The King's Connection Magazine Volume 23 Number 1//Summer 2012 | Page 2

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The King’s Promise In a president’s column much like this one, a colleague at one of Canada’s smaller universities recently wrote: “to be Canada’s leading undergraduate university, we must seize every opportunity to improve how we deliver our promise: providing an excellent liberal education that gives students the best foundation for success.” Forgive me, but that promise is a bit bland for my taste. Excellent education and student career success are main Dr. Harry Fernhout - President ingredients in any president’s recipe for a good university; but they don’t jump off the page as the spicy qualities that define what it means to be Canada’s leading undergraduate university. What is our promise at The King’s University College? Our promise certainly includes a commitment to providing quality education and a commitment to student success. Several articles in this issue of Connection bear witness to the blessings King’s has experienced in this regard. One such blessing is professional accreditation of King’s Environmental Studies (ENVS) program by the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) Canada after a thorough review by a team of outside experts. The reviewers came to King’s with little or no knowledge of our programs. By the end of their three-day visit, however, one member of the team (a biologist from a major university) described his King’s experience as “awe inspiring”. He was amazed at the handson learning, student research and student publications that are happening inside and outside our doors. He encouraged us to stop keeping this exceptional standard of education a secret from the world, and to capitalize more fully on these strengths! The quality of education at King’s was also confirmed by the results of a student satisfaction survey published in MacLean’s magazine. King’s ranked among the top institutions for students who are “very satisfied” with the average size of their classes; who “strongly agree” that most of their professors encourage students to participate in class discussions; who “strongly agree” that professors at their university treat students as individuals, not just numbers; who “strongly agree” that most of their professors are accessible outside of class to help students; and who are “very satisfied” with their learning experiences. In fact, in five categories King’s placed at the very top of these national ratings. But if excellence and top rankings were the extent of our promise to our students, our supporters and to society in general, then this whole endeavour would hardly be worth the investment of time, energy and money. Our promise at King’s is embodied in our mission: King’s exists to provide university education that inspires and equips learners to bring renewal and reconciliation to every walk of life as followers of Jesus Christ, the ServantKing. Now that’s got some spice! This is the value-added, or rather, value-permeated nature of the Christian university experience at King’s – for students, faculty, staff, and our constituency and society. Our specific goal is to draw a new generation of Christ-followers into God’s redemptive story as agents of transformation so that they, with us, may live toward the realization of the healing, renewal, reconciliation, and hope which our faith story promises. This promise, this aspiration, is what makes the hard work and community investment worthwhile for today and tomorrow. This is the King’s promise, and by God’s grace we can and will honour it. THE KING’S The King’s Connection Magazine is published two times each year for Alumni and Friends of The King’s University College. 9125 - 50th Street Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6B 2H3 780.465.3500 1.800.661.8582 Fax: [phone] Please send any address changes to: Please send alumni updates and address changes to: Direct comments regarding articles to: Development 9125 50 Street Edmonton, AB, Canada T6B 2H3 or call: 780.465.8314 Toll Free: 800.661.8582 Opt#4 [email protected] Alumni Relations 9125 50 Street Edmonton, AB, Canada T6B 2H3 or call: 780.465.8314 [email protected] Marketing Manager Vanessa Christensen 780.465.3500 ext: 8017 [email protected]