Giving Day 2024 across campus, part 1

There’s a reason UCalgary Giving Day is so popular. With gift-matching making your dollar go twice as far (while matching funds last, so give early!), it’s easier than ever to make a difference.  

Because you don’t have to be a scientist to advance concussion research, or have a greenhouse to fight food insecurity, or work on a ranch to improve cattle health — your gift makes it happen! But don’t take our word for it — allow UCalgary alum Dan Allard, BComm’09, to demonstrate:

Read on for a few featured funds being promoted this year — and watch UToday for more leading up to Giving Day.

Improving health outcomes through nursing research

Faculty of Nursing

Nursing research is a cornerstone of health-care innovation, optimizing systems, eliminating disparities and improving outcomes. With external grants tending to favour more seasoned investigators, the Faculty of Nursing’s Research Endowment advances promising work outside of that scope: smaller studies and those initiated by newer faculty members. 

The endowment has funded a wide range of projects at UCalgary, like studying the psychosocial effects of childhood cancer on families, and looking at emergency room wait times and how triage nurses manage patient intake.

“It’s also about building capacity with new faculty members,” says UCalgary Nursing Associate Dean (Research) Dr. Nancy Moules, BN’95, MN’97, PhD’00. “These are booster funds for those who aren’t yet competitive at the tri-council level, to position them to secure larger, external grants and continue to contribute to the field in meaningful ways.”

That includes investigating nursing teaching and learning. “When you’re in the hospital, you typically interact with nurses more than anyone,” says Moules. “And it’s our obligation (as a faculty) to ensure you’re in good hands, by delivering the best education to nursing students.”

Support the Nursing Research Endowment or explore all Faculty of Nursing funds.

Weaving a vibrant tapestry of our communities

School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape 

Design Matters is the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape’s thought-provoking lecture series, set in Calgary’s downtown core, that aims to inspire transformative change and spark conversations about societal issues. The series brings to Calgary a range of designers, innovators and thought leaders who are exploring design and city building.

“It stitches together the threads of innovation, architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture, inspiring us to see beyond the ordinary and envision the extraordinary,” says Diba Mohebzedeh, MLA’20, a graduate research assistant and social media specialist with the faculty, who likens the lecture series to a beautiful tapestry. “It brings people from every corner of the world, blending diverse perspectives into the rich urban fabric of our cities.” 

Donations to the Design Matters Lecture Series Fund allow the faculty to not only bring in renowned speakers from around the world, but to also keep lectures free to the public, so the entire community can benefit.

Support the Design Matters Lecture Series or explore all School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape funds.

Innovating outside the classroom

Schulich School of Engineering

Capstone projects are year-long assignments in which fourth-year engineering students find innovative solutions to real-world problems — and showcase them at the Schulich School of Engineering’s annual Capstone Design Fair.

There are two paths for choosing a project: selecting from a list of challenges presented by industry partners, known as a traditional capstone, or coming up with their own. While both rely on engineering know-how to solve the problem at hand, entrepreneurial capstones also test students’ business sense as they seek to make that solution marketable. 

Either way, the experience is invaluable, says Dr. Colin Dalton, PhD, associate professor with the Department of Electrical and Software Engineering. 

“Through traditional capstones, students make important industry connections,” says Dalton, who teaches the faculty’s entrepreneurial capstone course. “And by taking the entrepreneurial route, they learn about the process of company creation and real-world issues faced by startups.”

Projects that earned prizes at the 2024 Schulich School of Engineer Capstone Design Fair, which took place April 4, include a fetal monitoring device, a ball that emits sound for blind dogs, and a novel water-purification method. 

Support the Capstone Design Fair or explore all Schulich School of Engineering funds.