The Alumni/ae Association can be contacted by email at regis.communications@utoronto.ca. We would be happy to hear from you.

Catherine Wright PhD 2015
President, Regis College Alumni/ae Association

Catherine Wright is an interdisciplinary Christian ecotheologian working at Wingate University (North Carolina) in the Religion and Philosophy Department.

“Regis shaped my own professional academic career and teaching vocation. The holistic approach to my doctorate allowed me to live what I was learning – something that I have taken into my own teaching practice. Much of my doctorate work was translated into my book, Creation, God and Humanity: Exploring the Mystery of Suffering within the Sacred Cosmos (2017). With the independence and support I experienced at Regis, I felt prepared to undertake the building of a sustainability program/center that reflects our Wingate motto: Faith; Knowledge; Service.

Most of all, Regis helped me find my voice, creativity, and courage and I will always be grateful.”

The Regis Community is here to support you! As a Regis College graduate, you are one of more than 2,000 alumni worldwide. Networking with other alumni helps you stay connected with the Regis Community worldwide opening doors to opportunities for life-long enrichment, networking, and employment.

Board of Directors

Catherine Wright

BSc, BEd, MDiv, PhD

President

Bertha Yetman

PhD

Vice-President

Wydmarck Kwan

MDiv, STB

Secretary

Catherine Von Zuben

MAMS

Treasurer

Maria Lippa

MAMS

Member-At-Large

Statutes of the Alumni/ae Association of Regis College

Name and Nature of the Association

Name. The official name of the Association is “Alumni/ae Association of Regis College”, herein referred to as The Association in this document.
Status. Although Regis College is an ecclesiastical college, the Association is not a canonical association and is therefore not subject to canonical prescription.
Category of Association. The Association is a voluntary, non-profit organization composed of Regis College alumni/ae (Art. 8).
Equality. All prescriptions of the Statutes and by-laws shall be applied equally to both sexes and to all ecclesiastical and lay alumni/ae.
Location. The location of the head office of the Association shall be at Regis College Toronto, Ontario, Canada,. Its secretariat shall be determined by by-laws.

Mission

Our Association seeks:

To establish strong community bonds among alumni/ae and with the College;
To identify, promote and uphold the interests of Regis alumni/ae;
To encourage learning and sharing among its members, especially drawing upon the gifts from their ministry, professional practices and experiences;
To utilize insights of its members to disseminate Ignatian values;
To enable ministry to meet the challenges of an increasingly global, ecumenical and multifaith world;
To establish a pastoral and prayerful dimension in the Association that is unique to Regis College;
And, in all our endeavours, to support the Mission (Appendix I) and Vision (Appendix II) statements of Regis College.

Goals and Objectives of the Association

To bring together Regis College alumni/ae in order to establish a strong bond between them and their alma mater, and to develop and defend the interests of the Association’s members;
To advance the interests of Regis College in North America and throughout the world by promoting the College’s Ignatian image in pursuing a ministry which meets the challenges of an increasingly global, ecumenical and multifaith world;
To champion the mission statement of the College (see Appendix I), which is inspired by the charism of St. Ignatius of Loyola and faithful to the Roman Catholic tradition;
To encourage the alumni’s continued participation in the affairs of the College and to contribute to the advancement of higher education;
To undertake all appropriate activities to attain the Association’s objectives.

Members

Members. The Association is formed of three categories of members: regular member, active member and honorary member.
Regular Member. A regular member of the Association is a person who has obtained an academic diploma or any study attestation from Regis College.
Active Member. An active member of the Association is a person who is a regular member (Art. 9) and who has paid his/her membership to the Association (Art. 12),or who has shown dedicated contribution to the Association.
Honorary Member. An honorary member of the Association is one who, by a resolution of the Board of Directors of the Regis College Association, in consultation with the Regis College Board of Directors, is designated as such due to the person’s dedicated contribution to the mission and vision of Regis College. A person does not have to be an alumnus/a of Regis College in order to be designated an honorary member.
Membership. The Board of Directors may, by resolution, fix the membership dues to be paid to the Association. There is no dues reimbursement in case of resignation. .
Resignation. Any member can resign from the Association at any time by informing the Association’s Board of Directors, in writing.
Dismissal. Any member of the Association can be dismissed from the member list for reasons of unprofessional conduct or other specified reason detrimental to the goals and objectives of the Association by a Board’s resolution during one of its regular meetings, in which case the decision to dismiss the member must be supported by two-thirds of the Board members present at this meeting. After due process and before reaching a final decision, the Board must have given the member an opportunity to explain his/her conduct.

Meetings of the Members

Annual General Meeting. The annual general meeting (AGM) will be held at Toronto at a date decided by the Board of Directors.
Special Meeting. The Association members can be summoned to a special meeting following a Board’s resolution, or by request from at least twenty (20) full members after having notified the Board of Directors.
Notice. The annual general meeting’s notice and the pertinent documents will be posted on the Association’s website between thirty (30) days and one hundred twenty (120) days before the annual general meeting. Ten (10) days’ notice is required when requesting a special meeting. Relevant documents will be made available to any member at the Association’s Headquarters.
Omission. Accidental omission of notification or non-receipt of notification does not invalidate the members’ decisions during this meeting.
Quorum. The members present at the meeting constitute the quorum.
Annual General Meeting Agenda. At the Annual General Meeting, the members receive the Association’s annual financial statements and all other committees’ pertinent reports, designate the chartered accountant firm, elect the board members and adopt all modifications to the Association’s Statutes and by-laws.
Special Meeting Agenda. During a special meeting, the only agenda item up for discussion will be the one which has necessitated the special meeting.
President and Secretary of Meetings. The President of the Association presides, except in special circumstances (Art. 32), at all meetings; the Secretary of the Association acts as secretary at all meetings, except in special circumstances (Art. 32).

Directors of the Association

Board of Directors. The Board of Directors of the Association shall consist of eleven members: the President, a first Vice-president, a second Vice-president, the Secretary, the Treasurer, five active members, and one student representative.
- The President of Regis College, the Development Officer of Regis College and the former President of the Regis College Alumni/ae Association are members ex-officio of the Board of Directors, without right of vote;
- The Board of Directors must ensure the good administration of the Association’s Statutes and by-laws. Moreover, the Board of Directors must possess the necessary powers to attain the Association’s objectives.
Powers and Obligations of the Board of Directors.
- It shall convene a general meeting of the Association’s members at least once a year;
- It shall form an appropriate advisory committee and other appropriate committees to pursue the Association’s objectives;
- The operating procedures of the Board of Directors shall be determined by the by-laws of the Regis College Alumni Association.
Eligibility of Candidates for the Board of Directors. All members are eligible for election to the Board of Directors, however once elected to the Board, the member must become an “Active member” (Art. 10).
Election of the Board of Directors. Ten members of the Board of directors will be elected for a two-year term, renewable for one additional term, except the Board member elected as treasurer whose term could be renewed with no limitations subject to the approval of the members of the AGM. Voting shall take place by secret ballot by all the members of the Association present at the annual general meeting. However, the Board of Directors may decide on a postal balloting prior to the annual general meeting, in which case the modalities shall be determined by the by-laws. The Student Representative will be elected yearly by the Student Council of Regis College.The election procedures shall be governed by by-laws.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee Election. The Executive Committee of the Association shall consist of a President, a first Vice-president and a second Vice-president, a Secretary and a Treasurer. Immediately following the Annual General Meeting, the members of the Executive Committee shall be elected by the Board of Directors from among the current Board members.
The President’s Responsibilities. The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the Association and shall be its official spokesperson. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association, of the Board of Directors and at the annual general meeting. The President shall see that the Association runs efficiently. The President shall fulfill the duties as provided by the Statutes and the by-laws;
- The President shall be directly responsible for the management of the affairs of the Association. The President shall see that all the Board’s resolutions are carried out. The President shall sign all documents requiring the President’s signature, and shall have the powers to perform any duties assigned by the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee;
- In the event of a tie vote at meetings of the Board of Directors, or of the Executive Committee, or of the Annual General Meeting, the President will cast the tie-breaking vote;
- The President may under certain circumstances delegate the first Vice-president to replace him at meetings.
The Vice-Presidents’ Responsibilities. The Vice-Presidents shall assist the President in the performance of his/her duties. In the absence or disability of the President, the first Vice-President will become interim President, exercising the powers of the President’s office until the President’s return or the election of a new President. If the first Vice-President is unable to assume this role, then the second Vice-President will become interim President. The Vice-Presidents will perform such other duties as are assigned to them from time to time by the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.
The Secretary’s Responsibilities. The Secretary is the custodian of the seal of the Association and all of the documents, records and archives of the Association which are kept at Regis College;
- The Secretary prepares agendas for the meetings of the Board of Directors, of the Executive Committee, and for the Annual General Meeting;
- The Secretary gives notice of all regular or special general meetings of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee;
- The Secretary records the minutes of all such meetings;
- The Secretary signs jointly with the President all official documents of the Association;
- The Secretary performs all other duties assigned to the Secretary’s office by the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee.
The Treasurer’s Responsibilities. The Treasurer is responsible for all funds and securities of the Association and shall see to their deposit in the proper financial institutions as designated by the Executive Committee;
- The Treasurer maintains the accounts, records and books of the Association; the Treasurer makes payments for expenses incurred in the name of the Association;
- The Treasurer carries out all the other duties assigned to the office by the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. Signing authority shall be two of three signatures of the Treasurer, President, Secretary.
Substitution. In the event of the death, incapacity or resignation of the President, the first Vice-President will act as President;
- If a member other than the President of the Executive Committee is unable to complete his/her term of service due to death, incapacity or resignation, the President, with the consent of the other members of the Executive Committee, will entrust the duties to another member of the Board of Directors. The appointed member will remain in that office until the next Annual General Meeting.

Committees

The Board of Directors may establish standing committees as necessary.

Funding of the Association

Currently under discussion with the Board of Directors of Regis College and the Regis College Advancement Office.

Dissolution of the Association

The Association can be dissolved during a special general meeting legally convoked, by a vote supported by two-thirds of the members present who have been notified according to Art. 17.

Procedures

The procedures set out in the “Code Morin” and Robert’s Rules of Order shall be followed unless otherwise agreed.

PLEASE NOTE: The Code Morin (French) and Robert’s Rules of Order (English), containing rules of order intended to be adopted for use by a deliberative assembly, will be made available to the Board of Directors of the Regis College Alumni Association, once the Association has been established.

Appendices

APPENDIX I

Mission Statement of Regis College

Regis College is the Jesuit Graduate Faculty of Theology at the University of Toronto, one of only seven Pontifical graduate faculties in North America.

Inspired by the charism of St. Ignatius of Loyola and faithful to the Roman Catholic tradition, Regis serves women and men called to minister to people of many faiths and cultures.

Our community seeks:

an integrated spirituality
a faith that does justice
critical dialogue
academic excellence

APPENDIX II

Vision Statement of Regis College

Regis College will be the college of choice for students, faculty, and staff who value a community in which faith and academic excellence are informed by critical dialogue, continuous discernment, and action for justice. Rooted in the Jesuit tradition and the spirituality of Ignatius Loyola, the college seeks to respond to contemporary global challenges, social, cultural, and religious.