As you visit the University of Lethbridge you may have had the opportunity to walk down the "tunnel," as it is known by name. This is an underground tunnel linking the Students' Union building with the Library building. In the tunnel the University wishes to encourage celebration and promotion of student engagement through mural painting by student and other University groups. Strung along the walls of the tunnel are murals of various clubs on campus and University groups, one of which belongs to Social Work (as seen in the bottom picture).

 

The original social work wall mural was designed and painted in 1999 by Heather Hacior, a student of the faculty of social work in Lethbridge. The year prior (1998)  the Social Work Students' Society (SWSS) was radified as a club with the University of Lethbridge Students' Union (ULSU) for the first time. Since then the SWSS has had many change of hands and has even been non-existent in some years. Last year the group was re-established as the Social Work Students' Association (SWSA) and began to rebuild. SWSA was radified with the ULSU again for its second time, under the banner of Social Work Students' Association - Lethbridge (SWSA-Leth).

 

After 16 years the Social Work Students' Association of Lethbridge (SWSA-Leth) decided it would be time to bring the mural into contemporary, along with the new branding of SWSA-Leth. The new mural design, depicted to the left, displays the SWSA (and UofC) colours, along with the new SWSA-Leth logo (with the original logo design adopted by SWSA in Calgary). The Social Work program is administered through the UofC throughout Alberta, with Lethbridge being one of three primary campuses (at the UofL). This partnership between the UofC and the UofL is also demonstrated in the mural through the use of the contemporary shields of both campuses.

 

The painting of the new mural occured in April 2014. It exists over the original mural, with a slight shift to the right on the wall.

 

Click here for pictures of the mural painting process.