One of the things you notice first about The Friends of the University of Alberta is that the organization lives up to its name — it’s friendly, especially towards and on behalf of the U of A and its diverse communities, grads and otherwise. And it’s that spirit of friendliness that has been dissolving the barriers between the university and those communities since 1943.
The group’s success over the last 80 years was recognized this week with a 2023 Community Connections Award in the category of U of A Advocate. The award underscores the Friends’ simple and clear purpose.
“We take on activities that bridge the gap between the university and the broader community,” says Ken Regan, president of the charitable society. He says the Friends of the University of Alberta commits to providing a connection to the university for members of the community, acting as advocate and ambassador for the university in the community, facilitating a sense of lifelong learning and providing information about volunteer opportunities at the university.
Regan explains that part of the society’s mandate neatly overlaps with one of the institution’s strategic goals: to strengthen the presence of the U of A as a core participant in civic life.
“Many people have never set foot on campus — even though it’s their campus! It’s not part of their frame of reference.” The group aims to counter that stereotype of cloistered academia.
Of course, it’s one thing to aspire to this kind of message and another thing to undertake the actions to make it real. Regan says the society has different approaches to its mandate, depending on the group it wants to engage.
One group that’s especially important to engage are school-aged kids who might never imagine the university as an education destination. So, for nearly 10 years, the Friends of the University of Alberta has supported U School, a program run by the University of Alberta Senate that connects students to the institution. Participating schools are often from underserved communities.
“U School offers them a week of learning, at an appropriate age level, from university professors,” Regan says.
For the post-secondary age group, the Friends offers a handful of awards and scholarships to university students, based on financial need or excellence in academic and community service.
In the spirit of meeting learners where they are, the society also supports Humanities 101 — a program run by the Faculty of Arts that introduces and connects adult learners to the U of A. According to its website, “The HUM Program strives to make its courses accessible thereby cultivating an opportunity for critical thinking irrelevant of previous educational experiences.” It offers a U of A educational experience for free, and has delivered content online, through the radio, in a women’s shelter and on campus where possible, removing barriers of cost and transportation.
As a hat tip to lifelong learning, since the 1950s the Friends of the University of Alberta has hosted the annual Henry Marshall Tory Lectures, starring a different notable speaker each year, free to the public. Beyond the lecture theatre, another popular event of the Friends is Raise the Bar, a series of fun and engaging public talks that connect the university to the broader community in local bars. In March, Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences professor Patricia Dolez taught an engaged audience at Arcadia Brewing in Edmonton about wearable electronics and textile electrodes, solvent-specific resistive sensors and high performance fibres — the latest in protective garments.
And as the Friends enter the ninth decade in a long history of looking out for the common good, the society shows no signs of quitting. The organization raises money through casinos and accepts donations but doesn’t solicit funds directly from the public. Still, donors find them. And hundreds of thousands of dollars and decades later, the group is still demonstrating that “a university is the most important investment a society can make in support of its own prosperity,” Regan says.
“We are a small group and very nimble,” he says. “We like to call ourselves ‘the guerillas of goodness.’”