Alberta's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 50
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ALBERTA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
MacEwan University people are at the heart of Edmonton
W
endy Brost
recalls when
she accepted
her first job
at MacEwan
University in Edmonton, a newlywed starting work in an entry-level
position as an event planner. That
was 20 years ago, and now she’s
MacEwan’s director of residence
and hospitality services.
“I feel like I’ve grown up at
MacEwan,” she says.
MacEwan, which began as a
community college in 1971, is now
a public university with a campus
in the heart of Edmonton. Annette
Trimbee, the university’s president
and vice-chancellor, is proud of
how MacEwan has evolved from
the days when it held classes in a
former supermarket.
“We are a key catalyst to energy
in the downtown.” says Trimbee.
“We bring a quarter of the city’s
population into the downtown
core, so that’s a big deal.”
A one-time deputy minister in
the provincial government with a
background in limnology (water
science), Trimbee talks about life
at an undergraduate university as
a place for transformation.
“One of the things about
university is you can see your
work in action,” she says. “There’s
a line of sight. When you’re a
university president you see the
students, you see them arrive, you
see them transform, you see them
walk across the stage. There’s this
sense of being on the front line
that you don’t really get at other
institutions.”
Brost adds that working at
MacEwan “feels like you’re part of
something bigger than just coming to work every day. I manage
a residence, so I always say we’re
the biggest classroom on campus;
we’re teaching them how to run
the heat, how to manage their
budgets, to pay rent.”
I often say that you feel like
you win the lottery when
you work at MacEwan.
— Wendy Brost
Director, Residence and
Hospitality Services
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MacEwan University provides an exceptional undergraduate experience to all of its students.
Looking back over her own
career at the university, Brost
says she’s grateful for the support
she was given that allowed her
to move from role to role, which
includes access to the university’s
course offerings as well as funds
for continuing education and
certification.
“Any time a challenge has been
brought to me I’ve been able to
put up my hand and it’s been
accepted. We’ve had several staff
start off as an administrative assistant, and they’ll get access to those
learning funds and end up getting
their business degree,” she says.
“I often say that you feel like you
win the lottery when you work at
MacEwan because of the supports
that are here for you. It’s so much
different than in private industry.”
Trimbee says MacEwan has
created “an ecosystem, an environment where faculty are really
more like entrepreneurs than most
people think, because they design
courses, they design research,
