News

Politics. It’s It’s something that has been of particular interest to Canadians in the past few months due to a change in the Canada-US trading partnership, and the recent federal election in April 2025. What is it that draws someone into politics? For Renison alum Martin Reid (’98), it was a deep connection to his community and a desire to enact positive change. Reid is currently the Councillor for Mississauga’s Ward 9, and his style of politics is linked to his time as a Renison student, where people are the focus.

When asked how he would describe Renison in one word, third-year Psychology and Social Development Studies student Zayyan Ali was quick to answer “community.” In fact, it was that unique sense of community that drew Zayyan to Renison in the first place when he began his undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo back in the fall of 2023. For Zayyan, Renison offered something beyond just a dorm room and a meal plan.

“A lot of residences can feel isolating,“ he explained. “The people there don’t really know each other. Renison is different, with small class sizes, a strong residence community, and staff that really want to help you succeed.”

It may go without saying but as an institution of learning, Renison is constantly looking for new ways to help students reach their goals through the development of new programs.  Increasingly, visiting international students are interested in programs that extend beyond English language learning, including opportunities to develop specific skills and explore disciplinary and professional interests.  As the learning goals of students are changing, programming in the English Language Institute (ELI) is also evolving to focus on learning through language rather than simply learning English.

The Go Abroad Learning for Sustainability (GOALS) program exemplifies the ELI’s commitment to educational innovation and responsiveness to student needs. By integrating 21st century learning skills with sustainability education and engagement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the program prepares students to effectively engage in academic and professional contexts across cultures and contribute meaningfully to discussions of some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Dr. Susan Cadell has been working with grief for the bulk of her academic career, but it was can evolution of study, rather than a decisive direction, over the last three decades. Cadell’s work has shifted focus several times, from caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS, to pediatric palliative care and memorial tattoos, but has maintained a link to grief and grieving. It’s no surprise, then, that her most recent work focuses on grief directly; Grief Matters is a not-for-profit, Canadian organization that welcomes all types of grief, with the goal of increasing understanding and making room for grief.

Grief Matters, co-founded by Cadell and Mary Ellen Macdonald, uses creative, community-based activities to explore and share grief. The nature of grief is complex; while it is universal (we all experience it), it is also personal, and each experience of grief is unique to the individual. That’s why Grief Matters uses the grief literacy framework to centre their work. In simple terms, grief literacy imagines a world that “gets” grief.

What happens when the structures that we come to depend upon in society begin to collapse? What does it mean to turn the focus inward on your profession in a time of political crisis? These are the challenging questions that motivate the contributors to the edited book Abolish Social Work (As We Know It), published by Between the Lines.  Co-Edited by Dr. Craig Fortier, Associate Professor in Social Development Studies at Renison University College, Dr. Edward Hon-Sing Wong, Research Associate at SEIU Healthcare, and Dr. MJ Rwigema, Assistant Professor in Applied Health Sciences at Concordia University, the book emerges out of decades long experiences, relationships and collaborations between the editors and frontline social workers, social work educators, sex workers and sex work advocates, Indigenous knowledge keepers, harm reduction workers, community organizers, and those for whom social work has been an impediment to their lives.

Renison alum Doug Austrom teaches MBA classes on leadership at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, Indiana. His class syllabus for Winter 2014 term was titled “Positive People Practices for the Global New Normal” and included classroom topics such as “applying humanity-centered first principles, humanocracy and positive people practices” and “building organizations as great as the people inside them.” Doug sees the good in people and wants you to see it too.

Renison faculty member Dr. Vinh Nguyen has worked for years in the area of critical refugee studies. Throughout his academic career, he’s asked the question, “what is refuge?” and his award-winning 2023 book Lived Refuge, examined the lived dimensions of refuge via gratitude, resentment, and resilience. That work allowed Nguyen to turn his focus inward and examine his own experiences as a refugee in his memoir, The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse. Nguyen, his mother, and his siblings were among the millions of asylum seekers who fled Vietnam after the end of the war in 1975.

The 2025 edition of Renison Reports is now available! 

This year, the theme is 'Together in Hope and Possibility' and features stories from our Renison community that show some of the ways we're moving forward together. 

Highlights:

• Alumni who make an impact
• International programming that responds to the ever-changing needs of students
• Student leaders who are making the most of their Renison experience 
• Faculty research and projects
• Strategic Planning next steps

And more!

Renison's Dr. Crystena Parker-Shandal has been announced as winner of an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Faculty of Arts.

This award recognizes exemplary teaching over a variety of course levels, approaches to course development, structure, and delivery, and/or mentoring colleagues and graduate students to promote better teaching.

Renison is saddened to share the news of the sudden passing of Robert (Bob) Truman. 

Bob was a valued member of the Renison community, and was made a Renison Senior Fellow in 1988. He had a long history of contributing to student-focused initiatives and his donation history with Renison spanned more than 30 years. His generosity will have a long-lasting impact. 

Bob was also well-known figure on the University of Waterloo campus, and was the Director of Institutional Analysis and Planning from 1984 until his retirement in 2010. 

A celebration of life is scheduled for May 15, 2025 at Erb & Good Family Funeral Home.