What can you do with $1.41 billion?

The Energize campaign, completed in June 2020, was defined by a fearless and visionary collective striving for excellence.

This historic initiative is committed to unleashing student potential; to advancing research, new knowledge and innovation; and to building a resilient city and world. Thanks to our exceptionally ambitious and devoted community, we are changing lives and shaping the future for generations to come.

Created by UCalgary President Emerita Elizabeth Cannon and her husband, Dr. Gérard Lachapelle, the $1-million Cannon Lachapelle Award in Entrepreneurial Thinking is awarded to up to four undergraduate students each year, in any discipline, to explore innovation that builds community and elevates excellence around the world.

The Werklund School of Education’s Professorship in Masculinities Studies is the first of its kind in North America — and it was made possible with the support of the visionary Silver Gummy Foundation. The professorship enables UCalgary to advance critical research focused on the intersection of gender and education, examining the ways boys and men navigate school spaces and learn what it means to be a man.

Thanks to a unique legacy gift, Dinos Football players have their jerseys paid for in perpetuity, keeping them in UCalgary colours for years to come. Jack Neumann, who served as UCalgary Athletics’ sports information director and alumni relations coordinator before his retirement in 2012, continues to support Dinos Football to this day, as a volunteer and by funding the team’s jerseys — which players wore when they captured the Vanier Cup in 2019.

As the first engineers to graduate from the university, the Schulich School of Engineering class of 1969 is a part of UCalgary history — but they’re far from stuck in the past. To mark their 50th anniversary, the forward-thinking former classmates established an award in 2019 for today’s engineering students who are making meaningful contributions to the engineering community.

A stellar example of power in numbers, the Calgary chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW/Calgary) has collectively raised more than a quarter-million dollars over the years — including more than $160,000 during the Energize campaign — to support nearly a dozen scholarships and bursaries at UCalgary, benefitting student across all faculties. Not stopping there, the CFUW/Calgary’s dedicated fundraising efforts have created endowments of most of those awards, ensuring support for generations to come.

There are many ways to ensure the memory of a loved one continues after they have passed — the UCalgary mechanical engineering class of 1976 decided to pay tribute to a classmate by helping others like him. The Dan Mercier Class of 1976 Award in Mechanical Engineering was created in 2006 — and is still supported to this day — by his fellow mechanical engineering grads, along with family and friends of Dan Mercier. Each year, the award supports two promising third-year Schulich School of Engineering students who exemplify Mercier’s admirable work ethic. 

The Learn, Lead, Inspire Award was established in 2019 by alumni Slavko Uzelac, BSc (Eng)’09, and Patricia Gonzalez, BA’07, LLB’10, who believe in paying it forward. Each year, the award supports a first-year undergraduate student in STEM studies, with a preference for single parents who have dependent children. Having benefitted from student awards themselves — and recognizing the challenges that come with raising children while going to school — Gonzalez and Uzelac designed the award to lift up those who are working to better themselves and their families. 

Robustly reimagined through a transformational gift from Gail and David O’Brien (both Hon. LLD’10), the O’Brien Institute for Public Health is a magnet for innovative minds across the health sciences spectrum. The Institute advocates for better solutions and models of care and generates crucial data to improve health and health care for everyone. To date, the O’Briens have donated more than $21 million to UCalgary health research and education initiatives.

A transformative gift from Joan Snyder, Hon. LLD’11, established the Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases in 2008. Her continued support of the Institute and its core facilities has brought international recognition and acclaim to UCalgary during the Energize campaign, attracting government and philanthropic dollars to open the Live Cell Imaging Resource Laboratory and the International Microbiome Centre. The infrastructure created through Joan’s generosity supports UCalgary’s efforts to combat COVID-19, and fuels scientists who are changing the lives of people suffering from infectious and chronic diseases.