Beyond These Halls
The University of Alberta Senate has a community outreach recognition program called Beyond These Halls. Recognizing the efforts of 110,000 community service hours in a single year (2006) is an incredibly important honour. Not only do these many, many volunteer hours credit the University's outreach and its vibrant push to bring the University to the community, but they also represent a huge willingness on the part of the community to participate in university life. It’s a win-win situation. If the Senate is extremely proud of the vital activities taking place beyond the University's halls, so too are community leaders.
The Senate Exemplary Service Award, presented by the Chancellor and the Senate, recognizes an exemplary spirit of volunteerism. Two recent recipients of this award are the student group of the World University Service of Canada, for work on the Student Refugee Program and Mr Lino Ramirex, a Faculty of Engineering PhD candidate who volunteered time to a program that created awareness about free educational software in Venezuela.
Mayor Stephen Mandel has recently awarded the City of Edmonton’s Civic Engagement Award to the Student Health Initiative for the Needs of Edmonton Clinic. This award recognizes an individual whose impact on community life in Edmonton is significant and positive.
The Edmonton Journal’s Media Relations Award has been presented to professors for their willingness to shed light on contemporary issues, including law issues addressed by Dr Sanjeev Anand and political science issues addressed by Dr Wenran Jiang.
The Student’s Union has presented its Students’ Union Rising Star Award in recognition of student contributions outside the university community. It was recently granted to Ms Elena Jacobs of the School of Native Studies and to Ms Shawna Pandya of the Faculty of Science.
All of these activities contribute to the development of community and University leaders and to the promotion and betterment of our civil society.
Volunteerism and Community Service
The University of Alberta Senate celebrates and recognizes faculty, staff, and students who volunteer outside the boundaries of campus.
Through the Beyond These Halls: Senate Community Service Recognition Program, launched in 2000 to support and encourage the valuable volunteer and community service efforts of faculty, staff, and students, the University of Alberta values, recognizes, and celebrates the community service achievements of its faculty, staff, and students who share their research and/or teaching expertise with the community or provide other community services. The University is committed to sharing its accomplishments with the broader community, and volunteerism by faculty, staff, and students is critical to realizing the Vision of the University.
The University of Alberta Senate compiles information on the individual and collective community service and volunteer contributions of the members of our university community. In 2005, the University community contributed a combined total of 118,489 community service hours! This work is extremely important to the University and to its communities—such a high number of volunteer hours confirms the University's engagement in activities that develop leadership, foster social and moral responsibility, and contribute to the development of civil society and democratic institutions.
The valuable volunteer and community service efforts of faculty, staff, and students bring the university to the people, beyond these halls. These pages explore not only awards and honours bestowed by the University of Alberta upon its dedicated volunteers, but also outlines external honours and recognition.