Let me tell you a story about one of my most joyful experiences of 2025. It began when I went to Dr. Roland Lee’s physical sciences class to hear his students present their work.
During that visit I learned that Dr. Lee is developing a prototype tool to remove oil from water, an innovative research idea with real potential for environmental remediation of old wells. Just imagine the impact!
I instantly thought of Todd Van Vliet, CEO of Energera, who I know through a local industry group I’m involved with. I was excited to share Dr. Lee’s work with him, confident this innovation would be something he’d find interesting and applicable to his work. So I arranged a time to introduce them to one another.
As they started talking, this beautiful magic began to happen. Dr. Lee and Todd were excited, curious and working to discover ways they could help one another. What made it special is that Dr. Lee didn’t just present a solution off the top. He was genuinely curious about the issues Todd was trying to solve and his particular needs.
That meeting sparked a meaningful partnership. Dr. Lee’s expertise is helping Todd bring innovative products to market, which will help an Alberta business thrive. This relationship is also benefitting MacEwan and our students, as Todd has provided Dr. Lee with materials he needs for his research and will be sharing his knowledge with Dr. Lee’s Industrial Chemistry cohort this semester.
I often say our faculty are entrepreneurial. They figure out what they want to teach, what they want to research and find partners to support their work. They find ways to make their work come alive in classrooms and pursue innovative ideas with real potential to support industry, business and the community. Entrepreneurs rely on their networks to thrive. I see opportunities for MacEwan to continue to grow entrepreneurship and innovation in 2026.
A large part of my job is making connections inside and outside MacEwan. Often, I work to connect faculty with companies and organizations to help solve real-world problems and provide our students with hands-on experiences at the same time.
We have many talented people at MacEwan who are doing important work. Understanding this work, and championing it beyond MacEwan’s walls, creates conditions for meaningful partnerships. These collaborations illustrate the relevance of our work and support the work of others.
Building connections between our collective networks is one of the most powerful ways we can help one another succeed.
What matters is being authentic, curious and generous as we learn about one another. Thinking deeply and creatively helps identify connections that may not be immediately evident. This curiosity has sparked countless “a-ha” moments for me where I've found myself listening to someone else talk about their work, and I realize I know someone they should talk to who may benefit from or enhance that work.
Dr. Lee’s research, student learning and the collaboration with Todd’s company is just one example of the real-life difference MacEwan is making to support our economy and our communities. MacEwan’s real-world relevance comes to life in examples like this – and so many others happening across our campus.
Recently we’ve had other relationships bear fantastic outcomes, like our partnership with Boyle Street Community Services to prepare Life Kits that address cold-weather health needs among Edmonton’s houseless population. Or the fantastic collaboration between our communications students and the Edmonton Journal that investigated restaurant inspections, which helped prompt the province to introduce new legislation to overhaul food inspection systems.
At a recent event celebrating several MacEwan scholarship recipients, the owner of DON’YA Ukraine’s Kitchen, who also catered the event, pulled me aside to thank me and share how her journey began. She explained that she got her start at MacEwan through the Ukrainian Free Store community impact project in partnership with MacEwan. In fact, the very first perogy she ever sold was at MacEwan.
Since then, her company has grown significantly. She has appeared on CBC’s Dragon’s Den and recently received sponsorship from Arlene Dickinson through Arlene’s Venturepark program to help take DON’YA’s consumer packaged frozen goods from local success to the national stage. It’s yet another example of how MacEwan helps lay the foundation for success in our community.
MacEwan has so many incredible projects underway. I encourage you to take some time to learn about your fellow trendsetters and trendbreakers and consider how you might help identify important connections that bring our work to life. Not only does it spark interesting new opportunities, but it ignites a great sense of pride in our university and the work we do here every day.
Dr. Annette Trimbee
President and Vice-Chancellor