Madeline Meadus

Representatives from Memorial University and Cenovus Energy held an event to recognize the generous contributions Cenovus has made to several university departments and faculties.  

In total, Cenovus contributed $250,000 to the university to support various initiatives that support the recruitment and retention of students.  

The event was hosted in the Student Design Hub, a student resource initiative that provides programming, access to resources, and guidance to students. The hub also received $50,000 in contributions. John Walsh, Engineer in Residence, and several student teams attended to represent and give a tour of the hub. 

Dr. Octavia Dobre, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science emceed the event. She thanked Cenovus for their generosity, noting that $60,000 in contributions were made to the faculty for student bursaries and graduate student teaching assistants.

Other speakers at the event included Dr. Svetlana Barkanova and Dr. Travis Fridgen.  

Dr. Barkanova is a physics professor at Memorial’s Grenfell Campus and the NSERC Chair in Inclusion in Science and Engineering. She spoke about the importance of increasing access to science and engineering education to youths and underrepresented groups, especially in rural areas.

From Cenovus, Dr. Barkanova received $50,000 in funding to support the initiatives of recruiting and retaining students in science programs.  

Dr. Fridgen, Interim Dean of Science, acknowledged the impact that student bursaries have on increasing access to post-secondary education and thanked Cenovus for their support. The Department of Earth Sciences received $50,000 to create student bursaries.

Additional donations were made to four university resources. The Blundon Centre, Campus Food Bank, Internationalization Office, and Indigenous Student Resource Centre each received $10,000 in funding to support the work they do for the Memorial community.