“Without the support from the endowment fund, the field trip wouldn’t run.” That’s Arnie Hydamaka’s take on the difference faculty endowment funds make for teaching and research opportunities at the University of Manitoba.

Hydamaka, a food science professor in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, takes his students on an annual Food Science and Processing Industry Field Trip to Minneapolis (pictured right in 2009), where his students have the opportunity to see the breadth of jobs available in food science and processing. Funding from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Endowment Fund covers approximately two-thirds of the students’ cost.

“There is a lack of international headquarters of food companies in Manitoba,” Hydamaka explains. “Going to these companies shows students that the opportunities in food processing are not just on the factory line. There are careers in research and development, product development and sales.”

Pamela Isaak and Greg Kiessling are two of the donors who have generously contributed to the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Science Endowment Fund. Personally, and through their family foundation, they’ve given $36,700 over the years to the fund. Combined with gifts from other donors, more than $1.3 million has been donated to the Agricultural and Food Sciences endowment fund. This means that in 2009 alone, more than 20 projects were financed from the $71,193 of interest that was earned on the fund.

Dora Liu is one of the students who went on the field trip in 2009. She says the experience was invaluable. “By visiting so many processing plants, we saw the machines that we’ve learned about in our courses in real life. It was a good opportunity to network with industry people to expand my future career options,” says Liu. “It gave most of us a lot of future perspective saying ‘maybe we would like to work in one of these plants one day’.”