Education

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2018 3 #VISEZUSB Mercredi 14 novembre 2018 De 16 h à 20 h 30 Wednesday, November 14, 2018 4:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Centre étudiant Étienne-Gaboury Université de Saint-Boniface Inscrivez-vous en ligne / Register online : ustboniface.ca/portesouvertes SCHOLARSHIP BOURSE DE 1000$ Tirage / Draw CANADIAN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY By Jim Timlick for the Free Press One of the central pillars of the Canadian Mennonite University since it was founded 20 years ago has been the importance of serving community. Students at the Winnipeg-based post-secondary institution will soon have a new way of doing just that. Starting this fall, CMU will offer four new bachelor of science degree programs — a general three-year degree, three- and four-year mathematics majors and a four-year biology major. Jonathan Dueck, CMU's vice-president of academic and academic dean, says the new academic offerings will provide students another opportunity to help make a positive difference in the world in which they live. "One of the commonalities you will see among CMU students is… they really want to do good things in the world," he says. "Given that a lot of our students want to do the kinds of things in which science is an inextricable part of doing good in the world these days, (adding these courses) seemed very closely aligned with our mission. "That was a lot of the decision-making process with this, trying to think of what students really want who are coming here, what they're good at and what we as a university are really good at, which is I think providing students with a way to make their own path and to do impactful work that is doing good in the community." This is the first time CMU will offer majors towards a bachelor of science degree. In the past, the school offered mathematics solely as part of its bachelor of arts program. The new mathematics majors will be updated and be more science-based than the BA classes, which will still be offered at the school. The new biology major will differ slightly from a typical Canadian university biology program. Students who enrol in it will be required to study physical sciences and mathematics more than they might otherwise be required to at other institutions. Rachel Krause, an assistant professor of biology at CMU, says the three new programs have been in the works for some time. "This is something that we as a university community have been thinking about for a long time. Since the beginning of the university, the idea has been that sciences need to be part of any liberal arts education," she says. "We needed to wait until we felt we were ready to offer a bachelor of science that we felt really integrated well with the rest of the university but also in the sciences as well." Approximately 75 per cent of the student population at CMU is from Manitoba with the remaining 25 per cent from other parts of Canada or other countries. In 2017-18, that included 80 international students from 27 countries. Dueck says student demand was another major factor in the school deciding to offer a BSc program. "We have been hearing from both abroad and here in Canada that they would like a bachelor of science program," he says. John Brubacher, an assistant professor of biology, says THE SCIENCE OF SERVICE CMU to offer four new bachelor of science programs one of the upsides to the new offerings is that CMU students won't have to go elsewhere to finish a science degree. However, Brubacher stresses that students will likely continue to pick up some courses at other schools, something CMU's administration is fully supportive of. "We really like the idea of our students getting the experience of going and taking courses in different institutions and then bringing those experiences back here. I think that is… one of the strengths of the program," he says. While the notion of a Christian-based university like CMU offering a science-based program may seem incongruous to some, Dueck and Krause say it's in keeping with the school's commitment to offering a well-rounded educational foundation. "I think the key here is science is for everyone. There is no Christian science or any other kinds of science," Krause says. "Science is a way of understanding the world and asking particular kinds of questions and communicating with each other. I think we can do that whether we're people of the Christian faith or other faiths or people who don't have a particular professed faith." "If you think about all of the large issues that are facing us today in terms of… how to serve the folks around us, health and the environment are core pieces of that," adds Dueck. "To really address them, you have to have a science background." For more information, visit cmu.ca. ❚ '' "One of the commonalities you will see among CMU students is… they really want to do good things in the world." Starting this fall, CMU will offer four new bachelor of science degree programs — a general three-year degree, three- and four-year mathematics majors and a four-year biology major. Photos by Darcy Finley

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