News

Celebrity chef Michael Smith — star of Food Network Canada's "Chef Abroad" program had some words of advice for budding young culinary enthusiasts in today's Winnipeg Free Press:

"I guess good advice for any young person that's thinking about becoming a chef is definitely to consider cooking school, and you've got a great one right here in town, Red River College," he says. "That's certainly a good career move."

Learn more about RRC's award-winning Culinary Arts and Professional Baking programs.

Red River College’s enrolment figures have hit yet another record high, with 3.3% more full-time students on campus this fall compared to last year.
 
Growth has taken place across all student categories, including significant jumps in Advanced Diploma (+17.7%), Certificate (+9.9%) and Apprenticeship (+8.0%) enrolments.
 
Full-time enrolment is also up 16.8% at RRC’s five regional campuses, located in Steinbach, Portage la Prairie, Gimli, Winkler and Peguis/Fisher River.
 
While students are increasingly seeing the value of an applied education, College officials say finding somewhere to put them all is a growing challenge.
 
“For several years now we’ve been operating essentially full,” explained Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, President of Red River College. “Through creative scheduling and program delivery we’ve managed to make room, but the time has come to expand the College to meet student and industry demand.”
 
RRC is currently pursuing several projects to expand capacity for students and for applied research projects, including:

• Construction of a new Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre.
  
• Development of a modern skilled trades centre at the Notre Dame Campus.
  
• Restoration of the Union Bank Tower to become the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, a student residence and a new home for RRC’s culinary and hospitality programs.
  
• Relocation of the Language Training Centre to the Massey Building in the Exchange District.
  

The College expects to release information about continuing and distance education enrolments later this week.

Red River College's Stevenson Campus played host to over 1,300 Winnipeggers from the business, labour, government and non-profit sectors on September 18th for the 6th Annual United Way of Winnipeg Plane Pull.

This event — which has teams competing against each other to see who can move a commercial aircraft  the fastest using just people power — is the kickoff for the United Way's 2009 Campaign.

This year's Campaign Chair is RRC President Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, who can be seen in this photo leading the Campaign Cabinet team in their plane pull attempt.

The fundraising goal for this year's United Way Campaign is $18,218,778. Zabudsky announced on Friday that the organization is already well on its way toward that target, as over $7 million has already been raised.

For more photos of the Plane Pull, see the United Way Facebook page or ChrisD.ca.

John Gale, a 1980 graduate of Red River College's Mechanical Engineering Technology program, is being called the "Donald Trump of Kenora" for his ambitious plans to turn the Northwestern Ontario city into a vacation mecca.

As mentioned in a recent Winnipeg Free Press profile, Gale has plans to oversee up to $1 billion in development in Kenora, including a five-star resort and conference centre, a theme park, new lakefront cottage lots and an RV park.

Gale is making his bold move into real estate development following a successful career in the diamond drilling industry. In the 1980s Gale helped develop a new technology for diamond drilling, and eventually became a 50% owner in Winnipeg-based drill manufacturer Dimatec Inc. He sold his stake in the company last year.

Read more about Gale's background and his plans for Kenora here.

The Shocknife, a Winnipeg-based invention that was partly developed at Red River College, has won the 2009 Manning Innovation Award.

Developed by veteran police officer Jeff Quail, the Shocknife is a tool
used to train law enforcement officials how to deal with edged weapon
attacks.  Similar in appearance to a real knife, the device delivers an
electric charge that simulates the pain associated with a knife wound,
but leaves no permanent damage.

The Shocknife was one of the first products to emerge from RRC’s Applied Research and Commercialization program, which links industry with the College’s research expertise to create innovative, marketable technologies.

RRC electronics instructor Alex McIlraith worked with product designers to miniaturize the Shocknife’s electronics to fit inside a typical size knife casing.  He also re-engineered the product so it could be powered by a single nine-volt battery.

Since being launched in 2006, Shocknives have been sold to customers around the world, including the FBI, the Norwegian Military Academy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the Special protection Group that guards India’s prime Minister.  The product has also been covered extensively in publications serving the law enforcement and military industries, and was featured on the Discovery Channel.

In appreciation of the role RRC played in developing the product, Shocknife, Inc. previously donated several pieces of equipment for use in the College’s electronics programs.

Chad Evans — an Educational Assistant at RRC's Exchange District campus — has set himself an enviable mission: to try a pizza from every pizza joint in Winnipeg that he can find.

Evans blogs about his progress at The Urban Sasquatch, providing a star rating for every slice he samples. His efforts to locate the premier pizza in the 'Peg were recently chronicled in the Winnipeg Free Press.

James Allardice, a 1988 graduate of Red River College's Hotel & Restaurant Management program, was recently elected to a two-year term as President of the Manitoba Restaurant and Food Services Association.

Allardice is currently the managing partner of the Boston Pizza franchise in Selkirk, MB, and is a partner in the chain's downtown Winnipeg location.

Read more about Allardice in The Interlake Spectator.

Red River College grad Cameron Dueck (Creative Communications) has taken the notion of a summer sailing trip to a whole new level.

He's currently at the halfway point of a 7,000 nautical-mile expedition from Victoria, BC to Halifax, NS via the Northwest Passage. As of August 23rd, Dueck and the four-member crew of the Silent Sound were near Gjoa Haven, Nunavut.

The purpose of the voyage is to highlight the impact climate change is having on Canada's Arctic. From openpassageexpedition.com:

To explore these
dramatic changes taking place the 40-foot sailing yacht Silent Sound
will embark on a voyage that five years ago was nearly impossible for
amateur sailors….The goal of this expedition is to
use written word, video and photos to tell the story of how climate
change is affecting Arctic communities.

Learn more about the project, and track the Silent Sound's progress at the Open Passage Expedition website. Read about Cameron's own voyage from journalist to Arctic explorer in the Interlake Spectator or the Winnipeg Free Press.

RRC student Deanna Ng (Disability and Community Support) is profiled in the Winnipeg Free Press today for her volunteer efforts with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

A client of the CNIB herself, Deanna has worked with the organization for six years, helping with fundraising, assisting with
clerical work in the organization's offices and serving as a mentor to visually impaired children.

Deanna is also a recipient of a 2009 Youth Leaders in Action Scholarship from the United Way of Winnipeg.

Interesting article in the July 20th issue of Time that focuses on the role that community colleges can play in helping rebuild the U.S. economy, and the attention they're getting from policymakers.

The article, penned by Laura Fitzpatrick, goes on to cite the flexibility of community colleges and their focus on the labour requirements of local industry as two reasons to justify further investment in college programs and facilities.

A tip of the hat to the Mohawk Matters blog for bringing this article to our attention.