College of Engineering industry partnership benefits students
- EFN Staff | January 21, 2016
The grins on Rowan Spentz and Cole Unruh’s faces were almost as big as the giant $5000 cheques they received from Leanne Bellegarde of PotashCorp. The engineering students are some of the first participants in a new program at the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. PotashCorp is the first partner to join the college in the Indigenous Peoples Industry Partnership Program. The money they earned from a summer internship at PotashCorp will go directly toward their almost $8000 tuition.
“This program is a core component of the support and engagement initiatives our college is developing for Indigenous students,” said Aaron Phoenix, associate dean academic at the College of Engineering. “We are thrilled that PotashCorp is our first industry partner in the program and look forward to working with them and getting more students involved.”
Spentz and Unruh worked for PotashCorp over the summer of 2015 as a pilot for the program. The pilot was successful and the college and PotashCorp have signed an agreement to formalize the arrangement. While one of the students is graduating this spring, the other is continuing in the program with PotashCorp and will work for the company again this summer. Two other engineering students will join him this spring.
According to Leanne Bellegarde, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at PotashCorp, the employer and the student both benefit from the program. “The students are contributing as part of the team. They challenge all of us with new and innovative and fresh thinking. That’s an important part of this program,” said Bellegarde at the signing ceremony. “Most impressive is seeing the students enter the program and then seeing them when they leave feeling much more confident and knowledgeable and having a better sense of what the future holds for them. This is a long term investment in the labour force of the future for us at PotashCorp. We get great summer talent and have a stronger talent pool in the future for us to draw on. I think it contributes to the entire talent of the labour pool in the province.”
Matthew Dunn is the Indigenous Peoples Initiatives Coordinator for the College of Engineering. He knows how important on the job training is for engineers. “Companies can create relationships and mentor students to hit the ground running once they graduate. PotashCorp is our first but there are more partners to come,” said Dunn a graduate of the college who also worked at PotashCorp where he earned his Professional Engineer status. “Working within industry has really helped me at my current job working with indigenous engineering students. I can provide practical advice and hopefully help guide them into careers after they get their degree. This program and the money they earn allows students to just focus on their classes and not worry about getting a part time job every year or stress about finding a summer job. It will really help with retention.” Currently there are 60 self declared indigenous students in the college but Dunn wants to do better. “Our goal is to double that. This program is a great example of student supports and career support we are able to offer.”
Rowen Spetz is in 4th year of Civil Engineering and he spent the summer working in Technical Services for PotashCorp where he learned about business. “I not only got the engineering training but the business related feeling that helped me a lot in the summer. It was a great experience they were really friendly,” said Spetz who is eager to return for his last summer posting. But the program isn’t just about the job. “Mathew has been great. If we have questions we can email him or go right to his office. As soon as I get into the building I walk right by his office and see him in there and his door is always open.”
Both Spetz and Cole Unruh intend to apply at PotashCorp once they convocate. “I had a real good experience and helped create a program that was a maintenance program,” said Unruh who will convocate this spring as a Mechanical Engineer. “The work Matthew does to create these links to PotashCorp is instrumental in this program. It gave me a real foothold in the industry. ”