Welcome to the Faculty of Nursing
My name is Dave Patterson, and I will be your Faculty Advisor as you enter Year One Nursing (YO).
Welcome to the start of your journey as part of the world’s most trusted profession! You are entering this journey at a time when the need for new nurses is becoming apparent to all of us.
For many of you, this will be your first foray into post-secondary learning and year one is the starting point on your journey to becoming a Registered Nurse. Over the next few years, you will be spending a lot of your time within the faculty proper, but for now, you will be dispersed throughout the campus, completing your first-year classes. The YO team and the Year One Nursing Council (YONC) are a great way to stay engaged with the faculty and each other while completing your first year at UCalgary.
I will be meeting with you on September 2nd during the Fall Orientation and Welcome meeting to introduce myself and provide more information about both YO and YONC. In the meantime, please have a great summer, remember to breathe, and enjoy your break before the start of September.
I can be reached at jdpatter@ucalgary.ca if you have any questions about YO/YONC and the Undergraduate team can be reached at nursing@ucalgary.ca for any other inquiries.
See you soon!
Dave
Faculty Advisor
Dave Patterson MN, RN, CCSNE
Instructor

Dave Patterson

First-year nursing students at 2022 Spring YO event.
Photos courtesy of Thien Tran
Student Resources
Preparing for the Fall
My U of C is a central portal from which you can access virtually the web services that you will need as a student. These include your university email, your Student Centre, Academic Requirements (AR) tool and your Desire2Learn (D2L). If you look UP and to the RIGHT on this page, you will see a link for 'MY U of C' - this appears on every UC page so you can have easy access to your 'MY U of C' account!
Desire2Learn is one of the web services you will use the most. It is where your instructors will post the class syllabus, the notes you need for lectures, assignments, and grades. You can also use D2L to email your professors and classmates. Usually everything you need to know about a class you are registered in will be on Desire2Learn!
The easiest place to find out what courses you are required to take for your program is the Academic Requirements (AR) tool that can be accessed from your My U of C portal.
Before classes start, you must complete your:
immunizations form police records check N-95 mask fit testingYou will need ALL of them done if you wish to be able to fulfill your practice requirements in Year Two!
You do NOT require CPR Certification until the start of Year 2.

Get transcript credit for volunteering!
Nursing has many opportunities for you to develop your Co-Curricular Record (CCR).
With your academic transcript, it is a great way to impress your future employers!
YONC: Year One Nursing Council
Year One Nursing Council (YONC) is a group of student volunteers who are enthusiastic about becoming part of the nursing community on campus in their first year.
YONC meets regularly to come up with ideas for events and activities that can have either a social or an academic focus – it is an opportunity to connect with other students and to get to know more about the faculty and profession of nursing.
At the start of each academic year, interested first year students can put their names forward for positions on YONC, and the committee membership is decided by the Faculty Advisor with input from members of the previous year’s committee. As well as committee positions, students can get involved by volunteering to help plan and stage events, as well as by attending them!
Look out for details of how to apply for YONC positions during Orientation Week. You can also contact the Faculty Advisor Dave Patterson, with questions about YONC.