Crandall Reaches New Heights

Bruce Fawcett, PhD President and Vice Chancellor

Last winter we were celebrating the fact that student enrollment had surpassed 1,000 for the first time. This fall I am pleased to report that student enrollment has again reached another new high – 1,219 students!

Our Registrar calculated that we could have only accommodated 18 more students across all our undergraduate and graduate programs this year. Student housing and our dining room are both effectively full, and our chapel services are nearing capacity. I want to acknowledge the essential role our faithful donors have played in bringing these developments to fruition. As you may know, since Crandall does not accept government funding for operating purposes, the donations from individuals, churches, businesses, and foundations are key to providing the funds necessary to launch and complete our five year plan which contains the following ingredients:

Enhancing Student Life and Transformation

To enrich our chapel program and launch other new key initiatives in future years, we recently welcomed Matt Brouwer to our team as Director of Worship Arts. A former Maritimer, Matt is a recording artist who has featured artists like Amy Grant and Vince Gill on his recordings and also served as a worship pastor alongside Chris Tomlin at a mega church in Texas. In addition, we've added Sofiah Rajaiah to our graduate student life team to provide more support for international students. Sofiah holds an MBA and recently relocated to Canada from India.

Creating New Programs and Delivery Options

Our recently launched programs have been very well received. All the seats in our new Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology program and our new Saturday-only Bachelor of Education program were filled this year. In addition, our Master of Education program is now offered online and enrollment has jumped by nearly 30%!

Serving More International Students

While we are nearing capacity in our existing facilities, we have been able to add 60 additional students from overseas to our student body this year – mostly at the master's level. Their politeness, respect, dedication to hard work, and delight at being in Canada brings a smile to my face after every conversation.

Investing in Our Facilities

In order to facilitate our ongoing growth, during the spring and summer months we created new classrooms and student lounges, as well as more than a dozen new offices for our increased number of staff and professors. All of these projects took place within the footprint of our existing facilities. We also refreshed our dining room and kitchen and relocated our bookstore and our Writing and Student Success Center to the top floor of Stultz Hall. I am pleased to report that no money was borrowed to accomplish any of these essential projects.

Telling Our Story

A few years ago someone suggested to me that Crandall was one of the best kept secrets in the Moncton area. Thanks to the support of a major donor and through Amy Lean MacArthur's leadership, we've been able to continue to implement our new branding and marketing strategy to address this challenge. Billboards, magazine ads, plus new printed materials and videos have helped us better communicate the Crandall story.

Let me again thank you for your ongoing interest in the University. Our mission remains the same: "transforming lives through quality education firmly rooted in the Christian faith." We are delighted to be able to welcome more students to campus again this year, but it costs more to serve more students. We continue to welcome your prayerful and financial support.

Dr. Bruce Fawcett (’88) has served as President and Vice Chancellor since 2012.