2012-2013

News Release

REF NO.: 148

SUBJECT: Angus and Jean Bruneau named Friends of Education 2013

DATE: June 28, 2013

Prominent St. John’s couple Drs. Angus and Jean Bruneau have received the prestigious Friends of Education Award for 2013 from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE).
The award, sponsored by The Offord Group, was presented June 9 at a gala banquet in St. John’s that was part of the organization’s national conference hosted in the capital city.
The Friends of Education Award has been presented annually by CCAE at its awards gala dinner, sponsored by TD Insurance Meloche Monnex, for more than 20 years.
The Bruneaus are the first recipients from Newfoundland and Labrador to receive the award. The award recognizes their outstanding service and commitment to post-secondary education, as well as their significant contributions in a leadership role to the cause of institutional advancement in Canada.
The founding dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Dr. Angus Bruneau played a significant role in launching the faculty’s co-operative education program. 
He was also responsible for creating C-CORE in 1975.
A highly-regarded community volunteer, Jean Bruneau served as chairperson (from 1987-91) of the Cabot Institute of Applied Arts and Technology (now known as the College of the North Atlantic), a board she served from 1977.
In 2007 the Bruneaus made a generous donation of $1 million to fund the Angus Bruneau Student Leadership and Innovation Fund in Engineering, which provides life-changing opportunities to students in Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.
In January 2013 the Bruneaus made another $1-million donation to the university to establish the Bruneau Centre for Excellence in Choral Music.
Both hold honorary doctorates from Memorial.
Almost 300 delegates from across Canada were on hand to thank the Bruneaus for their contributions of “time, talent and treasure” to higher education.
The Bruneaus were jointly nominated by Dr. Gary Kachanoski, president and vice-chancellor of Memorial University, and Ann Marie Vaughan, president of College of the North Atlantic.
“Individually and as a couple, Angus and Jean Bruneau have made lifelong and transformative contributions to the advancement of higher education at both the university and college level in Canada, and particularly in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Dr. Kachanoski in nominating the couple.
“Rarely would you find two people who have had such an impact on a province’s higher education system,” added Ms. Vaughan in endorsing the nomination.
“Newfoundland and Labrador has a unique public postsecondary educational system with one college and one university. The Bruneaus have been instrumental in the successful advancement of both and are continuing to make a difference even in their retirement years.” 
CCAE is a volunteer-led professional organization that promotes excellence in educational advancement through networking and professional development. The organization has more than 1,500 members who work at 140 Canadian universities, colleges, institutes, cégeps and independent schools. Advancement encompasses alumni relations, communications and marketing, fundraising (development), external relations and student recruitment.

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