We did it again!

He’s a tireless community advocate, exceptional student and adventurer who conquered Mt. Kilimanjaro. Raed Joundi can now add Rhodes Scholar to his list of extraordinary achievements after receiving the prestigious award in 2008. Joundi began his post-secondary career in 2004 at the University of Manitoba on a Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship, earned the highest GPA among all first-year students and made an annual appearance on the dean’s honour list. Today, Joundi is studying medicine and conducting spinal cord research at Queen’s University. Joundi joins a long and impressive list of University of Manitoba students – 92 to be exact – to earn the honour of Rhodes Scholar. No other university in Western Canada has produced more of these remarkable students.

Learning at the top of the world

Innovative climate change program wins important award

An innovative program which brings the issue of climate change to life for high school students won the Canadian Excellence in Environmental Education Award in 2008. Since 2003, the University of Manitoba, through the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources, has conducted the Schools on Board program providing high school students from around the country the chance to live and work aboard the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the Amundsen, in the high Arctic. Here they work alongside some of the best climate change researchers in the world, examining the cause and impact of climate change on sea ice, mammals, bacteria and even the people who call that remote area home.

Our students excel

Students excel on national and international exams and competitions

Once again, University of Manitoba students led the country in their academic accomplishments. Students in the Faculty of Pharmacy ranked number one on the 2008 Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada licensing exams with a 100 per cent success rate for the third time in five years.

Meanwhile, students from the Faculty of Architecture placed second out of a total of 117 institutions on the North American National Council of Architecture Registration Board exams. Only Ivy League Princeton out-paced our grads.

Not to be outdone, Faculty of Law students Alison Cathcart and David Ireland earned honours in the prestigious Sopinka Cup moot competition.

International student shines

Student selected from across Canada for moving reminiscences

For the second year in a row, the International Student of the Year hails from the University of Manitoba. In 2008, Leytisha Jack, who calls St. Vincent and the Grenadines home, received the honour, following in the footsteps of Alex Anton who won the award in 2007. Over 440 international students studying at institutions across Canada wrote letters to vie for the Liz Paterson International Student of the Year award in 2008. Jack’s letter stood out for its heart-warming and lively reflections on her experience in Canada. Jack is a student in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources.

A role model for Aboriginal students

Social work student committed to helping families facing cancer

Channing Lavallee, Social Work, dreams of one day working with young cancer patients. For now, however, she’s going to have to settle for travelling across Canada as a positive example of her Métis culture. Lavallee was awarded the National Aboriginal Role Model award by the National Aboriginal Health Organization in 2008. She was recognized for her efforts to promote Métis culture in her community and to improving the well-being of Aboriginal people. Hailing from St. Ambroise, Lavallee works with youth at the St. Ambroise Manitoba Métis Federation Youth Centre and volunteers with Elders and others in her community while pursuing her studies. Lavallee hopes to work with families facing cancer, inspired by her own sister’s battle with the disease.