News

The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) has named Ray Hoemsen, Director of Applied Research & Commercialization at Red River College (RRC) as their prestigious Gold Leadership Excellence Award winner.

“Mr. Hoemsen was recognized for the exceptional work he has done in creating and leading sustained applied research, innovation, and commercialization programs in Manitoba,” said James Knight, ACCC President and CEO. “His leadership in this area has been a model for other colleges regionally and nationally.”

Every year, the ACCC recognizes an individual from a Canadian college that has made the greatest impact on his/her institution and, as a result, the communities it serves.

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Red River College students led the way for a Manitoba delegation that earned the highest number of gold medals at the recently held 17^th Canadian Skills Competition in Quebec City. The annual Skills Canada National event took place from June 1 to 4.

Team Manitoba received a total of 24 medals, including 13 Gold, 5 Silver, and 6 Bronze. The teams from Ontario and Quebec each earned 10 Gold medals, while the Alberta and British Columbia delegations each finished with 7 Gold.

Of the Team Manitoba medals, Red River College students won 4 Gold, 2 Silver, and 3 Bronze:

• Andrew Hallmann, CNC Machining (post-secondary) – Gold
• Markus Messerschmidt, Autobody Repair (post-secondary) – Gold
• Ryan Peters, Carpentry (post-secondary) – Gold
• Vasyl Zhukov-Malyeyev, Cabinet Making (post-secondary) – Gold
• Jacob Bell, Brick Masonry (post-secondary) – Silver
• Chad Verplaestse, Sheet Metal Work (post-secondary) – Silver
• Colin Dewitt, Landscape Gardening (post-secondary) – Bronze
• Mackenzie Harman, Landscape Gardening (post-secondary) – Bronze
• Jesse Reimer, Architectural Tech & Design (post-secondary) – Bronze

Congratulations to the RRC representatives, as well as the rest of Team Manitoba, on an excellent showing!

Red River College (RRC) was one of 35 colleges that will share in more than $8 million in federal grant money, via the federal government’s recently announced Applied Research Tools and Instruments Grants, a brand new initiative under the College and Community Innovation Program.

This grant supports the purchase of research equipment and installations to foster and enhance the ability of colleges to conduct applied research.

“This funding helps us with our ongoing mandate of applying knowledge to solve real-world challenges,” says Ray Hoemsen, Director of Applied Research and Commercialization at RRC.

RRC received a grant of $127,001, which will be used to upgrade the environmental test chambers in the College’s Centre for Applied Research in Sustainable Infrastructure and acquire air leakage testing equipment to be used for commercial and industrial buildings.

“Upgrades are under way and we are already using the air leakage testing equipment on a handful of projects,” says Hoemsen. “Applied research is a key element in improving Canada’s productivity and innovation capacity. We are thankful for the federal government’s continued support.”

Click to learn more about RRC’s office of Applied Research and Commercialization.

As part of their efforts to make composite manufacturing more economical, an instructor and a grad from RRC's Mechanical Engineering Technology program have developed a new means of making dissolvable mandrels and patterns, otherwise known as "rapid prototype composite tooling (RPCT)."

Composite manufacturing currently has substantial overhead costs, partly due to the expense of tooling.

"To produce these tools, one typically requires expensive machines that are also very slow and costly to operate," says Leon Fainstein, the instructor who led the development of the new RPCT. "By contrast, RPCT involves only one affordable machine — a 3D printer."

The 3D printer will print virtually any shape of dissolvable mandrels and patterns in about four to eight hours, and even print multiple mandrels or patterns at once.

"Manufacturers require permanent composite molds for short production runs. RPCT can make them with dissolvable patterns," says Serge Broeska (shown, above), the program grad who's now working as a Research Technologist at RRC's Centre for Applied Research in Sustainable Infrastructure  (CARSI). "These composite molds can be very complex, have smooth surfaces, and are comparable to metal molds, with the exception that they are much less expensive."

While there are other methods of making dissolvable mandrels and patterns, RPCT is the only method whereby dissolvable mandrels and patterns can be made directly from CAD files.

"With the progressive development of RPCT, the possibilities for composite design and manufacturing are becoming endless," says Broeska.

To learn more about this breakthrough, read Broeska's article here.

Click here for more information about RRC's Mechanical Engineering Technology program.

Red River College is pleased to announce its second Aboriginal youth summer camp for boys and girls aged 11 to 13 years.

The Hands-on Activity Week for Kids (H.A.W.K.) will run from Monday, July 25th to Friday, July 29th, from 9:00am to 4:00pm daily.

Participants will enjoy cultural programming in RRC’s Medicine Wheel Garden, recreation time and team building games, as well as fun and engaging hands-on activities that will provide an introduction to the skilled trades and technologies in programs such as Construction Trades, Electronics, Mechanical Engineering Technology/Manufacturing and Civil Engineering.

There are only 16 spots available in this year’s camp, so be sure to register your son or daughter as soon as possible. Once the camp is full, a wait list will be developed.

In order to register, your application must be completed in full, including a $50 refundable deposit that will be returned the last day of the camp.  Registration forms can be found online: http://www.rrc.mb.ca/index.php?pid=6830

To learn more, please contact:

Lisa Carriere, H.A.W.K. Coordinator
Aboriginal Student Support & Community Relations

Phone: 204-632-3773
Email: licarriere@rrc.mb.ca

Red River College’s Spring 2011 Convocation — held June 2nd and 3rd, 2011 — gave staff, students and faculty a chance to celebrate the success of the College’s newest class of alumni.

A total of 1,686 credentials were awarded, including:

• 886 Full Time Diploma graduates
• 315 Full Time Certificate graduates
• 435 Continuing & Distance Ed and Regional graduates

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Red River College celebrated the achievements of its Aboriginal graduates at the College's 11th Annual Graduation Pow Wow.

Hosted by RRC's School of Indigenous Education, the event (held May 6, 2011), drew more than 800 graduates, family members and friends.

On June 3, 2011, the SIE will host the College's first ever Aboriginal Art Auction, in support of Aboriginal-focused programming for students. Tickets will be sold until June 2, 2011, at both the Notre Dame Campus and Exchange District Campus bookstores.

For more information or to view images of the available artwork, see www.rrc.ca/aboriginalart.

Something tells us Nadine De Lisle's son wishes he'd been a little more neat and discreet as a teen.

De Lisle, a graduate of RRC's Creative Communications program, recently released a self-published memoir detailing her experiences as a single mom raising a sometimes surly, sometimes sloppy teenager.

There's a Basketball on my Buffet! is a collection of first-person essays about De Lisle's relationship with her son, 25-year-old Brett Delisle-Boughen (now a linebacker for the Manitoba Bisons).

The Winnipeg Free Press described the essays as "honest, self-deprecating snapshots of motherhood during Brett's teen and young-adult years, interwoven with memories of (Nadine's) own Winnipeg childhood and interior monologues of worry, guilt, pride and bewilderment."

De Lisle, a provincial government employee (shown at right with Brett in a Free Press photo), launched the book in April with a reading at McNally Robinson Booksellers. She's encouraging other mothers to share their stories at her blog: http://motherofason.wordpress.com.

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After months of careful consideration, Red River College’s Alumni Board is proud to announce the recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award: Regina resident Wayne Morsky, president and CEO of Morsky Group of Companies.

Inspired in equal measure by his passion for his family and for family-run businesses, Morsky has been working for his own family business since the age of 13, and now oversees a thriving infrastructure development operation that for 55 years has been involved in diverse sectors of the industry, including general contracting, highway construction, railway maintenance, industrial services, HySpeed soil nailing, and oil and gas development.

Born and raised in Virden, Man., Morsky graduated from RRC’s Business Administration program in 1981, having attained skills he now describes as vital to his success as an entrepreneur.

“I could take the things I learned at Red River College and put them into daily effect quite quickly after getting out of school,” says Morsky, “especially because I was involved with a family-owned business.”

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University of Manitoba President David Barnard and Red River College President Stephanie Forsyth.

Red River College (RRC) and the University of Manitoba (U of M) are joining forces to improve educational options for students, enhance research and development activities, and improve their ability to provide the highly skilled workforce Manitoba needs to innovate and grow.

The two institutions signed a Partnership Protocol Agreement yesterday that builds on a long history of working together to plan programs and services, facilitate joint academic programming, pursue bridge programming initiatives, enhance student mobility and foster collaborative research efforts.

This new agreement will include looking for additional opportunities for the articulation of courses and programs so that students can transfer smoothly between the two institutions. It also outlines a commitment on behalf of both institutions to furthering aboriginal student access and achievement in post-secondary education.

Stephanie Forsyth, President of RRC, views the partnership as a step toward even more collaboration to the benefit of students and the community.

"Our institutions already have a great working relationship, but this agreement positions us to develop even more comprehensive learning opportunities for students, and enhanced research and training initiatives for our industry partners," she said.

David Barnard, President and Vice-Chancellor of the U of M, believes the new agreement will help Red River College and the University of Manitoba continue to lead the way in advancing economic, social and cultural development in the province.  

“Between our two institutions, we address the full spectrum of post-secondary education, research and training needs in Manitoba and we see opportunities to build on our existing leadership in advancing Manitoba’s innovation agenda,’’ he explains. “This agreement reinforces what we are already doing and outlines specific ways in which we might enhance those efforts and build on them.”

This is the latest in a series of cooperative agreements that Red River College has established with other educational institutions in Manitoba and around the world. These partnerships include opportunities for students to advance their studies, for staff to share their expertise in developing nations, and for researchers to pursue innovations with global companies.