U of S only Canadian university to receive funding from leading American co-operative

The University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for the Study of Co-operatives has been awarded $100,000 from CHS Inc., the largest agricultural co-op in the U.S., to develop new courses for a graduate-level certificate program that will focus on experiential learning opportunities in co-operatives.

The University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for the Study of Co-operatives has been awarded $100,000 from CHS Inc., the largest agricultural co-op in the U.S., to develop new courses for a graduate-level certificate program that will focus on experiential learning opportunities in co-operatives. The program will be offered through the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS). This investment is part of CHS’s $2 million University Initiative on Cooperative Education, which is also providing funding to nine American universities and organizations.

William Nelson
William Nelson

CHS’s initiative will support an extensive range of programs within North American institutions that integrate education about co-operatives into agri-business curriculums, co-op development, and farm business studies. “As a farmer-owned co-operative, CHS is committed to investing in the future of the co-operative system,” said David Bielenberg, CHS board chair. “This initiative builds on more than eight decades of working with agricultural, co-operative, and education entities, as well as the twenty-year legacy of our co-op education program,” added William Nelson, president of the CHS Foundation and vice-president, CHS Corporate Citizenship.

Lou Hammond Ketilson
Lou Hammon Ketilson

The funding allocated to the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives will be used to develop a cluster of experiential activities, including case studies and a case competition as well as problem-focused research projects that will tackle the critical challenges facing co-operatives and society at large. The work will be undertaken by a team that includes JSGS professors Murray Fulton and Dionne Pohler, as well as the Centre’s Audra Krueger. “Experiential learning provides students with opportunities to connect theory and practice — precisely the skills required by both students and the co-operatives with which they will be working,” explained Fulton, who is also a Fellow in Agricultural Co-operation at the Centre.

“We are thrilled to be part of CHS’s major investment in building understanding of the co-operative business model,” said Centre Director Lou Hammond Ketilson. “Co-operatives and the social economy generally have been underexploited by business, policy, and social science researchers.”

The CHS Foundation is the major giving entity of CHS Inc. and is committed to investing in the future of rural America, agriculture, and co-operative business through education and leadership development. Affiliated with the School of Public Policy, the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives is a leading Canadian centre for research on co-operatives and social economy organizations. The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy is a provincial centre for advanced education, research, and training in policy and administration with facilities at both the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan.

 

For more information contact

Lou Hammond Ketilson, Centre for the Study of Co-operatives
Phone: (306) 966-8509
Email: hammondk@edwards.usask.ca

Murray Fulton, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy 
Phone: (306) 966-8507
Email: murray.fulton@usask.ca