Students keen to learn about the history of higher education should look no further than the University of Calgary’s department of history.

Associate history professor Paul Stortz will introduce a new course titled “History of Universities in Canada and the Western World” in the fall.

The course will cover the history of universities from the eleventh century to today. Discussions will include advances in gender and diversity, social class and the rise of the sciences.

A Calgary man is now the face of Canadian-bred extremism after he carried out a suicide attack that left dozens dead.

Photos posted online in March revealed that Salman Ashrafi killed 46 people and himself in a suicide bombing in Iraq in November 2013. Ashrafi left Calgary to fight with the al-Qaeda splinter group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2012. ISIS released the photos celebrating him as a martyr.

When I made the decision to move from Vancouver to Calgary, reactions from my friends ranged from “why?” to “my condolences.” There’s still a perception of Calgary as a hyper-conservative and culturally-void cowboy hub.

It’s easy to dismiss Calgary as inferior to cities like Vancouver or Montreal. Calgary doesn’t have great sushi. Or oceans. Or feel European. You could say Calgary got the short end of the cultural stick. But if you look closely, that’s not the case. Our cultural scene is more than the Stampede and oil companies.