Winter 2010 - Bishop's University

Michael Goldbloom
Principal’s Page
“
A Bishop’s graduate –
with a strong belief in our
University and a desire to
help promising students
achieve their full potential
– increased our annual
investment in experiential
learning by 90%.
“
Students want and need to expand
their learning experiences beyond
the classroom.
Internships, research projects with
faculty, international exchanges, and
work experience or community-based
projects are experiential learning
opportunities that can be of great benefit
to our students. Such opportunities
can provide them with life-changing
experiences that not only give context
to classroom content but also help shape
their career paths or further study.
However, the experiences can be
expensive, often beyond the financial
means of some students. Barriers to their
participation include travel expenses,
associated fees such as insurance,
equipment costs and loss of employment
revenue.
Charitable gifts to the Bishop’s
Foundation provide some aid. A bequest
last year, for instance, established a trust
fund that will contribute $9,000 annually
to experiential education, and TD
Insurance Meloche Monnex committed
$5,000 per year to internships in the
International Studies major (see p. 15).
Although the Bishop’s Foundation
contributes an additional $41,000, our
current support fails to meet the growing
demand from students and faculty.
Consequently, in December I was very
pleased to announce a new program
that will expand experiential learning
opportunities for our students.
A Bishop’s graduate – with a strong
belief in our University and a desire to
help promising students achieve their
full potential – increased our investment
in this area by 90% with a donation of
$50,000 per year for three years. The
gift will finance a new B.E.S.T. (Bishop’s
Experiential or Service Term) Projects
Fund to commence in the Spring of 2010.
Thanks to this generous and visionary
graduate (who wishes to remain
anonymous), the B.E.S.T. Projects Fund
will be our premiere experiential
learning program. It will enable
our students to incorporate exciting
and distinctive projects into their
academic programs.
In keeping with our liberal arts
tradition, and to encourage creative
and entrepreneurial thinking, the
scope of projects to be considered
will be wide.
Students will be eligible to
receive from $2,000 - $7,000
for their project which may
take place during the academic
year, the spring or summer, but
must be completed while they
are enrolled at Bishop’s. Their
proposals must be endorsed by
a member of the faculty or the
senior administration. To learn
more about this Fund, please visit
ubishops.ca/BESTprojectsfund.
One of our highest priorities
is to ensure our students are
well positioned for success once
they leave Bishop’s. Investing
in experiential education will
allow us to support students who
demonstrate potential to have a
significant impact as graduates in
whatever fields they choose.
Photo by Maxime Picard
4 BISHOP'S UNIVERSITY NEWS WINTER 2010