These are some of our favourite stories from 2025 that highlight the impact Athabasca University has on learners and communities
It has been a year like no other at Athabasca University!
As we come to the end of the first full year of the Like No Other strategic plan, it’s a good time to reflect on our highest contribution: making the world better and more equitable. And from our home community in Athabasca, we’re focused on achieving that goal in place and digital space.
Throughout the year, we’ve shared many stories about the ways access, opportunity, and community can make an impact on our learners and their communities, near and far. Here are some of our favourites!
Access Like No Other
New Nukskahtowin site enhances access to Indigenous Knowledge
This year, AU made it easier for students, staff, faculty, and the wider community to connect with Indigenous Knowledge and supports—any time and anywhere.
The improvements to the Nukskahtowin website support the university’s ongoing journey of kwayskahsatsowin—conciliation in the Plains Cree language—and its commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“Improving our Nukskahtowin section of the AU website is a renewed commitment to honour Indigenous Knowledge, strengthen community connections, and expand access to cultural and academic support,” said Priscilla Campeau, associate vice-president of Indigenous conciliation.
AU grad’s writing journey leads to healing and national recognition
There are countless stories of AU alumni who have seen the benefit of the access provided by a flexible, online learning model—and the incredible impact this open access can have.
When Cori Francis (Master of Arts – Interdisciplinary Studies ’24) began her studies at AU, she set out to bolster her teaching career while nurturing a love of literature and writing.
What she didn’t expect was to revisit a painful chapter in her life—her teenage pregnancy and giving her baby up for adoption—throughout her master’s program. By exploring her past experiences in class assignments and papers, Francis not only found healing for herself, she also wrote a story that earned her a spot on the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist and further inspired her to pursue a dream of writing.
Knowledge for everyone: How open access expands the research and impact of the university press
When AU Press was created in 2007, it did something unheard of among university presses in Canada.
Instead of publishing scholarly books and journals and charging readers, sometimes hefty prices, AU Press opened itself to the world like no other.
"Essentially, we make material freely available to readers online from the moment of publication, and that's the big difference from traditional publishing models," says MacKinley Darlington, interim director of AU Press.
Nearly two decades later, the success of this open-access model continues to impress—it’s worth celebrating not just during Open Access Week, but all year long!
Opportunity Like No Other
AU Maker Space provides cutting-edge technology to architecture students anywhere in the world
AU’s commitment to providing opportunities for students in place and digital space was exemplified this year with the opening of the new Athabasca Architectural Maker Space.
Students, staff, and researchers within the AU Centre for Architecture will be able to access innovative technology including 3D printers and scanners, virtual reality equipment, remote sensors, and an audiovisual podcasting studio.
“Nobody combines our unique approach to making these tools accessible,” Dr. Douglas MacLeod said. “Because of our cyber infrastructure, we’ll be able to access these tools from all over the world, anywhere with an internet connection.”
Free Athabasca University course helps counter anti-Indigenous racism in health care
Opportunity is all about adapting to the changing needs of learners, creating both formal and informal pathways to develop skills and adapt to changing needs.
This year AU launched three new courses—including a free, massive online open course (MOOC)—to tackle anti-Indigenous racism in health care. The courses teach about the roots of racism and discrimination Indigenous people experience in accessing care, and the role of advocacy and allyship in addressing these issues.
The courses provide essential knowledge for health-care professionals, but also for anyone who wants to understand the struggles of Indigenous communities and learn how to recognize and confront systemic racism.
New Master of Science program opens doors to careers in environmental sciences
A new interdisciplinary master’s degree program at Athabasca University will give more students the opportunity to pursue a career in the environmental sciences.
The Faculty of Science and Technology will offer a Master of Science in Earth System Science for students across Canada and around the world who want a high-quality, flexible, and online program.
Students will be able to customize their learning experience with one of six focus areas: Environmental Science, Quaternary Earth Systems, Environmental Analytics, Bioinformatics, Environmental Space Science, and Climate Change.
Community Like No Other
Meet the 2025 Athabasca University Alumni Award winners!
The breadth and depth of the talent in AU’s alumni community never ceases to impress us.
Each year we celebrate alumni who make their highest contributions to their families, their workplaces, and their communities with the Alumni Awards.
This year’s winners—four inspiring graduates and one soon-to-be grad—represent the very best of a learning community that helps break down barriers to accessing post-secondary education. Their success highlights that nearly anyone, anywhere, can work towards a university degree.
Community at the heart of Athabasca-based nurse’s career and studies at AU
Michelle Purdy-Hemmons always wanted to be a registered nurse—and she’s grateful for the opportunity to follow that dream from her hometown of Athabasca, Alta.
She began her career as an emergency medical technician but quickly transitioned into nursing and has been a licensed practical nurse (LPN) since 2005. Over the years, her family and responsibilities grew, but her aspiration to advance her career as a nurse persisted. In September 2024, she started making her dream a reality when she began the online Post-LPN Bachelor of Nursing degree program at Athabasca University.
Her commitment to her community played a significant role in being selected as the 2025 Derrick Rowlandson Memorial Award winner, given annually to a past graduate of the Edwin Parr Composite School in Athabasca who contributed to their community through volunteerism and active participation.
3 AU grads launch nurse practitioner clinics
Located in Northern Alberta, AU is uniquely positioned to serve as a knowledge hub of the north and to meet the needs of rural, remote and Indigenous communities—especially when it comes to health care.
In April 2024, the Government of Alberta launched a new funding model that allows nurse practitioners to set up their own clinics, or work within an existing one, and get paid directly by the government.
While the three AU nurse practitioner graduates in this article have launched clinics in some of the more populated areas of the province, their success demonstrates the potential for nurse-practitioner clinics to help meet needs in more rural communities. This includes rural, northern communities like Wembley, where nurse practitioners and AU alumni Chantelle Gray and Tegan Ruether set up a practice and saved the community’s only medical clinic from closing.
A university Like No Other
Athabasca University is a university like no other, uniquely focused on the core priorities of access, community, and opportunity.