Academic administrator.
Born at Steinbach on 4 January 1951 to Michael Konowalchuk (?-?) and Mary Henzel (?-?), he spent his early years on the family farm at Pansy and later resided in Winnipeg for the remainder of his life. After graduating from St. John’s High School, he enrolled at Red River Community College and earned a Diploma in Business Administration.
He held various positions throughout his 33½ years at Red River College (RRC). His career began there in 1972 when he obtained his first position in the Accounts Receivable Department, and ended, in the highlight of his career, as Vice President (Administrative Affairs). His strong belief and passion in assisting RRC with its mandate to provide the most superior applied learning and academic training to its staff and students in Manitoba, along with his strong work ethic and unquestionable sense of values and integrity, allowed him to obtain the success he had at the college. During his role in the Administrative Affairs department, he implemented many administrative initiatives for RRC.
He is best known at the college for being the visionary leader who, after visiting many campus colleges in North America, introduced the concept of a downtown college campus to the City of Winnipeg. The idea eventually evolved into today’s RRC Princess Street Campus.
In 1972, he married Marusia Manastyrsky and they went on to have three children. He was a board member of the North Winnipeg Credit Union for over 25 years, where he last presided as President. He was also very involved in the soccer community as a parent, coach, manager, volunteer, and a special committee chair within the Manitoba Soccer Association. Norm Konowalchuk Field on Notre Dame Avenue recognizes his involvement with the sport of soccer. In addition, he was an accomplished accordionist. For many years until the late 1980s, he was an active member of a Ukrainian band called Zabava.
He died at Winnipeg on 9 January 2006 and was buried in the Green Acres Memorial Gardens. The Normen Konowalchuk Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund at Red River College honours his contributions to the school.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 January 2006.
Red River College Polytech Memorial Awards.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 30 January 2024
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