Twelve months to go. This week, I began the final year of my AU journey. I enrolled in my fourth-last AU course, ENGL 341 World Literature, which joins two courses already in progress. ENGL 341 is a 6-credit course and it will accompany me on the final year toward an AU Bachelor of General Studies… Read more »
Josh was just twenty-seven years old when his young life tragically ended. Josh was a popular, friendly guy who would do anything to help a friend. He could always be found in his garage rebuilding jeeps, trucks, or other vehicles. Josh’s father, Mike, and sister, Jenn, were attempting to get their lives together and recover… Read more »
With convocation coming up I wanted to talk about some of the things that graduates going to Athabasca should do, some things to avoid, and some of the things I wish I had done. I went to Athabasca a day early; I wanted to have some time to explore the town and the campus before… Read more »
I recently spoke with AUSU’s new (as of April 12) Vice President Finance and Administration, Scott Jacobsen, about some specific motivations and ambitions for his first term as an AUSU Executive. Scott is completing the third year of a general studies program at AU, and he has been an active member of AUSU council since… Read more »
An acquaintance of mine who lives a few streets over recently posted a desperate plea for help on Facebook. Her husband?a Type 1 diabetic for most of his life’suddenly became a statistic. He has suffered severe kidney failure because of his diabetes. The family is now facing a race against time to find a new… Read more »
One error universities routinely make is ignoring their students’ opinions. Universities are notorious for making ivory-tower decisions based on a business model, factoring in the dollars and cents and focussing on the bottom line. It seems they can sometimes lose sight of their reason for being, which is to provide a service to their students…. Read more »
As part of the process to help AU determine a route to stability, the Alberta Government required a third-party review be conducted, and hired Dr. Kenneth Coates, public policy professor and the Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the University of Saskatchewan, to conduct the review. Dr. Coates was also the Dean of Arts… Read more »
Melanie Fuller-Brudersas is a second-year master’s student studying Counselling Psychology at Athabasca University. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario with her husband, 3-year-old child, and will add another member to the family sometime this month. Her passion for her studies and have inspired her to get involved with the Canadian Psychological Association as their webmaster, campus… Read more »
Sara Anderson started her degree through AU in 2015. While born and raised in Calgary until the age of 13, she spent her teens living in Washington state and British Columbia, only returning to Calgary after high school. This is not her first experience with post-secondary education as she graduated from SAIT in 2003 with… Read more »
A recent Facebook message sent by someone I went to high school with informed me that a group from our grad class was starting to plan our 30-year reunion. After reading it, I had two reactions. The first one was, “We are just not that old—seriously; weren’t the 1980s just ten years ago?” and the… Read more »