On Campus
The Carr-Harris Cup, featuring one of the nation’s oldest hockey rivalries, finally returned after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. The game between the Gaels and the Royal Military College of Canada’s Paladins didn’t disappoint, concluding with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win for the Gaels.
- What: The Carr-Harris Cup
- Where: Leon’s Centre
- When: Feb. 2, 2023
Get ready to celebrate in October
Save the date! Queen’s Homecoming 2023 will take place Oct. 20–22.
The weekend will be full of programming celebrating the moments that unite us – past, present, and future. All alumni are welcome to return to campus to celebrate. This is a milestone reunion year for graduating class years ending in 3 or 8.
Official events organized by the university will include open houses, faculty receptions, sporting events, and special receptions for alumni celebrating certain milestone reunions, such as the Tricolour Guard Reception and Dinner.
Online registration for Homecoming will open in the summer. For more information or for assistance with Homecoming plans, please contact the Alumni Office by email or by calling 1-800-267-7837.
A strong finish to winter sports season
The winter sports season was as successful as the fall, with many Queen’s student athletes performing and being recognized on the provincial and national stage. The Queen’s Women’s Basketball team had their best season in program history, Queen’s Women’s Squash captured their 8th consecutive title, and Distance Track’s Jude Wheeler-Dee captured the U SPORTS 1,000-metre gold medal.
It was a storybook season for both Queen’s basketball teams, with the women finishing the regular season 21–1 and the men 19–5, both qualifying for the U SPORTS Final 8 Tournament. Queen’s Women’s Basketball Head Coach Claire Meadows (Artsci’07, Ed’09) and Men’s Head Coach Steph Barrie were both recognized as OUA Coach of the Year, while Coach Barrie also picked up the U SPORTS Coach of the Year honours. Bridget Mulholland also received award recognition as the Tracy MacLeod Award recipient in both the OUA and U SPORTS. The award recognized determination, perseverance, and unwavering spirit. The women went on to secure a silver medal at the U SPORTS Championship, completing their best season in program history.
The women’s squash team continued their dominance, this time at home, winning their 8th consecutive OUA Championship. School of Medicine student athlete Maddie O’Connor was named MVP for the tournament.
Queen’s Cross-Country and Distance Track student athlete Jude Wheeler-Dee continues to impress in only his second season with the Gaels. His season included breaking the Queen’s Track 1,000-metre record, which had been intact for over 35 years. He ran the 1,000-metre in a time of 2:22:16 in January, beating the record previously set by Dave Mather in 1987. He went on to win the 1,000- and 1,500-metre titles at the OUA Championship and was named OUA Track MVP, then completed his season by winning the U SPORTS 1,000-metre gold medal, joining both Mr. Mather and Dr. Bob McCormack as Gaels to win both the OUA and U SPORTS gold in the event.
Agnes construction set to begin next spring
The transformation of Agnes Etherington Art Centre is beginning to take shape.
The galleries are currently closed as more than 17,000 objects in Agnes’s collection are being packed and moved off site, and after a year of community engagement, two architectural renderings have been released, giving the Queen’s community its first look at a transformed art centre.
Agnes’s community-engaged design process continues through talking and sharing circles throughout 2023 as the team enters the design phase of the project. Construction is set to begin in spring 2024 and the new building to open in 2026. When it opens, Agnes will emerge as the largest public university-affiliated museum in this country and a champion of museological change where Indigenous and western world views sit side by side as equals.
Agnes Reimagined would not be possible without the leadership and philanthropic support of the late Alfred Bader, BSc’45, BA’46, MSc’47, LLD’86; Isabel Bader, LLD’07; and Bader Philanthropies, Inc., who are longtime supporters of Queen’s and the arts.
Queen’s Health Sciences helps transform health care in northeastern Ontario
The Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA), Queen’s, and the Mastercard Foundation are partnering to transform health care in northeastern Ontario and to expand education and employment opportunities for Indigenous youth by creating the Queen’s Weeneebayko Health Education Program.
WAHA and Queen’s Health Sciences will co-develop a university curriculum for health professions training in the western James Bay region. The program will prepare Indigenous students for careers in medicine, nursing, midwifery, and other health professions through culturally informed education. Programming and resources will also be created to enable local youth to envision, pursue, and succeed in health-professions training right from high school.
“This is a very important initiative for the Weeneebayko Region that will help increase the capacity for culturally safe health care that is directed and delivered by health professionals from our communities,” says Lynne Innes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Weeneebayko Area Health Authority. “It is exciting to work together on this new approach that will support Indigenous youth as they pursue health-care careers and build a stronger, healthier future for the communities we serve.”
The vision is to establish a new training site in Moosonee that will serve coastal community sites. The training programs will help build comprehensive, sustainable, community-centred health care – improving patient outcomes and addressing gaps in delivery. The Mastercard Foundation committed more than $31 million to support this partnership.
$30 million from Bruce Mitchell will strengthen research, support grad-student recruitment
Bruce Mitchell, Sc’68, DSc’20, is helping Queen’s bolster research to make groundbreaking discoveries that will deepen our knowledge of people, the planet, and the universe.
The business leader and philanthropist made a transformative gift of $30 million to his alma mater with the goal of increasing research intensity and supporting graduate student recruitment.
“The Queen’s community is grateful for Bruce’s generosity and his commitment to research,” says Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane. “This generous gift provides us with the resources to help achieve our bold research goals, in part through the support of top researchers. With these additional funds, we are realizing our aspirations to become a world leader, bringing scholars and innovators together to make improvements across our many fields of study.”
The gift further strengthens research at Queen’s. The university is already home to 35 Canada Research Chairs, 99 Royal Society of Canada members, and a Nobel Laureate – Professor Emeritus Arthur B. McDonald, co-recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics.
“The best way to invest in research is to invest in people and create the optimal conditions for them to thrive,” says Vice-Principal (Research) Nancy Ross, Artsci’90, MA’92. “This gift allows us to focus on attracting and retaining the best faculty and graduate students. We hope to recruit rising stars and nurture them, setting up research environments where researchers are supported and able to progress.”
Stadium construction on track for summer
The construction of the Lang Pavilion at Richardson Stadium is on track to be completed in July.
The redevelopment of Richardson Stadium, with a first phase initiated in 2014, has been fully funded through philanthropic commitments from donors.
Once complete, the stadium will fully enclose the field, allowing access to the east and west stands, and the new design will allow users to circumnavigate the full stadium at the concourse level. The Lang Pavilion will enhance the training and competition environment for varsity sports, expand opportunities for varsity and recreation activities, and make usage more gender inclusive.
A formal opening for Lang Pavilion is planned for the fall.
$2.5-million gift for environmental, social, and governance teaching at Smith School of Business
Mike Quinn, BCom’88, and Francisca Quinn have made a $2.5-million gift through The Quinn Family Future Foundation to Smith School of Business to establish the Quinn Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Professorship.
The Quinns believe it is critical for the next generation of business leaders to understand climate change and sustainable development concepts, and the professorship will weave sustainability throughout Smith’s programs.
“Climate change and social issues are not only significant threats to Canadian business, they can also be tremendous opportunities for organizations and entrepreneurs,” says Francisca Quinn. “We want to equip every student at Smith to expertly navigate ESG – whether in business strategy, accounting, finance, technology, or organizational systems.
Sustainability is already a key strategic goal at Queen’s. The university is committed to furthering the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Queen’s was recently ranked in the top 10 of the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact rankings, which measured the actions of more than 1,500 post-secondary institutions that are trying to advance the UN’s SDGs.
