Major Co-operatives Renew Funding Commitment to U of S Unit

Posted October 18, 2004


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 18, 2004 2004-10-19-OTHER

Major Co-operatives Renew Funding Commitment to U of S Unit

The University of Saskatchewan is pleased to announce that major
co-operatives, both provincial and national, and Saskatchewan Industry and
Resources have renewed their funding commitment to the Centre for the Study
of Co-operatives.

Contract partners in the co-op sector-Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan,
Federated Co-operatives Ltd., Co-operative Trust, and The
Co-operators-provide the Centre with $1.1 million over five years, which the
university matches with in-kind and monetary support. The government
supplies an additional $375,000, with other contributions coming from
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and The CUMIS Group.

"The successful renewal of the contract with our sponsors gives us the
stability to pursue current projects and plan well into the future," said
Acting Director Lou Hammond Ketilson.

The Centre is an interdisciplinary teaching and research institution located
on the University of Saskatchewan campus. It is recognized both nationally
and internationally for the quality of its teaching, research, extension
activity, and publications on co-operative organizations.

It is the recent recipient of a major award from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council for a study on co-operative membership and
social cohesion, the largest research project on co-operatives ever
undertaken in Canada. Announcing the award, U of S President Peter MacKinnon
remarked that it was "a significant boost to our social sciences and
humanities research on this campus."

Concurrent with the renewal of its contract and the appointment of Acting
Director Lou Hammond Ketilson, the Centre is also celebrating its 20th
anniversary this fall. Since its inception in 1984, it has grown from a
small unit with a grand vision to a model of university outreach and
engagement that consistently fulfils the dreams of its original mandate: to
offer university courses on co-op theory, principles, structures, and
legislation; to undertake original research into co-operatives; to publish
co-op research by both centre staff and other scholars; and to maintain a
resource centre of co-operative materials that support the Centre's teaching
and research functions.

As part of the celebrations, the Centre is sponsoring an exhibition of
photography by Everett Baker titled "Picturing a Utopian Reality: A
Photographic Insight into the Co-operative Movement in Saskatchewan,
1941-1964," which will be on display October 1-31, 2004 at the Diefenbaker
Canada Centre, a co-sponsor of the event. A public lecture titled "Everett
Baker and the Culture of Co-operation in Saskatchewan," by Brett Fairbairn,
former director of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, accompanies
the exhibition. It will take place Thursday, October 14, 2004, at 8 p.m. in
the Diefenbaker Canada Centre's Theatre Room.

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For more information contact:

Lou Hammond Ketilson, Acting Head
Centre for the Study of Co-operatives
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-5844
Email: hammondk@commerce.usask.ca