Campus Curiosities video series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the U of A
Sean Price, executive director of alumni relations, described the first priority of the video series as allowing people to engage with campus during the pandemic.
Helen ZhangThe Office of Alumni Relations’s new video series Campus Curiosities gives students a unique look of the University of Alberta as they explore labs, facilities, and collections.
The video series aims to take viewers throughout campus. Some of the areas that the videos cover are not accessible by the public, including the costume storage in the department of drama and the flash-fire facility at the protective clothing and equipment research facility.
Sean Price, executive director of alumni relations, described the first priority of the video series as allowing people to engage with campus during the pandemic. According to Price, the videos are “online, interactive, [and] something that people could engage with without actually being in-person on campus.”
He described the second priority as creating engagement within the U of A community.
“We are trying to create a more inclusive and welcoming campus especially during the pandemic where it is a little bit tougher to engage in person.” Price said. “Our grads are very interested in lifelong learning, so they want to hear from our researchers, they want to know what’s happening to the university, and they want to keep on learning. When you bring those two priorities together, the Campus Curiosities program was a nice mix.”
While working towards these goals, more projects may be on the way.
“We are really trying to create that welcoming campus so I think you’ll see more projects like this,” Price said. “We haven’t determined what the next series is going to be in Campus Curiosities. In general, from an external relations perspective, we want to draw people back into campus and tell the story of all the great work that is happening here.”
Price said the Office of Alumni Relations was motivated to create the video series by their previous experiences as students.
“In alumni relations, we are all former students — this is why we do the work,” Price said. “As a student, when you take a look at something like Campus Curiosities, you know [you can] take pride in what’s happening at the university.”
