up and ready to go.” Read More →

With a little help from its Robot-in-ResidenceBaxter, Red River College joined with the Province of Manitoba yesterday to officially open the new Skilled Trades and Technology Centre (STTC) at the Notre Dame Campus.

Education and Training Minister Kelvin Goertzen led the official ceremonies, and assisted Baxter with his task of opening RRC’s newest addition.

“Careers in the skilled trades are in high demand across the province and this building creates the opportunity for more Manitobans to receive top-level training that will keep our industries ahead of the curve,” said Goertzen.

“We are pleased to have invested $61.6 million to help Red River College develop an inspired learning environment with state-of the-art equipment that takes post-secondary training to new heights.”

Spanning 104,000 square feet, the STTC will boost RRC’s training capacity by 30 per cent, providing training and education for up to 1,000 students a year in high-demand trades, including:

• Electrical
• Carpentry
• Mechanical Engineering Technology
• Manufacturing Computer Aided Drafting (CAD)
• Manufacturing Technician
• Precision Metal Machining
• Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
• Technology Management

“For 80 years we’ve created programs and innovative learning spaces that equip our grads with the right skills and experience to meet the needs of our province’s economy and its workforce.

“The STTC is part of the ongoing growth we’ve been experiencing at Red River College – and today, we’re not just celebrating the trades, we’re putting them at the forefront of what we do,” said RRC President Paul Vogt (shown, second from left). Read More →

Red River College has again been ranked one of Canada’s top 10 research colleges.

The designation comes courtesy of the annual Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges list, released yesterday by Re$earch Infosource Inc.

This is the second research-related distinction bestowed on RRC in less than a month. On Oct. 9, the College won the silver award in the Applied Research category at the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics Awards in Melbourne, Australia.

“These recent recognitions prove the ongoing research efforts of the College and our partners are working,” says RRC President Paul Vogt.

“We’ve worked on some outstanding projects in the past, such as battery-operated buses and energy-efficient office towers — projects that benefit our communities through their sustainable approach to engineering. We’re excited to see what we can achieve in the future.”

Recent expansions to RRC mean the College can continue supporting the needs of industry while establishing a base of highly skilled graduates to work in these fields once they finish school.

“We’ve accomplished great things with our existing capacities,” says Ray Hoemsen, executive director of Research Partnerships & Innovation at RRC. “Our new additions mean we’ll be even better equipped to help our industry partners achieve their goals while we continue to enhance learning at the College.

“We’ll soon be opening our new MotiveLab (shown above), a unique vehicle testing facility where students and researchers will work side-by-side on equipment that will be used across North America.”

Also opening soon is the Smart Factory, an applied research space where students can work in a factory-like setting on emerging technologies such as robotics, automation and additive manufacturing.

In addition to these new facilities, the College is poised to bolster the future of research in Manitoba via its new $95-million Innovation Centre (now under construction,) as well as a Culinary Research Centre that’s slated to open at the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute next year.

Staff Sgt. Bob Chrismas, a 30-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service, is the newly appointed instructor of RRC’s Justice and Public Safety program, available via part-time or online delivery.

“They (the College) reached out to me. They said they needed an instructor for a course called Policing in the 21^stCentury,” says Chrismas, now 56.

“I called back and said ‘Are you kidding? I literally wrote the book.’”

He’s not joking. In 2013, McGill-Queen’s University Press published Chrismas’ book Canadian Policing in the 21^st Century: A Frontline Officer on Challenges and Changes. It was the runner up for best non-fiction at the 2014 Manitoba Book Awards.

Like the book, RRC’s Policing in the 21^st Century course will examine the history of policing and changes in policing philosophy, while also exploring what law enforcement may look like in the future.

“Some major issues are how we engage technology, centralizing versus decentralizing, and being proactive as opposed to reactive — community-oriented rather than just reacting to issues,” Chrismas explains.

“My passion that’s developed within the police service is trying to be more proactive and preventative. You get a much better bang for your buck out of crime prevention in the long run. With reacting, you’re often not addressing the root of the problem. You’re just reacting and arresting people.” Read More →

Community Development students at Red River College will host a donation drive this week in support of the Students’ Association Food Bank, an on-campus resource that provides help to those for whom healthy meals are too often a luxury.

In conjunction with Winnipeg Harvest, the RRCSA operates bi-weekly food banks at both the Exchange District and Notre Dame Campuses, providing hampers comprised of donated food and household items.

This Fri., Oct. 26, students from RRC’s Community Development/Community Economic Development program will host a fundraiser at the Notre Dame Campus, where they’ll accept both monetary donations and non-perishable food items.

The event will run from 11am to 3pm in the Library Hallway, and will feature games, a silent auction, a 50/50 draw, and an indoor market. (Learn more at the event’s official website.)

In Canada, it’s estimated that four out of 10 post-secondary students find themselves “food insecure” to some degree, while at RRC, more than half of all students are engaged in full-time studies, which can make it harder for them to offset their food costs through part-time work.

Red River College is rolling out a new Cannabis 101 course — the first of its kind to be offered by a post-secondary institution in Manitoba, and one of few available across the prairies.

The new course will be officially announced at this week’s Cannabis Legalization conference, taking place Fri., Oct. 19, at the Roblin Centre, where industry experts, medical professionals, regulators, educators and investors will gather for a series of keynote sessions and discussion panels.

The conference will focus on the province’s budding cannabis industry, growing partnership opportunities with First Nations and the Métis Nation, and ways Red River College can assist with formal education and applied research.

“The federal and provincial governments have encouraged Indigenous partnerships and participation within this industry,” says Rebecca Chartrand, RRC’s Executive Director, Indigenous Strategy. “We were approached by our community leaders to establish safe and regulated educational programming that supports entrepreneurship and growth in the cannabis and hemp industries.”

The conference will take place just days after the legalization of recreational cannabis in Manitoba, while the new course is slated to launch on Nov. 6. Both have been in development for months through a working group established between RRC’s School of Indigenous Education, Indigenous community leaders, and the province’s Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority.

The introductory course will explore the business behind cannabis — looking at everything from safety and regulations, to public policy and education, to the training and skills required to pursue a career in the industry.

It’ll focus on five key modules: legislation, regulations, licensing and bylaws; the anatomy and physiology of cannabis plants; cannabis production; the distribution and sale of cannabis; and responsible use of cannabis.

Red River College has again been recognized as a global leader in applied research and innovation by the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP).

At the organization’s Awards of Excellence in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 9, the College was awarded silver in the Applied Research category for contributions led by its Research Partnerships & Innovation (RPI) department, which was formally established in 2004.

“We’re honoured to receive this award from WFCP. It’s a wonderful celebration of the outstanding work our staff and students do every day,” says RRC President Paul Vogt. “As RPI enters its fifteenth year of operation, this award is a great way to both recognize the achievements we’ve made and to motivate us to continue reaching for greatness.”

The WFCP Awards honour excellence in addressing real-world challenges through applied research initiatives. WFCP last honoured RRC in 2014 with a bronze award at a ceremony in Beijing, China.

“This award is another significant achievement for applied research at Red River College,” says Ray Hoemsen, director of Research Partnerships & Innovation at RRC.

“For nearly 15 years we’ve been dedicated to working with partners to meet the needs of our community and to support community-based economic development. Receiving global recognition for these partnerships speaks to the outstanding quality of the research initiatives that happen at the College.” Read More →

Red River College is proud to announce the latest recipients of its Distinguished Graduate Award: husband and wife Stu and Heather Charles, both graduates of RRC’s Computer Analyst/Programmer program, now known as Business Information Technology (BIT). 

The pair will be honoured by the College and their peers at the upcoming BIT 50^thAnniversary Gala, a celebration of a half-century of information technology training at RRC taking place Sat., Nov. 3, at the Club Regent Event Centre.

“We are very proud to honour Stu and Heather, two successful and very deserving recipients who now join the ranks of such notable graduates as national news anchor Dawna Friesen, entrepreneur and philanthropist Bob Tallman, and WWE superstar Chris Jericho,” says RRC President Paul Vogt.

“Throughout the College’s 80-year history, fewer than 40 graduates have been nominated for this prestigious award. After walking through these doors, each has gone on to do great things — giving back to their communities, and celebrating the education that helped them get to where they are today. Stu and Heather are no exception.”

Stu and Heather met at RRC back in 1977, when both were enrolled in the CAP program. They shared an immediate interest in the then-burgeoning field of computer programming and communicating with computers.

“Red River College is where it all started for us,” says Heather. “It was a place that gave us our first opportunity to enter into a new and emerging field and meet 75 like-minded people who were interested in learning more about computers.

“From meeting each other in school, to supporting each other’s careers and aspirations, to receiving this award, we’ve lived and breathed this experience together and it’s really shaped us into who we are today. I believe it’s one of many reasons that we both continue to support the College.” Read More →