University of Fredericton celebrates 10th anniversary through the stories of its community
FREDERICTON, March 7, 2017 /CNW/ - This April, the University of Fredericton (UFred) will proudly celebrate 10 years of providing fully-online education to students across Canada and around the world.
"When UFred was founded, our goal was to create educational programs that people could balance alongside their professional and personal commitments," said Don Roy, President and founding member of UFred.
"We all had the experience of obtaining degrees in a bricks-and-mortar classroom, and we see the value there, but we also knew that there needed to be alternative models."
This thinking led to the University's current mission, which is to provide a fully compatible, individually centred lifelong learning path for the world's professionals, that enhances individual performance.
To kick off anniversary celebrations, the University is launching a campaign titled "UFred10: supporting student success since 2007, fully online." The campaign will tell the history of UFred and the impact of its education through the stories of ten students, alumni, faculty, and staff members.
"Over the past couple of years, we've been conducting research with current students and alumni to understand what their experience with UFred has been and how their education has helped to shape their professional and personal lives afterwards," said Sarah Chiasson, Marketing and Communications Manager at UFred.
"What we found was that our community has truly shaped who we've become. Their passion, dedication, and enthusiasm are what drive us, and because of that, we knew that they were the best people to help tell our story."
Every Wednesday for the next ten weeks, UFred will release a podcast interview highlighting one of the ten volunteer stories of the campaign. In week eight and nine, the University will also kick off a cross-Canada tour, with events happening in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Fredericton respectively.
"Despite the wide range of backgrounds our students come from, we've found they feel a sense of community in the common experience they've shared through UFred" said Sheri McKillop, Associate Dean at UFred. "We wanted to provide opportunities for these students to come together and share their experiences with one another; we're hoping that the various locations make it possible for students and alumni to make it to one event."
The University has steadily been drawing students to its unique online offerings, now toting more than 3000 students across various areas of study. The UFred10 campaign is comprised of volunteers across a range of programs, industries, and locations, representing the diversity of the community.
UFred is headquartered in Fredericton's downtown core, and has been since opening its doors in 2007. Roy attributes being located in the city's capital, a burgeoning hub of innovation and talent, as being key to the University's success:
"Our staff has tripled over the past several years, and we're projecting we'll have at least 90 in-house staff by 2019. Continuing to hire the exceptional talent we have right here at home is a priority for us, and we're looking forward to continuing to build and contribute to the greater Fredericton community."
For more information on UFred10, visit www.ufred10.ca
For more information on the University of Fredericton, visit http://getstarted.ufred.ca/ufred10
About the University of Fredericton
The University of Fredericton (UFred) is a fully online Canadian University headquartered in Fredericton, New Brunswick. UFred offers certificate, diploma, and degree programs that emphasize leadership development and lifelong learning for upwardly mobile professionals.
SOURCE University of Fredericton
Sarah Chiasson, Marketing and Communications Manager, University of Fredericton, 506-454-6232 ext. 224, [email protected]
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