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 →

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 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 →

School may have been out for summer, but the learning certainly didn’t stop for Theressa Genaille.

After graduating with honours last spring from Red River College’s Aboriginal Program for College Enrichment and Transition — a program recently relaunched as the College Transition program — Genaille was selected for an eight-week paid internship at the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce (ACC).

In that time, she was able to take the knowledge and skills she gained in the classroom and put them to work supporting the daily operations of the ACC.

“As the first person in my family to pursue post-secondary education, it was really important for me to enter into a learning environment like Red River College,” says Genaille, “where instructors and advisors took the time to understand my individual needs and provide the supports I needed to achieve my academic goals and thrive in my studies.”

In addition to her achievements in the Transition program — created to help students enhance their core competency skills in areas such as reading, writing, math, science and technology — Genaille’s education and volunteer experience made her the ideal candidate for the ACC Internship, funded by the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development.

“Theressa’s name was put forward with glowing recommendations from her instructors due to her volunteer experience, positive attitude and great work ethic — and from the moment she joined our team, we could certainly see why,” says Darrell Brown, Chair of ACC’s Board of Directors, and a proud RRC grad himself.

“We were so fortunate to work with Theressa and have her support to move important initiatives forward. In turn, we were able to provide a supportive learning environment for her to experience the daily operations of the ACC, gain a deeper understanding of the business community as a whole, and apply the valuable skills she learned as a student.” Read More →

Whether you’re pursuing an education in Culinary Arts, Construction Management or Electrical Engineering Technology (shown above) — or any of the other 200-plus full- and part-time programs at Red River College — there are financial supports available to help you along the way.

The College encourages all eligible students to apply for awards and bursaries that will help them achieve their academic goals. Last year, RRC handed out 3,881 awards (an increase of almost 70 per cent from previous years) that supported 1,840 students across the College. This year, close to $3 million will be available for eligible students who choose to apply.

Made possible through generous support from the College’s donors and the provincial government, these awards help students who are experiencing financial barriers stay focused on their educational goals.

“Our top priority as a College is for our students to succeed,” says RRC President Paul Vogt. “These awards are a way to alleviate financial pressure and ensure that students have a positive experience at the College, which helps them transition into the workforce as confident leaders in their chosen fields.”

“We pride ourselves on having students who graduate ahead of the curve, who enter the workforce with hands-on experience and expertise and with strong industry relationships. That can’t happen without the financial support being provided.”

Students who are considering applying for a scholarship, bursary or financial award are encouraged to explore the full list of awards available here.

New awards available for the 2018/2019 academic year include: Read More →

Red River College and Accutech Engineering Inc. are proud to announce a new scholarship for students from Nunavut who are attending Engineering Technology programs at RRC.

The annual $3,000 award will support one full-time student per year who has relocated to Winnipeg to pursue Civil Engineering Technology (shown above), Electrical Engineering Technology or Mechanical Engineering Technology.

Many of the Engineering programs will take place in the College’s new Skilled Trades and Technology Centre, which opened its doors to students this month. The new 104,000 square-foot facility features state-of-the-art equipment and learning spaces that focus on collaboration and applied-learning

“This award offers accessibility to education, which is something we at Red River College strive for,” says RRC President Paul Vogt. “Our nine campuses, along with our Mobile Training Labs, help us to reach students in communities across Manitoba — and we are very grateful to Accutech for helping to expand that reach into Nunavut. We’re looking forward to meeting the first recipient and continuing to help them while they take the first steps in their career here at the College.”

The award is Accutech’s way of giving back to the people — and future technologists — of Nunavut, recognizing that educations in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) have a positive impact on capacity-building and self-reliance within the Territory.

“Accutech Engineering is proud to be able to provide professional services to the people of Canada’s Arctic,” says Brent Wall, President and CEO of Accutech. “Under an atmosphere of mutual respect, we are honoured to be able to give back to help Nunavummiut develop and implement their own solutions, just as the Elders did for generations.” Read More →

This week, thousands of students began their studies at Red River College campuses across the province, including — for the first time ever — at RRC’s new 104,000-sq. ft., state-of-the-art Skilled Trades and Technology Centre.

The new STTC will increase trades and technology training spaces at RRC’s Notre Dame Campus by more than 30 per cent, and will prepare up to 1,000 students a year for careers in high-demand industries including carpentry, electrical, and mechanical and manufacturing.

The facility is home to new classrooms, labs and shop space, and is expected to play a key role in boosting Manitoba’s workforce by 75,000 highly trained people by 2020.

In addition to opening the doors of the STTC, the College will also mark a number of other back-to-school milestones this month, including a new series of student orientation sessions, the launch of new programs, awards and bursary opportunities, and a full slate of events and activities hosted by the RRC Students’ Association.

“The first day of school is always a mix of excitement and nerves, whether it’s the start of a new program or the start of another year in a student’s educational journey,” says RRC President Paul Vogt.

“We look forward to welcoming students back to our nine campuses across Manitoba, and — for the first time — to our dynamic new Skilled Trades and Technology Centre, a facility equipped with the latest in teaching technology and hands-on learning spaces.”

Last year, RRC welcomed more than 22,000 students through its doors over the course of the academic year. While current enrolment figures are still being tallied, early indications suggest most programs are near-capacity or full.

Thirty post-secondary students from Mexico visited Manitoba for the first time this summer, soaking in the local culture and sharpening their English skills with help from Red River College’s Language Training Centre.

The students were here as part of the Mexican government’s Proyecta 10,000 initiative, which sent 10,000 students to locations throughout Canada to explore culture and history while practicing their English.

The students visiting Winnipeg spent nearly a month attending the College’s LTC, where they mixed classroom study with off-site excursions to sites such as FortWhyte Alive, Shaw Park and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

While in town, they billeted at homestays with local families, who also exposed them to such Peg-specific traditions as kayaking along the Red River and visiting the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

In order to qualify for a spot with the sought-after Proyecta program, students had to have good grades, letters of reference, and high-level language skills — though the latter improved significantly as a result of their time in the city.

“I’m astounded with how much it grew,” LTC program facilitator Carleigh Friesen said (to the Winnipeg Free Press), of the students’ fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation.

This marks the sixth year RRC has hosted a summer institute — a two- to four-week language improvement program that’s usually attended by students from the College’s sister schools in China — and the first year that RRC hosted students from Mexico, though Friesen says she hopes it won’t be the last.

“The community really embraced them,” she said.

Learn more about RRC’s Summer Institutes.

Demonstrating core institutional values of leadership, ingenuity and collaboration, a pair of Red River College students created a new process control training skid that’s being used by the University of Manitoba to prepare their own Engineering students for industry.

As part of their final-year engineering design project, Eric Champagne and Joao Fidencio — both recent graduates of RRC’s Instrumentation and Control Engineering Technology program — partnered with Canadian firm Lakeside Process Controls on the skid, which is now a component of the U of M’s control engineering laboratory.

“Lakeside had been trying to find the time to design, build, test and commission a DeltaV process control training skid for the U of M’s Engineering lab for some time,” says RRC instructor David Bertin. “They had put some effort into it, but hadn’t been able to complete it, so our students took on the project.”

Fidencio, who was working as a summer student for Lakeside when the project first came up, asked his manager if he could take the lead and use it as his final project at RRC.

The form and construction of the skid were similar to one Bertin had designed earlier for the College, but there were enough differences to require a significant amount of additional work on the part of Fidencio and Champagne (shown above, at left and right).

The skid itself is an invaluable tool for Engineering students looking to develop their process control skills using the latest hardware and software on the market. Equipped with Emerson transmitters and control valves — plus state-of-the-art DeltaV software — it allows students to control pressure, level, flow and temperature the same way they would on the frontlines of industry, introducing new capabilities to the U of M that RRC has offered its own students for years. Read More →

From left: Mayor Brian Bowman; Education Minister Ian Wishart; Rebecca Chartrand, RRC Polytech Executive Director, Indigenous Strategy; Number TEN Partner/Principal Doug Hanna; RRC Polytech President Paul Vogt.

With funding now in place, Red River College is moving forward this week with construction of its new $95-million Innovation Centre, plans for which had to be put on hold while financial arrangements were sorted out earlier this year.

College President Paul Vogt received confirmation from the government recently that the $40.6 million in funding required for the project is now secure, and the College can begin issuing tenders so that construction can get underway.

On Wednesday, stakeholders gathered at site of the new Centre — at 319 Elgin Ave., right across the street from RRC’s Roblin Centre — to learn more about how the College’s latest expansion plan will help transform the Exchange District.

“For those of you who have been following this project closely, and have been wondering if we are still moving forward, let me be the first to say ‘yes,’ we are very proud to be starting construction,” Vogt said Wednesday.

“Nothing gets built without a vision. And right now it excites me to visualize that in a few short years we’re going to be able to look across the street from here and see a hub for creative innovation.”

Construction of the new Centre is slated to be complete by the fall of 2020. Once open, it will serve as the home of RRC’s business and information technology programs, as well as its Language Training Centre, ACE (Applied Computer Education) Project Space, and Research Partnerships & Innovation office. Read More →