Greetings from Augustana Campus!

Welcome to the latest edition of our Circle impact magazine, filled with new stories and updates about life at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus.

Our Vikings have had a stand-out year where teams have shared their passion, commitment, connection and athletic excellence with our community. To mention a few, our men’s hockey team competed in the Viking Cup (hosted by the Augustana Vikings Hockey Alumni Association after a 20-year hiatus), our women’s basketball team frequently ranked in the Top-10 nationally and our women’s volleyball team placed fourth at the national championships.

At the same time, the fan base for women’s sports has been growing across the globe. In our first feature story, we speak with Vikings women’s athletes and associate professor Dr. Judy Liao, ’14 PhD, to learn more about this growth and what sport means to them.

Our second feature story highlights students who have partnered with a local business as part of their Augustana studies.This story, which shows how these partnerships benefit both community members and students, is just one example of the many ways our campus connects with the community each year.

This summer, our campus will come alive with the presence of young learners. In addition to the regular camps for kids, we welcome Reading University back to Augustana this July in partnership with the Battle River Community Foundation and the Battle River School Division. We are also excited to host the first annual Shad Canada program at Augustana. This month-long summer science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics and entrepreneurship program will bring 80 high school students from across Canada to campus, empowering them to explore, collaborate and create change.

Looking ahead, new developments are coming to our campus, including renovations to our gymnasium, the lounge space next to Monica’s Café in the Forum and more. These projects will refresh our spaces and create new opportunities to connect and welcome our community.

New academic programming is also underway, with final approvals for work-integrated learning opportunities and more program offerings, in partnership with U of A faculties in Edmonton, coming soon.

Finally, we have just launched our Augustana strategic plan for 2025-2030: Collaborative Futures. This plan offers a roadmap for the near future at Augustana, where we look to support a place where people thrive, an education that serves students, research that leads us forward, and engagement that builds community success. We look forward to working with our community members to realize these goals. The full plan can be found at uab.ca/AugPlan.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Circle, and we look forward to seeing you on campus for many exciting events and programs in the months ahead.

John R. Parkins
Dean & Executive Officer, Augustana Campus 

This letter from the dean first appeared in Augustana's 2025-26 Circle impact magazine.