News

The next phase of development at Red River College's Exchange District Campus kicked off today with the start of exterior renovation work at the Union Bank Tower.

Locked away from the public for nearly two decades, this National Historic Site will be transformed over the next two years into the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, a new home for RRC's culinary and hospitality programs and the College's first student residence.

"This facility will build on the momentum that Red River College started in this neighbourhood with the construction of our original Exchange District Campus buildings, and will help solidify Winnipeg's reputation as a regional centre for culinary excellence and food production," said Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, President of Red River College.

Building Features

• 49,500 square feet of new instructional space.
• State-of-the-art culinary and baking labs.
• Dedicated space for RRC to partner on applied research projects with Manitoba-based growers, and food and beverage producers.
• Jane’s restaurant (a 110 seat fine dining restaurant/lounge), Hard Drive Café ( a 100 seat casual diner), and Grab-and-Go (quick service) food outlets.
• A retail showcase to promote Manitoba food products.
• A green roof with herb garden.
• LEED standards for sustainability and energy efficiency.
• Red River College’s first student residence (100 beds).

The College also announced today that it has received a $500,000 grant toward the project from The Winnipeg Foundation, one of Canada's leading philanthropic organizations.

The total construction cost of $27 million is also being supported by the Government of Canada, Province of Manitoba, City of Winnipeg/Centreventure and Paterson GlobalFoods/The Paterson Foundation. The College will continue to work with community and corporate partners to raise additional capital funds.

At top: Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, Mr. Andrew Paterson, The Honourable Vic Toews,
The Honourable Ron Lemieux and Mayor Sam Katz participate in the chain
cutting ceremony for the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute.

Related:

• Winnipeg Sun – RRC training eateries to help revive tower
• Winnipeg Free Press – Heritage reborn
• Global Winnipeg – A tasty change for Western Canada's oldest skyscraper
• CJOB – Union Bank Tower Make-Over
• Progressive Winnipeg – Red River College officially begins Union Bank Tower makeover
  

Manitoba's new Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Philip S. Lee, visited Red River College on October 9th. Mr. Lee met with senior executives to learn more about the College's academic and research activities, and toured the facilities at the Notre Dame Campus. Here he is pictured with RRC President Dr. Jeff Zabudsky.

More students than ever before are pursuing their education at Red River College without ever having to set foot on campus.

Participation in the College's distance education courses hit an all-time high of more than 4,600 registrations in 2008/09. This marked a 15.3% increase over 2007/08, and follows several years of consistent growth.

College officials say increased awareness of distance education options, enhanced use of online learning technologies, and an expanded line-up of courses have driven the enrolment growth.

"The majority of our distance education students are employed full-time. Their primary reason for pursuing additional training is to obtain a certificate or diploma, and distance education gives them the flexibility to do that on their own schedule," explained Rae-Ann Thibeault, Dean of RRC's School of Continuing & Distance Education.

RRC currently offers 13 certificates, two post-graduate certificates and two diplomas entirely by distance education. Students can also combine distance and in-class learning to pursue several dozen more certificate options.

Several hundred former Red River College students visited the Exchange District Campus — some for the first time — to celebrate at a special Alumni Wine & Cheese on September 29th.

The event was a good opportunity for former classmates to reconnect, and for our alumni community to learn more about some of the exciting work being done at the College, and our plans for expansion at both the Notre Dame and Exchange District Campuses.

The next major alumni event is the Annual Alumni Dinner on November 20, 2009 at the Fairmont Winnipeg. Get your tickets soon, as the dinner was a sell-out last year.

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.