U of R Fall 2024 Convocation honorary degree recipients
Chris Getzlaf
University of Regina alumni, Chris Getzlaf graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree he earned while playing as a receiver with the Regina Thunder and then the University of Regina Rams. Drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2007, he was soon traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he played in his hometown for nine and a half years of his outstanding 11-year CFL career. He also played for Edmonton for a year and a half before returning to Regina where he retired as a Roughrider in January 2018.
Chris won two Grey Cups (2007 and 2013) with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and played in two others (2009 and 2010). In the 2013 Grey Cup hosted in Regina, he was named the Most Outstanding Canadian. Upon his retirement from football in 2018, he had 414 career receptions for 6,192 yards and 41 touchdowns. He remains fifth all-time in receiving yards for the Roughriders and was named to the team’s SaskTel Plaza of Honour in 2021.
Chris serves on the Board of Directors of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, which was created to enhance the team’s community and charitable involvement across Saskatchewan.
Chris was actively involved in the Red Cross’s Imagine No Bullying Campaign and ran the Getzlaf and Friends Charity Golf Tournament supporting the Children’s Wish Foundation. He received the Red Cross Young Humanitarian Award and Mosaic Outstanding Community Service Award for his commitment to giving back.
Ryan Getzlaf
During his four-year junior hockey career as a forward with the Calgary Hitmen, Ryan Getzlaf was a member of the gold medal-winning 2003 International Ice Hockey Federation U18 World Championship team. He was a member of what many consider may be the best World Junior team ever assembled – the Canadian team that won the 2005 gold medal by beating the United States 6-1 in the final.
Ryan was picked by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the 2003 NHL draft and made his NHL debut in 2005. Ryan played his entire NHL career – 17 seasons, including 12 as team captain – with the Anaheim Ducks. He was a member of the 2007 Stanley Cup-winning team, as well as the Canadian Olympic teams that won gold medals in both 2010 and 2014. At the time of his retirement, after the 2021-2022 NHL season, Ryan held multiple Anaheim Ducks franchise records, including games played (1157), assists (737) and points (1019).
Ryan has agreed to serve with Team Canada as a player relations advisor for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
Ryan created the Anaheim Ducks Learn to Play hockey program, as well as the “Getzlaf’s Gamers” program that allows underprivileged children to attend Calgary Hitmen games. For the past 12 years, Ryan and his wife Paige have hosted the “Annual Getzlaf Golf Shootout” in California to support CureDuchenne, a foundation that funds research to cure Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.- 30 -
About the University of Regina
2024 marks our 50th anniversary as an independent university (although our roots as Regina College date back more than a century!). As we celebrate our past, we work towards a future that is as limitless as the prairie horizon. We support the health and well-being of our more than 17,200 students and provide them with hands-on learning opportunities to develop into career-ready graduates – more than 92,000 alumni enrich communities in Saskatchewan and around the globe. Our research enterprise has grown to 21 research centres and includes 9 Canada Research Chairs. Our campuses are on Treaties 4 and 6 - the territories of the nêhiyawak, Anihšināpēk, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakoda peoples, and the homeland of the Michif/Métis nation. We seek to grow our relationships with Indigenous communities to build a more inclusive future.
Let's go far, together.