Giving Day 2022 Impact Report
You made it happen
Last April, you joined more than 2,100 UCalgary alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends to raise more than $2.42 million, making it our most successful Giving Day to date. Thank you!
Your support on Giving Day creates opportunity at UCalgary — for cutting-edge research, exceptional student experiences, strong community partnerships and so much more. And your gift continues to make an impact across campus and beyond. Highlighted below are just a few of the initiatives boosted by Giving Day support.
I’m heartened by the incredible show of support from our community this past Giving Day. Your gift is so much more than a donation. It’s an endorsement of our vision, an investment in our students and scholars, and further proof of just how much we can accomplish when we work together.
Ed McCauley
President and Vice-Chancellor
Mental Health Initiative for Stress and Trauma (MIST)
Created in memory of a beloved friend who died by suicide, MIST brings together experts at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education to investigate and respond to challenges in our understanding, education and improvement of mental health.
Students’ Greatest Needs Fund
Established in 2018, the Students’ Greatest Needs Fund helps address the basic needs of our UCalgary students. The fund’s purpose is evolving, as more students experience higher levels of anxiety, often due to increased debt, food insecurity and limited resources. Access to emergency aid and resources lets students focus on their academic goals, allowing them to support themselves and their families during these challenging times.
During Giving Day 2022, the UCalgary Alumni Association took an active role by matching donations, up to $2,500, made by alumni to the Students’ Greatest Needs Fund. This was in addition to the UCalgary match, so every dollar donated had triple the impact, enabling students to get back on their feet faster and concentrate on their education.
It’s great for people who are facing extraordinary emergency circumstances. The Students’ Greatest Needs Fund eases their financial burden, helping them buy groceries, or providing taxi or hotel vouchers, depending on their needs.
Kelsey McWilliams, Residence Support Advisor, Student Wellness Services
Faculty of Law
The Society of Law Students Bursary, established by students for students in 2021, helps scholars in financial need pursue their dreams of making a difference as lawyers. The bursary has enabled students to manage personal challenges, such as taking care of loved ones, while furthering their education.
Schulich School of Engineering
Geomatics engineering students are exploring the practice of Infrastructure Asset Management (IAM), a fast-growing field that has been identified worldwide as the key to sustainably developing our communities. The Schulich School of Engineering was able to develop the first university-level course series in North America.
Faculty of Nursing
Sandy Johansson, nurse practitioner and UCalgary instructor, knows that nursing is an inherently stressful and demanding profession. As important as it is for nurses to provide care to their patients, they also need to take care of themselves, a mindset that led Johansson to establish the faculty’s in-house mental health and wellness clinic.
Faculty of Arts
Giving Day has been a successful campaign for the Expanding Sikh Studies initiative. In 2021, the Faculty of Arts received record-breaking support from the Sikh community, enriching UCalgary’s Sikh Studies with expanded course selection, research and community engagement. Building on this success, funds raised from Giving Day 2022 helped to create the Expanding Sikh Studies Endowment, the first step towards securing this program in perpetuity. Donations totalling more than $46,000 made this initiative the most successful in the Faculty of Arts.
Cumming School of Medicine
Guyana, a small country in South America, suffers from the highest rates of heart disease in the world. The Guyana Program to Advance Cardiac Care directs life-saving resources to the country’s largest public healthcare facility, helping provide more than 100 cardiac surgeries. Thousands of patients — pediatric and adult — have been treated.
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Students can access Inertial Sensor Kits, which assess the movement of horses and help expand our research and education opportunities. In addition to being used in hands-on teaching sessions in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Faculty of Kinesiology, the kits have been valuable in field-based applied research.
Libraries and Cultural Resources
Libraries and Cultural Resources’ Impact Funds allow us to keep pace with the needs of our community — growing archives, supporting curriculum and research, refreshing physical space, nurturing collaborative exploration, digitizing our collections for greater access, and fostering creativity and innovation with advanced technology.
Haskayne School of Business
Haskayne is “Open for Business,” thanks to your generosity. After two years of construction, Mathison Hall is welcoming students for in-person classes. The four-storey, 10,000-square-metre building — attached to the school’s Scurfield Hall — has united Haskayne’s growing community on campus.
With the help of the BComm Class of ’79, Brick x Brick Campaign donors and many others, we raised $242,000 for Mathison Hall during the 2022 Giving Day. Thank you for investing in our school and making Mathison Hall the place that spurs creativity, strengthens community, forges friendships and grows future leaders.
It has been a long, challenging and rewarding journey to get here. The need to expand our school was prevalent for some time and seeing everyone from the school explore the space feels surreal. I am inspired by the tenacity, agility and positivity every team member injected into this project.
Jim Dewald, Dean, Haskayne School of Business
Werklund School of Education
The Catherine Mitchell Memorial Award, Cynthia Prasow Scholarship in Early Childhood Education, Dr. Peggy Patterson Scholarship in Post-secondary Education and several other initiatives have provided undergraduate and graduate students with indispensable financial assistance as they pursue their passion for teaching and learning.
Faculty of Science
As a proud Bee Campus, our goal is to use our knowledge to promote conservation efforts in both agricultural and urban landscapes. This includes planting native plants, providing habitat and water for pollinators on campus, and partnering with community members through outreach events and our citizen-science Calgary Pollinator Count.
Faculty of Social Work
The Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard Leadership Scholarship was formally introduced by the Faculty of Social Work’s Anti-Black Racism Task Force in 2021 on Aug. 1, Bernard’s birthday and Emancipation Day. The scholarship — for Black undergraduate social work students who have demonstrated leadership in their communities — is a fitting tribute to a Canadian trailblazer.
Faculty of Kinesiology
Your Giving Day support helps the Health and Wellness Lab in the Faculty of Kinesiology conduct life-changing exercise and cancer research for all ages. For more than 21 years, the lab has found ways to improve outcomes for those with cancer as well as people in supporting roles.
The exercise and cancer programs have been so successful that they have expanded into urban and rural communities. Health and fitness professionals are being provided training with a specialization in cancer. With your support, we will continue to create life-changing impact across Canada.
It’s wonderful when you see a group of people with cancer begin to feel stronger and gain more confidence in an exercise program made just for them. One of the greatest benefits is they find a community of people who understand what they are going through. I’ve seen participants make lifelong friendships in our programs.
Dr. Nicole Culos-Reed, PhD, Director of the Health and Wellness Lab