KEEPING ALUMNI CURRENT SPRING EDITION 2007
VOLUME 8
NUMBER 2
Global
IMPACT
Alumni around the world are making a difference
London Calling
The Roots of International Success
The Nepal Connection
The Orange is the Faculty of Education’s alumni magazine. Published twice a year by the Faculty’s Office of External Relations, the Orange is distributed to alumni, friends, faculty, students and staff.
Greetings from the
Dean
D e a n of Education
Fern Snart D i r e c t or of External Relations/Editor
Michele Shea A s s o c i ate Editor
Gordon McIntosh E x t e r n al Relations Team
Sean Mowat, Asheley Cowie, Dawn Ford, Thea Hawryluk G r a p h i c Design
Creative Services Contributing writers and photographers Asheley Cowie, Dawn Ford, Ted Holdaway, Michael Holly, Gordon McIntosh, Scott Rollans, Michele Shea, Richard Siemens, Wanda Vivequin Send your comments to: Office of External Relations Faculty of Education University of Alberta 4-107 Education North Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5 Tel: 780.492.7755 Fax: 780.492.0155 E-mail: education.alumni@ualberta.ca www.education.ualberta.ca
Spring is upon us, bringing with it the welcoming warmth of a bright sun and the promise of new growth. Much like the season, the Faculty of Education is growing in many exciting and promising directions. This issue of the Orange focuses predominantly on our international education initiatives. Within these pages you will read about some of the exciting work of our our faculty, staff, students, and alumni in the international education arena. We are proud of our international efforts because of the considerable mutual benefits, not only in the resultant learning and knowledge sharing, but also the heightened cultural understanding that is ultimately created in an atmosphere of education and academic inquiry. Several of our graduates go on to teach abroad and many of our faculty members and graduate students are providing leadership in countries undergoing educational reform. We are proud to have international initiatives and/or student exchange programs in approximately 30 countries. The central theme during the University of Alberta’s International Week this past January was Beyond Terror: the Real Weapons of Mass Destruction. These presentations suggested that issues of poverty and the lack of human rights are devastating entire populations and are of far more pressing concern, on a global scale, than the threat of terrorism. The University of Alberta is involved in many research and development initiatives to offer assistance in alleviating these serious worldwide problems. Our Faculty is working collaboratively with many countries to create educational systems that will provide positive change and a better life for their citizens. Most recently, the Faculty was identified by UNESCO to become one of five faculties worldwide to form an educational consortium focusing on rebuilding the educational system in Iraq. Over the past several months, it has been an honour for me to host several education alumni events. It is always a pleasure to meet fellow alumni and hear their stories. Reunion 2006 was immensely enjoyable and was enhanced by the special pleasure of having many of our Professors Emeriti attend. We expect that Reunion 2007 will be just as memorable. Please keep in mind that Reunion 2008 is the University of Alberta’s 100th birthday and we have many special events already planned. This is a celebration you do not want to miss! Have a wonderful summer and I hope you enjoy our latest edition of the Orange as much as we enjoyed creating it for you. I encourage you to stay in touch and to come back and see us when you can.
Fern Snart, ‘79 PhD Dean
KEEPING ALUMNI CURRENT SPRING EDITION 2007
VOLUME 8
NUMBER 2
ON THE COVER: A classroom in Sundaridanda, Nepal Photo: Barb Gauf
FEATURES 4 London Calling Melissa Pearson, ‘05 BEd, shares her teaching experiences in London.
10 The Roots of International Success Dr. Kazim Bacchus recalls the beginnings of international education.
6 Welcome Back, Dip Kapoor! Dip Kapoor, ’87 BCom, ’89 MBA, ’95 PhD, returns to the Faculty of Education.
8 Standing on U of A Shoulders
12 The Nepal Connection
Shirley Hopkinson, ‘81 BEd, ’82 MEd, ’86 PhD, credits the U of A for helping her get through some tough times.
Three Nepalese alumni reminisce about their time at the U of A.
14 Leaders in Australian Education Starting in the 1960’s Australians came to the U of A in droves to study educational administration.
DEPARTMENTS 18 Upcoming Alumni Events 18 Alumni Scrapbook 19 Class Notes 22 Education Generations Project
16 A New Centre for Phenomenological Pedagogy in China U of A researchers play an important role in establishing a new research centre in China that will nurture “pedagogical tact” in Chinese education.
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London Calling By ASHELEY COWIE
(l-r) Michelle Tang and Melissa It was June 2005 and Melissa Pearson, ’05 BEd, was faced with the same question as many other new graduates - “What do I do now?” Armed with her elementary education degree with a minor in science/math, Melissa was at the proverbial fork in the road that all new grads face. “I was unsure of what I wanted to do. I knew I wasn’t ready for full time teaching in Canada but I didn’t want to not teach. The idea of travel was certainly appealing, but I didn’t know where, when or how. It was a bit overwhelming.” In the year leading up to convocation, Melissa investigated taking part in the Play Around the World program, a three-month practicum experience for University of Alberta students who, while learning through service, work to build sustainable programs for under-served populations in Thailand. Though the program appealed to Melissa, her parents weren’t quite as sold on the idea. “My parents’ concerns about my going to Thailand were increased after the tsunami in December of 2004, so they were definitely trying to guide my travel interests elsewhere!” Luckily for Melissa and her parents, Melissa had taken advantage of the Education Career Fair at the U of A in January 2005. At the career fair, Melissa spoke with many different agencies offering international teaching opportunities, and when she spoke with recruiters from the International Teachers Network (ITN) agency based in London, Melissa had no idea what a life-changing experience she was about to embark on. “I gave them my email address and from January until May they kept in touch, updating me on the opportunities the agency was offering. I wasn’t convinced that teaching in London was what I wanted to do, but I kept my options open with them. In May we did an over-thephone interview. A few days later they signed me up with their agency and then helped me get my work visa. They also helped me open a bank account and gave me hostel information
Melissa’s Classroom for my arrival in London. They suggested going over in October, so I bought a ticket for an October 6th flight to London, organized my things and was on my way.” ITN recruiters kept in touch with Melissa until her arrival in London, at which point she was assigned a London-based ITN agent who provided her with her first supply teaching assignments in London. Supply teaching is very similar to substitute teaching in Canada; the assignments can be one day or up to several weeks long. “The whole experience was a little surreal. I am so thankful that I wasn’t there alone! My good friend and university roommate, Michelle Tang, ‘05 BEd, and I decided to go together. Coincidently, on one of our first nights in the hostel, we ran into another ‘05 Education grad, Lorena Castro, who was also about to begin teaching in London. When you’re in a foreign place, you kind of attach yourself to anything and anyone familiar, so the three of us decided to stick together and found a flat in the Victoria area which is about a 20 minute walk from Buckingham Palace.” Melissa took teaching jobs as ITN offered them, but having moved half way around the world in pursuit of employment, money was a little tight. “One thing I would tell anyone who is going to teach overseas, particularly in London, is to sign up with more than one agency. You are not obligated to get supply jobs only from the agency you came over with, as they may not have work for you every day. You can sign on to multiple agencies, and that way you can pretty much work every day if you choose to.” Melissa worked at several different schools for one or two days at a time, accumulating hours and experience in different classrooms. In March of 2006, she received received an assignment from Tradewind Recruitment to supply teach in a year 2 classroom at Kobi Nazrul Primary School, located in an area of London that is home to many Bengali immigrants.
The teaching assignment was not intended to be long term, but turned out to be four months in duration. In that time, Melissa discovered what it was like to have your own classroom: she was responsible not only for lesson planning, grading and reporting but also for planning a major field trip for the class of 30 students. “I was responsible for all subjects, all day. It was great. A little intimidating, but great. I don’t know if it would have been different if I knew from the start of the assignment that it would last four months, but as it was, I had such a great learning experience. The staff, especially the teaching assistant, and the students are all wonderful people and I learned so much from all of them!” Aside from the cultural and teaching experiences Melissa had, there was another amazing benefit of teaching in London. “The opportunities for travel are simply unbelievable! Not that I didn’t enjoy the teaching, but the travelling I did was absolutely my favourite part of this entire experience.” In the 14 months Melissa was in London, she travelled to: Paris (twice), Tunisia, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Scotland and Egypt. Melissa’s overseas teaching experience came to an end in December 2006 when she arrived home in Calgary, just in time for Christmas. What does the future hold for her? “I want to pursue figure skating (something Melissa has done for over 14 years) and then teach in Asia after my time in Calgary.” Apparently, the travel bug is not easily squished. “I loved every minute of my experience…I would absolutely, positively recommend this option to anyone who is unsure of what they want to do after graduation. It was fabulous! I can’t wait to see what comes next.” Asheley Cowie, ’05 BEd, is the Faculty of Education’s Alumni Relations Officer.
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Welcome Back, Dip
Kapoor!
By G ordon M cI ntosh The Alberta friends and colleagues of Dip Kapoor, ’87 BCom, ’89 MBA, ’95 PhD, rejoiced when they learned last spring that Dip would be leaving his academic position at McGill University to return to the U of A. He arrived back in the fall to take up an assistant professorship in the Department of Educational Policy Studies. Dip is now well into a second term where his focus is on research supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant – more about this later. Asked about his return, Dip said, “I feel as if I have never left this city or this university. This is not surprising to me, given that I have spent more time here than I have in my native country, India. What’s more, my memories are good ones. Arriving here as an international student in 1982 and then returning as a faculty member in 2006 - it feels satisfying; it feels apt!” Dip did all his early schooling in India. His parents were both professionals – his mother, a primary school teacher, and his father, an engineer. Following his parents’ wishes, he came to Alberta to study business at the U of A. Life in Canada, together with his studies here, particularly his elective work in the social sciences, helped him to re-consider life in India from the standpoint of the millions who “struggle to see another day.” He soon became, in his words, “a pathological social critic with a keen practical and theoretical interest in projects of political, economic and cultural democratization.” Dip transferred to the Faculty of Education for his doctoral studies. His dissertation project took him back to India where his research into education and development there brought him into partnership relationships with the Adivasis (original dwellers) in the state of Orissa, which is located along the east coast of India south of Calcutta. The Adivasis live in the forested interior of Orissa in the eastern ghat hill range. After completing his PhD, Dip organized a voluntary development NGO called HELP (a member of the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation) to continue his work in Orissa. HELP supports ongoing development and
social activism in partnership with three of Orissa’s 62 Adivasi groups. It is important to Dip that his work has relevance for the lives of the people who partner with him in research projects. The Orissa project, which commenced in 1995, and his multi-year SSHRC grant (which supports explorations of learning in Adivasi social movements) continue to raise the profile of Adivasi communities and their struggles for existential justice. This winter Dip returned to Orissa for six weeks of field work on his SSHRC project. Has the McGill experience changed him? He left the U of A as a self-confirmed social critic. Did McGill soften any of the Alberta-honed sharp edges? McGill, after all, is seen by many to be a bastion of privilege. Dip replied, “McGill challenged me to find
ways to make space for ‘critical projects,’ while I negotiated the demands and constraints imposed on such projects by an increasingly globally competitive, entrepreneurial and corporatised University.” I asked Dip to explain what he meant by a critical project. His reply: “I do my research in a context of partnership. In this context, a critical project seeks to make material and cultural space for social groups, like the Adivasis, who face the consequences of the insatiable appetite of a process of unconstrained modernization.” The McGill experience was memorable for Dip. He maintains academic and social relationships with some of his McGill colleagues and the students whose research he supervised. Dip and his colleagues were able to introduce a very well received course on global education. “This was great from my
standpoint,” Dip said. “It provided the educational process for getting students, many of whom were being sent abroad to newly independent countries as part of the broader internationalization attempt at McGill, to examine fossilized material and cultural neocolonial prejudices before undertaking such journeys.” But it was not difficult for him to make the decision to return to the U of A. “This is where I gained my academic legs, so to speak,” Dip says. “I was keen on the clear and conspicuous programmatic focus on international education and the reputable and useful work being done by colleagues in that area, not to mention a wider group of Educational Policy Studies faculty very productively engaged in critical scholarship and teaching – one can only welcome such associations. It also helps to know that you have friends in a place before you decide to move there.” Dip’s teaching assignments this year were very similar to his teaching at McGill – global education and international adult education.
“I hope to expand my contribution to teaching once my background and interests become more apparent to students and faculty alike,” he added. Dip will focus his research and teaching on education and development in the post-colonial states of South Asia, working especially with peasant and Indigenous groups and urban slum-dwellers. He is interested in how social movements and NGOs engage popular education to address the interests of these groups. He will continue to be of service to organizations and campaigns that seek to address global inequities. The Global Education Network located in Educational Policy Studies is likely to provide one avenue for such engagement. Dip is convinced that the U of A has room for diverse academic and political projects and commitments. The University’s current vision statement is committed to “connecting and drawing strength from diverse communities” (including marginalized communities in local and international contexts) and “fostering social and moral responsibility … to further
develop society and its institutions.” He says, “I would like to play my part in this process.” When asked for the advice he would offer to the University and the Faculty of Education, he said, “Universities the world over are scrambling for the global dollar. … I am hopeful that the Faculty will resist the temptation to define internationalization as commercialization and, instead, see this as an opportunity to re-affirm our commitment as educators and teachers to work for the interests of those who bear the brunt of commercialization or those who care to have little to do with it.” His final word: “I would like to thank the Department and the Faculty for making me feel so welcome. The level of support that I have received from all quarters has been phenomenal. This is a great place to be and I look forward to gradually getting to know more people in the Faculty and beyond.” Welcome back, Dip! Gordon McIntosh is a professor emeritus in Educational Policy Studies at the U of A.
Saluting Teaching Excellence The following Education alumni were recently honoured with the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. The award recognizes those who have developed innovative ways to teach, including groundbreaking uses of information and communication technologies, to enhance their teaching practices.
Certificate of Excellence:
Mary-Ellen Pereley-Waugh, ’74 BEd, ’85 BA, ’01 MEd, from McNally High School, Edmonton, AB Certificate of Achievement:
David Case, ’89 BSc, ’92 BEd, ’00 MEd, from McNally High School, Edmonton, AB
Sharon Conrad, ’83 BEd, from Brookswood Secondary School, Langley, BC
Robert Dymtruk, ’79 BEd, from Victoria
Christopher Heard, ’00 BEd, from Rites of
School of Performing and Visual Arts, Edmonton, AB
Passage, Edmonton, AB
Shane Thomas Grundy, ’97 BEd, from
High School, Red Deer, AB
Meyokumin School, Edmonton, AB
Margaret Harris, ’77 BEd, ’86 Dip(Ed), ’92 MEd, from Onoway Junior-Senior High School, Onoway, AB
Darwin Roscoe, ’93 BEd, from Hunting Hills
Joan Simpson, ’98 BEd, from Rites of Passage, Edmonton, AB
Linette Smith, ’92 BEd, ’05 MEd, from Eastglen High School, Edmonton, AB
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Standing on
U of A Shoulders By SC O T T R O L L A N S “The purpose of education is to leave people and places better than you found them,” says Shirley Hopkinson, ‘81 BEd, ’82 MEd, ’86 PhD. It’s a philosophy she puts into practice every day as principal of Barnard Elementary School, in midtown Washington D.C. Hopkinson knows that many of her students don’t come from the easiest environments. Hopkinson’s challenges often begin when a preschooler walks through her doors for the first time. “Some of these children, at three years old, aren’t out of their baby-tongue speech yet. But they can tell you, ‘Get out of my face’ followed by a string of expletives.”
During her eight years at Barnard, backed by a highly motivated staff, Hopkinson has built a program that not only improves the lives of her students, but their families and communities as well. And whenever anyone asks her for the source of her inspiration, she points to the U of A and the people who touched her life when she studied here. In the early 1970s, Hopkinson was an early childhood education advisor in Guyana. “Early childhood education in our country was in an awful state,” she recalls. “Anyone could have opened an early childhood centre in any place like under a mango tree. As long as they had children, and places for them to sit, and a
teacher who spoke a reasonable level of English, that early childhood centre was a go.” When the People’s National Congress took over the government, on a platform that leaned heavily on educational reform, Hopkinson was eager to hold them to their promises. She galvanized community support and brought the district’s 18 early childhood centres up to international standards. Before long, Hopkinson found herself handpicked by the government for a scholarship to further her studies abroad. In 1976, she reluctantly left her three young children behind and boarded a plane for Edmonton.
Shirley at sc
hool
Meeting
nton President Bill Cli
From the start, Hopkinson felt she was being looked after by a higher power. “My mother was not very comfortable with me going to somewhere where she didn’t know anyone,” she says. “But, somewhere along the way, a professor’s name came up. And it was my third-grade teacher in Guyana – Dr. Kazim Bacchus.” The extraordinary coincidence proved to be Hopkinson’s salvation. During the two years it had taken to process her documents, expenses had risen dramatically. “When I got to the U of A with my bundle of Guyanese money, I was almost one-third short,” Hopkinson remembers. The Bacchuses welcomed Hopkinson into their home, and helped her find ways to earn extra cash to send home to her children. “God is good,” says Hopkinson, “and until this day Dr. Bacchus has been my biggest blessing in my journey. I am so proud to have been touched by him. He was really a wonderful person.” Hopkinson also happily rattles off the names of other professors who took her under their collective wing, including Myer Horowitz, Albert Nedd and Raj Pannu. “I used to earn some extra money by babysitting Dr. Raj’s daughter,” Hopkinson smiles. She also gratefully remembers the emotional support she got from department chair Pat McFetridge: “She helped me to maintain a daily balance in my emotional radar, especially when I was hurting for my children.” “The whole U of A experience – the people, the place, the challenges of the program – come together in one life-changing word: ‘shoulder.’ I’m short – four feet nine – and I will never forget those hands that lifted me up and placed me on their shoulders.” After completing her program, Hopkinson faced some serious soul-searching. “My parents
had emigrated to the United States in ’63,” she says, “but I was never the type who wanted to leave Guyana.” She turned to her parents for advice. “My father told me, ‘When you just had your first degree, the politicians had trouble with you because you would not sell out the children. Now that you have a PhD, I’m begging you not to return to Guyana.’”
“The purpose of education is to leave people and places better than you found them.” It was a crisis of conscience, because government monies had been involved in her education. Hopkinson also knew that the Guyanese government would exact a serious financial penalty if she failed to return. In the end, though, she decided to bring her children with her to the U.S. “The final words of my father that made me decide to come to the United States were, ‘Shirley, you can serve children anywhere in the world.’” Hopkinson applied to be a teacher in D.C., where an old friend from Guyana was living with his family. When the district lost her paperwork, however, she instead wound up working for two years at the Easter Seals school. “I had not a single hour of training to work with children with disabilities,” recalls Hopkinson, “but I really learned fast.” In yet
another portentous coincidence, the school’s assistant principal came from Hopkinson’s home village. After finally landing a job with the D.C. public schools, Hopkinson quickly made a name for herself. In 1991 she won the D.C. Teacher of the Year Award and placed second in the national competition. As her reputation grew, Hopkinson faced pressure to move into a higher administrative role. “People would constantly say to me, ‘Shirley, what are you doing sitting in a school?’ But I just can’t put 90 percent of my energy into working with adults. Rather, I made that conscious choice to touch the lives of children.” Hopkinson still finds herself drawing on knowledge she gained more than two decades ago in Edmonton. “Right now, D.C. educators are just starting to go through the process of using a standards curriculum and standards assessment, and benchmarks and so on. It’s like déja vu for me right now. I am so proud to have attended the U of A, because it was way into the 21st century.” At the same time, she continues to feed off of her emotional bond with the U of A. When she received last fall’s issue of the Orange, she burst into tears at the page of photos from the 2006 Reunion Weekend. “I was sitting at the conference table at my school. And my psychologist came running in. She said, ‘Doc, are you okay? Is somebody in here with you?’ I said, ‘No, I’m just reminiscing.’” “Those are the emotions that my U of A experience still evokes in me. If I weren’t on people’s shoulders, I couldn’t have made it. I just try to take that support and pass it on to the people around me.” Scott Rollans is an Edmonton-based freelance writer and editor with a special interest in education.
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The Roots of
International Success By SCO T T R O L L A N S
Kazim and Shamie Bacchus
This article was written a month before the untimely death of Dr. Kazim Bacchus on March 22, 2007. We have chosen to leave the article as it was originally written. The Faculty of Education extends heartfelt condolences to Shamie and her family. It’s hard to imagine a time when international education wasn’t an integral part of the U of A’s education faculty. The program has had a hand, directly or indirectly, in the careers of thousands of educators worldwide. It has built a sterling reputation as a leader in the field. Of course, the program has succeeded through the hard work and dedication of countless faculty members and support staff. But ask any of them to trace that success back to its roots, and you’ll be sure to hear the name of Dr. Kazim Bacchus. “When I first came to Edmonton in 1969, international education at the U of A was in its infancy,” says Bacchus, at his southside Edmonton home. Bacchus, who grew up in Guyana and was educated in Britain, had been teaching at a university in Jamaica. Several of his publications caught the eyes of recruiters at the U of A, and Bacchus soon found himself being actively courted. “The U of A had a few students from overseas, and they wrote me to ask if I would join them. I didn’t reply, because I didn’t know of Alberta before, except from geography. But they sent me another letter, so I wrote back and asked them to send me more information about the job. Then I got a phone call saying that I should come to Edmonton to talk to them, and that there was a ticket waiting for me at the Air Canada office.” Curiosity got the best of him, and Bacchus soon found himself stepping off of a plane at the Edmonton International. He didn’t exactly fall instantly in love with the surroundings. “They drove me around town, and I wasn’t impressed very much, in the sense that it wasn’t a big city.” Nevertheless, he recognized an opportunity to make a real difference. “I liked the people who met me. They were very keen on my coming. It was a very encouraging place.” “The final thing was the students. I met with a couple of the students from overseas. I thought they needed some help. So I came.” Bacchus immediately looked for ways to expand the program. At that point, the few international projects at the U of A had all originated with outside agencies. “We had a few students coming from overseas, from Africa,
and we had a project with China, and a project with Thailand. But these were CIDA-funded projects (Canadian International Development Agency). We didn’t have a home-based teaching project as such.” “While the university was involved in a generic sense, as individuals, international education wasn’t a formal part of the faculty. So when I came, I decided to see if we could expand this area of activity. Not just participate in the CIDA outsourced projects, but make it an integral part of the university.”
Bacchus claims not to have one particular favourite achievement. “I was proud of all of the projects, because they all accomplished different things,” he says. In 1993, he left the university to help start yet another faculty of education, at a university in Pakistan. For the next two years, he continued to draw on his contacts back in Edmonton. “The dean came down to help. Gordon McIntosh and a few other people also came to give advice and so on.”
“According to the director of UNICEF, we had the best program in international education in Canada...probably one of the best in North America at the time.” “To make that happen, we had to do several things. First, develop courses in international education. Second, develop a graduate program in international education. Third, generate interest among the whole Faculty of Education in international education.” As the school began to solidify a mass of programs in international education, the wider community began to notice. “According to the director of UNICEF, we had the best program in international education in Canada, and he said probably one of the best in North America at the time.” Bacchus wanted to use the school’s growing reputation to benefit a wider range of students. “We could get overseas students who were rich, no problem, but we couldn’t easily get those who could not afford it,” he recalls. “To reach those students, we needed to get grants. We had requests from a number of countries to work with them. As a matter of principle, the advisory committee suggested we take the poorest, and those in need.” “So we worked with Tanzania. We had a project training the staff of the Faculty of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam. In fact, by the time we finished, a large proportion of their staff were graduates from here.” The U of A followed up Tanzania with similar projects in Nepal and Namibia, and then in Jamaica and the West Indies. By the 1980s, Bacchus found himself increasingly sought out as an expert in the field. If CIDA or the Government of Canada needed some advice on international education, they called the U of A.
After retiring in 1995, Bacchus returned to his adopted home in Edmonton. Since then he has continued to publish books and articles. He has had to slow his pace recently because of poor health, but still finds the energy for the occasional article, or to put in a good word for a former student. “It’s amazing how students remember you. I would say I end up writing one or two recommendations a month for people applying for university teaching jobs.” Bacchus has also found a way to help out future students. He and his wife Shamie recently created the Bacchus Graduate Research Award, which grants $1,250 each year to a student specializing in the fields of international education, Canadian Indigenous education, or multicultural education in Canada. “We hope to increase the endowment over time so that more students will benefit,” he says. Looking back on his legacy at the U of A, Bacchus credits the international program’s success to the fact that its primary goals were not charitable, but academic. “I always believed that if we’re doing international work, it must not be seen only as a service activity. It ought to be a vigorous, intellectual academic exercise.” “Each one of the projects, I made sure that we carried out research on them as far as possible. I have had over a hundred publications coming directly or indirectly from the various projects. The aim was to show that it’s not something you do on the side. If you structure it properly, it can generate a valuable academic outcome for the department.”
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The Nepal Connection By Wanda V ivequin
A student in rural Nepal asks his teacher whether film from a camera is made from snake (naga) eyes. The teacher looks surprised for a moment, and then makes the connection. In the village children are told if you kill a naga it will take a picture of you with its eyes and this is a bad omen. – Story told by Dr. Hridaya Bajracharya
l-r: Shreeram Lamichhane, Hridaya Bajracharya and Roshan Chitrakar
It is a brilliantly sunny day in mid-November and looking like the three amigos, Shreeram Lamichhane, ’92 PhD, Roshan Chitrakar, ’95 PhD, and Hridaya Bajracharya, ’91 Dip(Ed), ’95 PhD, strike a pose for the camera.
So it was in Edmonton, facing formidable cultural, linguistic, educational, institutional and geographical challenges, that Chitrakar, Lamichhane and Bajracharya earned their doctorates in vastly different fields.
The backdrop is a frenetic scene of garishly decorated Tata trucks and overcrowded buses belching diesel fumes lumbering past on a road reeking of neglect and pockmarked with potholes. In the distance, through the haze and beyond the 2000-meter “hills” flanking the city of Kathmandu, the outline of the Himalayas can just be seen.
“I remember arriving and asking where are all the people,” says Lamichhane, who spent his first six months as a 40-year old living in Hub Mall. Lamichhane eventually moved into a spare room at Dr. David Baine’s house where he said he, “integrated fully into Canadian life.”
Our initial meeting time had been delayed a little – six months to be exact. It had been scheduled for April 2006 but a revolution that forced the entire country of Nepal to shut down for 20 days created complications, so with the country on a slightly more even keel we were finally able to get together in the fall. After the photo shoot, we leave behind the overwhelming sights, smells and sounds of the Kathmandu Ring Road and wander up an unpaved lane past the sign that announces our arrival at the Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development (CERID), a facility that recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and is connected to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan University. The facility, contracted by the Nepal Ministry of Education to conduct research on educational planning, alternative forms of education, information management, early childhood, secondary and higher education, is housed in a collection of modern buildings located in the southern reaches of the chaos that forms Kathmandu valley’s urban sprawl. Compared to the rest of the city, CERID’s location and grounds feel almost rural. The talented trio of Chitrakar, Bajracharya and Lamichhane have been based at the facility for most of their professional lives apart from time spent at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bajracharya is the director of CERID and admits that the differences between how things are done in Canada and Nepal provided him with a fair share of challenging adjustments. “In Nepal we are very casual and while I was very shocked at first, I learned a whole new way of studying,” says Bajracharya.
That included shoveling snow and mowing lawns – something he had never had to do in Kathmandu. For their doctorates, Chitrakar worked under Dr. Kenneth Jacknicke, ’64 BEd, ’68 MEd, to look at teacher training at a distance; Lamichhane under Dr. Erwin Miklos, ’60 MEd, ’63 PhD, studying non-formal education for adults; Bajracharya under Dr. Wytze Brouwer, ’62 BSc, ’63 MSc, ‘68 PhD, looking at the challenges facing science teachers in Nepal.
“We will keep the U of A with us for the rest of our lives.” They were part of a group of Nepalese who traveled halfway around the world to the University of Alberta during the late 1980s and 1990s under a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)/International Development Research Centre (IDRC) program that funded their studies. Instrumental in setting this up was Dr. Mahdev Mainali, who earned his PhD in Educational Administration under Dr. Miklos at the U of A in 1985. Chitrakar had already visited the U of A once before in 1989 for a summer course, but returned in the winter of 1994 to begin his Masters before transferring into a PhD program.
The other issue was the weather as Kathmandu temperatures even in winter, barely dip below zero.
“It was a total culture shock and there were many times I did not think I would make it,” says Chitrakar who credits unconditional support from Wilfred Allan at the U of A International Centre for getting him through.
“I mean look outside. It is a beautiful sunny day and even though it is winter it is possible to go out there and relax for a moment,” says Bajracharya with a smile.
To appreciate the challenges that face education specialists like Chitrakar, Lamichhane and Bajracharya in Nepal, you have to know a little bit about the history of education in a country
ranked as the poorest in south Asia where the average annual income is less than $365 US. Until 1950 Nepal was “closed” to the rest of the world and only a handful of foreigners were able to visit. There were barely two dozen modern schools in Kathmandu and even fewer in the countryside where the majority of Nepali lived and worked as subsistence farmers. “Education was introduced with an aspiration of achieving modern development; to transpose Nepal from a situation of backwardness in terms of modern technology and economy into a situation of technological progress and economic prosperity,” says Bajracharya. Education was the first sector to receive massive injections of overseas development funding, although a visit to almost any rural school in Nepal reveals that quantity took priority over quality. By 1990 there were nearly 25,000 schools, the vast majority inadequately resourced both in terms of staff and materials, to provide the education that many believed would lead to economic prosperity. It is against this backdrop and with these challenges that researchers at CERID work to come up with creative and innovative ways to develop educational resource development, teacher training and policy advice. During the last 10 years, these problems have been exacerbated further by a complicated democratic movement that resulted in the deaths of over 13,000. Thankfully the final push by the people’s movement to restore democracy in April 2006 (the same movement that cancelled my first meeting with the trio) was successful and the large amount of government funding used for security will hopefully be re-directed to the needs of civil society – like education. Chitrakar, Bajracharya and Lamichhane say they all have a soft spot for Edmonton in their hearts despite all the hard work and difficulties that marked their time in the city. “We will keep the U of A with us for the rest of our lives,” says Lamichhane. “I spent four years of my life in Canada and my time there enabled me to achieve so much more in Nepal,” he adds. The trio says they welcome anyone who wishes to visit CERID in Kathmandu. Wanda Vivequin is an Edmonton-based freelance writer.
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Leaders in Australian Education By Ted H oldaway
I will start by making a claim that readers may think, at first blush, to be very difficult to defend. My claim is this: that the U of A Faculty of Education, especially its Department of Educational Administration, through its alumni has shaped in very powerful ways the development of education in far-away Australia. How could this have come about? We start with a surprising fact: between 1963 and 1987, 96 Australians studied for graduate degrees in educational administration at the U of A. What attracted so many educational leaders from Australia to make the long trek to Alberta to pursue graduate studies in educational administration? An answer to this question takes us back to Canada in the 1950s when the Canadian Education Association had initiated extensive national discussions about where graduate programs in educational administration should be based in Canada. Agreement was reached in 1955 that the University of Alberta should be the initial Canadian centre for this activity. Arthur Reeves, a highly regarded former superintendent and inspector, became the first Chairman of the Division (later Department) of Educational Administration in 1956 and quickly developed the division into a world-class centre. In Australia, the need to Arthur Reeves improve the training of educational administrators at all levels had been receiving considerable attention in the 1960s. This led to Reeves being appointed as a Visiting Fellow for the Australian Commonwealth Office of Education in 1963. Reeves’s visits to departments of education and universities and his participation in a conference for school inspectors created a deep and positive impression. He invited the State of Victoria to send an administrator to study in Alberta for the MEd degree and this invitation was quickly accepted. Tom Moore, ’66 MEd, a secondary school inspector, was selected. While Moore was an MEd student in Alberta in 1963-64, Reeves discussed with him the feasibility of making this arrangement
more permanent. A proposal that the six Australian states nominate in rotation each year a recipient of “The Alberta Scholarship,” later the “A.W. Reeves Memorial Fellowship,” was approved by the Conference of DirectorsGeneral of Education. Recipients, who were at the level of school inspector or higher, obtained a Graduate Assistantship. Some Australian states paid fee support and a travel grant, and recipients usually remained on full salary for 12 months. From 1963-64 to 198586, when the arrangement was discontinued, 22 Australians had received a scholarship or fellowship. The decision to discontinue was based partly upon the fact that graduate study in educational administration had become widely available throughout Australia, frequently offered by staff educated at the University of Alberta!
Thomas Moore
Even though the formal government sponsorship had ceased, educators continued to come to Alberta, frequently being influenced by Australian graduates who had returned home. A total of 110 graduate degrees, including one diploma, was obtained by 96 Australians, with 14 obtaining both the MEd and PhD. The appeal of the Alberta ed admin graduate program was widespread across Australia. Without doubt, the widespread publicity that surrounded the 1963 Reeves visit and the Alberta Scholarship contributed to the increased Australian enrolment. Awareness of the substantial numbers of Australian teachers who obtained employment in Canada in the 1960s probably also increased interest
in Canadian education and the opportunities it provided. Six of the 96 graduates had taught in Canadian schools prior to undertaking U of A ed admin studies. A considerable amount of individual encouragement and sponsorship also occurred. At the U of A, there was a close linkage between courses and research in graduate programs. Australian universities offered thesis-only graduate programs. The linkage of courses and research was an important factor in reducing time-to-completion and increasing the successful completion percentage. Students were not left to develop their thesis proposals and to conduct their research in isolation as happened all too often in Australian universities. Australian graduate students n Alberta were commonly invited to participate in staff research, with their thesis research being a component part of a larger project. Some were also involved in department projects as part of their coursework requirements. Such involvement was invaluable, especially when the projects included fieldwork with school systems or postsecondary institutions, as it increased students’ understanding of systems in a country different from Australia. Projects, courses, and thesis research identified issues potentially relevant to the work responsibilities of students when they returned to Australia. Doug Anders, ’65 Dip(Ed), who held the 1964-1965 Fellowship, told me some years before his death in 2006 that “It was a germinal time for me. I had a fund of new perspectives and ideas that were gradually inserted into the South Australian schools.” Also, Alan Rice, ’75 MEd, ’78 PhD, Dean of Education at Macquarie University, stated that significant outcomes were “capacity for clear thinking in evaluation and research” and “broadening of understanding of educational leadership and management.” The opportunity to meet and study with students from Canada and other countries had many benefits. Close friendships were
made, some of which persist. Professional networks, involving both staff and students, were developed and these have been extremely valuable in the professional work of Australian and other graduates. Geoff Riordan, ’96 PhD, Associate Dean of Education at University of Technology Sydney, says, “The staff and students were very generous and went out of their way to support international students and their families and the Department provided a positive introduction to academic work.” Neil Johnson, ’88 PhD, some time before his untimely death in 1993 told me that “Most importantly I came to appreciate Canadians and their system of education.” Production of an accurate list of the most senior positions held by the 96 Australian U of A ed admin graduates is difficult because many have changed positions since obtaining their first post-graduation employment. The following list provides my best estimate of the numbers in each category of position in Australia and Papua New Guinea for the 90 for whom information was available; the numbers in parentheses are those who stayed in North America: college/university professor or lecturer 35 (4), Director-General, Assistant Director-General or equivalent 12 (1), other senior administrative positions 19 (2), school principal 12 (1), teacher 1 (1), and other 1 (1). Some Australian graduates have strongly asserted that they obtained important positions largely as a direct consequence of their Alberta experience. Nearly all were promoted soon after graduation to positions substantially senior to those that they held before going to Canada. Many have stated that the knowledge, insights, and skills that they gained during their U of A graduate programs were invaluable in their career advancement. Les Eastcott, ’75 PhD, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Papua New Guinea, says, “I learned to think within an international context, to think about an organization from a holistic perspective, and to approach management from a systems-wide, chaos theory perspective.” The Australian Alberta graduates were heavily influential in initiating and developing educational administration graduate programs at Australian universities. They endeavoured to incorporate aspects of the Alberta programs whenever this was allowed by policies of their Australian universities. Study of educational administration in Australian universities was partly promoted by relevant in-service education. The most notable in-service program was that conducted in the State of Victoria by Tom Moore and Norm Gill, ’67 MEd. Moore, who was then Deputy Director-General in
1997 – Macquarie University, Sydney: (l-r) Alan Rice, ’75 MEd, ’78 PhD, currently Dean, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, Macquarie University; Steve Marshall, ’93 PhD, currently Professor and Director, Institute of Higher Education Research and Development, Macquarie University; Ted Holdaway, ’66 MEd, ’68 PhD; Geoff Riordan, ’96 PhD, currently Associate Dean, University of Technology Sydney; Ian Paterson, ’67 PhD, formerly Headmaster, Knox Grammar School, Sydney, 1969-1998.
Victoria, taught University of Melbourne ed admin courses on a part-time basis with occasional assistance from Ray Maddocks, ’70 MEd, ’72 PhD, Assistant Director-General, until Ross Millikan, ’77 MEd, ’79 PhD, was appointed as the first full-time University of Melbourne Educational Administration Lecturer in 1980. The work of these three U of A graduates
exerted great influence on Australian education and this influence will continue.”
“I came to appreciate
Some of the Australian graduates played significant roles in the development of educational administration as a discipline in Australia through their teaching, scholarship, recruitment of graduate students, and interactions with key people and organizations. Others achieved senior positions in education departments and in schools. In summation, it can fairly be stated that the Australian involvement in the U of A’s Department of Educational Administration constitutes one of the outstanding international successes in Canadian graduate education.
Canadians and their system of education.” provides a concrete example of the contribution of the U of A to developments in Australia. Dr. Walter Neal, a U of A professor and Vice-President before he returned to Australia, stated that “Anywhere you go in Australia you find graduates from the University of Alberta. They are a special group of people who have
The debt of Australian and other ed admin graduate students to Arthur Reeves must be acknowledged. Besides developing outstanding programs and hiring excellent staff, Reeves frequently ensured that his graduates were appropriately placed.
Ted Holdaway, ’66 MEd, ’68 PhD, is a professor emeritus in Educational Policy Studies at the U of A.
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A New Centre for Phenomenological Pedagogy in China by D awn Ford
Educational researchers at the U of A are teaming up with China’s educators to explore more humanistic ways of teaching and learning in China. An agreement has been signed between China’s National Institute of Educational Research (CNIER) and the University of Alberta’s Curriculum and Pedagogy Institute (CPIn) to establish an International Centre for the Study of Phenomenology and Pedagogy (IRCPP). Dr. Max van Manen, ‘70 BEd, ‘71 MEd, ‘73 PhD, a professor in the Department of Secondary Education and newly appointed Honorary Director of IRCPP, has recently returned from the International Conference of Phenomenology and Pedagogy in Beijing, China where he met with Dr. Zhu Xiaoman, Director of CNIER and an influential educator in China. “Some of the Confucian philosophies that underpin China’s family and educational traditions share the same humanistic person-centered and ethics-sensitive approaches of phenomenological pedagogy,” explains van Manen. “But educators in China are concerned that their increasingly competitive exam-driven
system is detracting from the primary task of helping young people grow up into responsible adults,” he adds. Phenomenology, a human science that is rooted in continental existential philosophy, explores ways of doing research that are focused on and sensitive to the concrete and subjective. It is about studying lived experience. Phenomenological pedagogy involves studying aspects of learning, such as experiencing difficulties or the feeling of being encouraged or suddenly understanding something new. For van Manen, teachers, like parents, carry a certain “pedagogical responsibility” for the child’s cognitive, moral and emotional development as an individual person. “This responsibility contrasts with today’s emphasis on the market place and the trend to perceive education in terms of curriculum delivery and testable learning outcomes,” says van Manen who talks about “pedagogical tact” and the classroom as a moving, happening place. “In order to deal with the improvisational dimension of classroom teaching, teachers
need to approach learners with pedagogical tact. Tactful educators have developed a caring attentiveness to the unique: the uniqueness of children, the uniqueness of every situation, and the uniqueness of individual lives,” says van Manen. Instrumental in the direction of ICRPP is van Manen’s former student and colleague, Dr. Shuying Li, ’05 PhD, who has been appointed Executive Vice Director of the new International Centre. He is presently working as an assistant professor in the Centre for Learning Studies and School Partnership of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. “The University of Alberta has long been recognized by international scholars as the North American centre of phenomenological pedagogy,” says Li. “In recent years, we have seen a tremendous upsurge of interest in East Asian countries in this work. For example, Max van Manen’s text, The Tact of Teaching, recently translated into Chinese, has already sold 30 000 copies.” Li knows what he’s talking about. His dissertation, Pedagogy of Examinations: A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Pedagogical Significance of Chinese Students’ Lived
Dr. Max van Manen and Dr. Zhu Xiaoman during signing ceremony. Dr. Shuying Li is at the far left.
Experiences of Examinations, addresses the issue of exams in China and the effect the testing and examination practices have on Chinese youth and their families, as well as on the shaping of the educational systems.
pressure has already proven too much for one 18-year-old student from the western province of Qinghai, who killed his mother over the weekend with a stone after they argued over his refusal to take the test.”
“There is no doubt that the examination system puts tremendous pressures on many students. It is not uncommon to read newspaper stories of students who have committed suicide or engage in other desperate acts,” writes Li in his dissertation which begins with a vivid illustration of this desperation.
According to Li, who collected hundreds of pieces of student and teacher writings and conducted interviews with grades 7 to 12 teachers and students, the country’s four-day national exam is the key to a competitive future. No student can gain access to higher education without first making the grade.
“Chinese cities today are diverting traffic, suspending construction and banning street hawking to reduce the stress on high school students as they begin grueling national college entrance exams on Tuesday. The
“By letting children tell through concrete and specific examples of what they experience when they take tests and examinations, we may gain a sense of the phenomenological structures of these experiences and be in a better position to consider the pedagogical
‘goodness’ of such educational practices for the present and future lives of our young people.” IRCPP directors and members will explore possible initiatives for the Centre including phenomenological conferences, workshops, courses, journal contributions, setting up a special column on teachers’ phenomenological pedagogy writing projects, translations, international student exchanges and more. “We want to set up this centre to bring together interested scholars, to sponsor research projects, and to strengthen this educational tradition in China and beyond,” says Li. Dawn Ford, ’00 BEd, is Director of Communications for the Faculty of Education.
Educators from Around the World Return to their Academic Home Place by D awn Ford It may be one of the best kept secrets on campus, but the weekly “Tuesday table” hosted by the Centre for Research for Teacher Education and Development (CRTED) is one of the reasons scholars from around the world came to celebrate the Centre’s 15th anniversary last November.
“The protocols around the table have developed over 15 years of research issues,” says Clandinin. “At the table each of us are sometimes listeners, responders and tellers. This is a place where you can come, share your ideas, your stories, your uncertainties and successes.”
Dilma DeMello, from the University of Uberlândia in Brazil, spent seven months visiting the Centre on a scholarship from her country. She came to study narrative inquiry under the Centre’s Director, Jean Clandinin, ’74 MEd.
Clandinin credits former U of A President and education dean Myer Horowitz, ’54 MEd, ’90 LLD (Hon), for bringing forward the idea of the table meetings. Horowitz, who was instrumental in the creation of the Centre, says it was Clandinin who really made it happen.
“The impact of the Tuesday table in my life was something extraordinary and spectacular,” says DeMello, who refers to the Tuesday table community as her home place. “This is a place where human beings are respected and our stories are worth telling. It is a place where we can construct knowledge in a way that is authentic and meaningful to everyone.”
“Although I may have made the suggestion, Jean deserves the credit for its present shape. She did a lot of research and is one of the pioneers with regards to this approach. She brought narrative inquiry to the U of A,” says Horowitz who traveled from Victoria to attend the celebration.
Tuesday table topics over the years have included pre-service teacher education, teacher development, teachers’ lives, nursing education, working with children, inclusive education, teacher knowledge, narrative inquiry as methodology, service learning, material culture, principals’ lives, school reform and change, different forms of representation and visual narrative inquiry.
According to Horowitz, what makes the Tuesday tables unique is their interdisciplinary aspect. “What makes the Tuesday tables particularly valuable is that this is not only a coming together of people interested in educational research, but people from different parts of the university who are doing very different things.” Cheryl Craig, ’92 PhD, Professor and Coordinator of the Teaching and Teacher Education
Drs. Myer Horowitz and Jean Clandinin share a moment during CRTED’s 15th year celebration. Program area at the University of Houston says the experience played a pivotal role in her future as an academic. “My experience at the Tuesday table was a profound part of my academic preparation. I learned both to develop my voice and to listen to the voices of others,” says Craig. ”Under the leadership of Jean Clandinin, CRTED has become one of the premier centres for teacher education and development in the world.” Over 80 scholars from across Canada and the world returned to the table to tell their stories and listen to those of their colleagues and friends. The celebration included an announcement of the Myer Horowitz Endowment Fund which will support the work of the Centre on an ongoing basis and will foster new initiatives in research in teacher education.
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Alumni
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Over the past number of months we have had the privilege to attend or host alumni events in Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, Lethbridge and Calgary. We are very excited and proud of the work our branch associations are doing and we encourage you to take part in branch events in your area. Branch and event information can be found at www.ualberta.ca/alumni. 6
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Upcoming Alumni Events For more information about alumni events, contact the Office of Alumni Affairs by phone at 780.492.3224 or (toll-free in North America) 1.800.661.2593 or by email at alumni@ualberta.ca. For Faculty of Education alumni events, contact Asheley Cowie, Alumni Relations Officer by phone at 780.492.9404 or by email at asheley.cowie@ualberta.ca.
June 6, 7, 13, 14 Everyday Computing Basics Cameron Library 10:00am-3:00pm Cost: $40/person Contact: Angela Tom at 780.492.1835 or alumni@ualberta.ca
June 18-22 Sea kayak/camping trip for students and young alumni Cost: $927.50 Contact: Chloe Chalmers at 780.492-7726 or chloe.chalmers@ualberta.ca
Notes
Margaret Molloy, ’41 BA, ’45 BEd, writes, “I retired from Harry Ainlay High School in 1976 having taught first at Bonnie Doon. I moved to Victoria in 1987 and have enjoyed the past 19 years tremendously. I am now in a retirement home for well seniors.”
Ronald Rhine, ’49 BEd, ’65 MEd, writes, “In 2005-2006, I organized, with the assistance of others such as Marilyn Resler, an Okanagan Branch of the Alberta Retired Teachers’ Association. There are two locals at present: one in Kelowna which includes Westbank and Peachland, and one in Oliver, which includes others from Okanagan Falls, Penticton or elsewhere. Any Alberta retired teacher may apply to join. Email me for information, if desired, at rhineron@yahoo.ca.”
Charles Goulet, ’54 Dip(Ed), ’59 BEd, ’65 BA, has been retired since 1985 and now writes historical novels based on Canadian history. To date, seven have been published: The Isle of Demons; The Godmother; Little Snowbird; Alberta: The First Man; The Venturers; The Traders; and The Raiders. The last three are part of a series, The Marin Family Chronicles, that tell the story of the Marin family who first came to Canada, then New France, in 1670. Charles now lives in Evansburg, AB, where he continues to write and enjoy the wildlife of the area.
M Grace Mersereau, ’54 BEd, ’63 MEd, is now residing in Victoria, BC, and is a member of the International Professionals of “Who’s Who” for her contribution to education in Alberta. Her special interests include travel, duplicate bridge and playwriting.
Wayne Hong Wai Mar, ’73 BEd, ’75 BCom, retired in January after 29 years of teaching in Edmonton. He will be moving to Burnaby, BC, and hopes to find a part-time teaching position with their school district.
Wayne Madden, ’74 BEd, of Fort McMurray, AB, writes, “During the summer of 2006, I took a tour of Europe, primarily London and Scandinavia. This was my second time in Europe. Now I am preparing for retirement in 2007 or 2008.”
Dana Hamilton (Martinson, Tolchard), ’76 BEd, is retiring in June 2007 after teaching for 32 years – 26 years in Olds and six years in Edmonton. She says, “Life is busy with five grown children and eight grandchildren so far.” She plans on doing a lot of traveling with her husband, Vern.
Christine L Kulyk, ’76 BEd, ’77 BA, writes, “After residing in Ontario for 20 years, I am now back in the West, enjoying life in the beautiful prairie city of Saskatoon, where I’m continuing my career as a freelance writer and editor. My latest endeavour has been co-authoring and editing an educational resource titled Saskatoon’s Stone: A Guided Tour of the Geology and History of Stone Architecture in Saskatoon, in honour of this city’s centennial year.”
Eugene J Miller, ’76 MEd, recently retired after serving various communities as a superintendent of schools for over 26 years. His retirement plans include piano lessons, volunteer service, and some contract work with schools and government agencies.
Kathryn Campbell, ’77 BEd, ’84 MEd, ’94 PhD, writes, “I was an Assistant Professor
Longtime U of A Golden Bears coach Clare Drake, ’58 BEd, ’95 LLD(Hon), Professor Emeritus of Physical Education and Sports Studies, recently received the prestigious Geoff Gowan Award from the Coaching Association of Canada.
in upstate New York (State University of New York) and a distance educator in northern Manitoba before joining the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta in 1996 where I am currently the Associate Dean.”
Children’s author Glen Huser, ’70 BEd, ’89 MA, a former instructor of library and information studies and a former creative writing instructor in elementary education at the U of A, has been short-listed for his latest book, Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen, for the 2006 Governor General’s Literary Awards. Huser won the 2003 Governor General’s Award for his young adult novel, Stitches.
Reverend Philip J Creed, ’78 PhD, writes from Australia, “May I thank you for the fall edition of The Orange. Your reunion photos showed me several familiar faces and I caught up with news of a colleague now retiring in Sydney. I also found the account of teaching in northern Alberta very interesting. I took early retirement as Director, Policy and Planning, in the State Education Department of Victoria in 1989 and became an ordained Minister in the Uniting Church in Australia.
I have since formally retired, but still respond to calls for supply ministry. Currently, I am supervising a candidate in a field placement. Once a teacher, always a teacher!”
James McNamara, ’79 BEd, ’86 Dip(Ed), was recently appointed superintendent of schools for St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Schools, based in Leduc, AB.
Josephine (Jo) Milne-Home, ’80 MEd, ’88 PhD, recently received a national award for excellence in tertiary teaching from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. She was recognized for her work on strategies to enhance student engagement at the University of Western Sydney in Australia.
Philip Lagrandeur, ’82 BA, ’84 BEd, authored the book We Flew, We Fell, We Lived: Second World War Stories from RCAF Prisoners of War and Evaders. Forty Canadian officers and men from Bomber Command offer their personal accounts of the German treatment of allied air force personnel and the organization of PoW camps. The notorious Great Escape is covered in detail, based on the testimony of several of the Canadians involved.
Gail Sidonie Sobat, ’83 BEd, ’91 MA, authored the final installment of her Ingamald fantasy trilogy A Glass Darkly. Ingamald and her young charge, Yda, step through the mirror and search the land of Gyldden for a solution to the problem of their own frozen land.
Dan Cavanagh, ’87 BEd, received the 2006 Alberta Excellence in Teaching Award, was named principal of the year by the Greater Edmonton Regional Council of School Administrators, and the school where he is principal – Anne Fitzgerald Elementary Catholic School – was named one of Canada’s Top 40 schools by Today’s Parent magazine in September 2005.
William Tagis, ’90 MEd, writes from Papua New Guinea: “I am a 1990 MEd graduate from the university, went to the University of Minnesota to pursue a doctoral degree in higher education policy and administration, graduated in 2002 and now I am the Director General for the Office of Higher Education, which is the state department responsible for higher education, research, science and technology in Papua New Guinea. I had a wonderful time at U of A, resided at Pembina Hall, holidayed in the Rocky Mountains and visited Regina and Saskatoon.”
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Mark Gierl, ’91 BA, ’93 MEd, of Edmonton, received the U of A Martha Cook Piper Research Prize in recognition of his outstanding promise as a researcher so early in his career. Mark is a Canada Research Chair in Educational Measurement and the Director of the Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and Evaluation at the University.
Education Alumni in Peru
Jacqueline Leighton, ’93 BA, ’95 MEd, ’99 PhD, an associate professor with the Department of Educational Psychology is the Canadian Centre for Research on Literacy Research Fellow for 2007-2008. Dr. Leighton’s plan is to survey the assessment literacy (beliefs, knowledge and practices) among secondary teachers using a research questionnaire. This research will contribute significantly to the work of CCRL and to our understanding of assessment.
Brent Allen, ’94 BEd, writes “Moving on from a distinguished career in HIV/AIDS education and health promotion I am finishing my Masters in Social Health at the University of Melbourne investigating the social determinants of successful ageing strategies for people living with a chronic illness. I am Vice-President of the National Association of People Living with HIV/ AIDS (Australia) and working as the Manager of Community Services for a local government area in county Victoria. I am now a dual citizen (Canadian/Australian) and an outspoken advocate for an arts education as foundational in the development of those who can successfully deploy creative problem solving skills across multiple disciplines from science/technology, medicine, education and the arts - it’s what you do with what you learn that makes a difference. Be brave, confront challenge and do not stand for the status quo.
Elizabeth (Liza) Sunley, ’96 BEd, has been volunteering over the past few years to promote education and to raise funds for ovarian cancer treatment. As a volunteer with the National Ovarian Cancer Association, Liza has shared her experiences as a survivor of ovarian cancer. “It is now my personal mission to use my skills to make others aware of ovarian cancer since it has extremely vague symptoms and is relatively rare compared to diseases that receive more profile.” Liza chaired the organizing committee for the inaugural Wake Up Canada! ovarian cancer awareness breakfast benefiting Ovarian Cancer Canada in 2005 and again in 2006. “I am very proud that Edmonton is one of only three cities in Canada to host the breakfast.”
This past January a number of Education alumni traveled to Peru as part of the U of A Alumni Association’s Learning on Location Travel Program. Highlights included tours of Lima, Cuzco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. Pictured in the photo taken at Machu Picchu: Back row, l-r: Madeline Davidson, ’73 BEd; Don Massey, ’65 BEd; Kathryn Buchanan, ’52 BA, ’60 BEd, ’81 MEd, ’92 Dip(Ed); Hugh Phillips, ’66 BA, ’70 BEd; Lorna Kramer (University Facilitator at Ross Sheppard High School); Dale Albrecht, ’76 BEd. Front row, l-r: Faye Douglas Phillips, ’70 BSc(HomeEc), ’74 Dip(Ed), ’74 BEd; Jackie Symbaluk, ’90 BEd; Doreen Pritchett, ’72 Dip(Ed); Judy Lupart, ’72 BEd, ’78 MEd, ’81 PhD.
Rebecca Fluet, ’98 BEd, is currently living
Kevin Delorey, ’02 BEd, writes, “In May,
in Barrhead, AB, where she teaches at the Barrhead Outreach Centre. She is enjoying the challenges and rewards alternative education brings. She has taken an active role in making the Outreach Education Council the latest of the ATA Specialist Councils and is currently serving as the Vice President. “I have two children, my daughter Alyssandra is 7 and my son Jayden is 3. So life is busy.”
I completed a Master of Arts - Integrated Studies specializing in community studies from Athabasca University. I was a Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research Graduate Student Fellow – Centre for Distance Education at Athabasca University. Recently, I became the Director of Community Learning Centres for Northern Lakes College in Peace River, AB.”
After teaching in Edmonton for a year and a half, Monica Chahal, ’99 BSc Env/Cons Sci, ’01 BEd, moved to London, England. She has been teaching science in an inner city boys’ school for the past four years. “I am currently working to get my British teaching qualifications and I am studying at the Institute of Education trying to complete a Masters in Education Policy.”
Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools, recently spent a week volunteering in Austin, Minnesota, to help new immigrants improve their English language and study skills. Val worked primarily with three- to seven-year-olds. The volunteer program was coordinated by Global Volunteers based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Diane Conrad, ’01 MEd, ’04 PhD, a drama professor in the Department Of Secondary Education, won the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) 2006 Aurora Prize for her vision in the transformative potential of drama in the education of incarcerated youth. Awarded to Canada’s most promising up-and-coming research stars, the prize is given to scholars who are building a reputation for exciting and original work in the social sciences and humanities.
Valerie Brandham, ’03 BEd, a teacher with
Roberta Waldner, ’07 MEd, writes, “I am currently working in Udhailiyah, Saudi Arabia. It is one of four schools owned and operated by Saudi Aramco Oil. I’m teaching Middle School Language Arts and Social Studies. This is the first year in Saudi Arabia for me and my family. Previously, we lived in Antofagasta, Chile for six years and I taught at the Antofagasta International School there. I earned my BEd and BA at the University of Saskatchewan in 1990 and 1991 respectively, and in December of 2006, I completed my MEd in Teacher Librarianship at the U of A.”
Weekend 2007
SEPTEMBER 27-30
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 5:30 pm The Winspear Centre Cost: Free
Reunion Dinner Cocktails at 6:00pm; Dinner at 7:00pm Shaw Conference Centre, Hall D Dress: Semi-formal Cost: To be confirmed
Saturday, September 29 Faculty of Education: Celebrating 65 Years
Sunday, September 30 President’s Breakfast
10:00am-1:00pm 4th Floor Lounge, Education North Building Cost: Free 10:00am: Welcome from the Dean, Dr. Fern Snart 11:30am: Lunch
Breakfast (Exclusive to alumni who graduated in ’57 or earlier) 9:00am-noon Shaw Conference Centre, Hall D Cost: Free
Thursday, September 27 Alumni Recognition Awards
For Faculty event details, please contact Asheley Cowie, Alumni Relations Officer Phone: 780.492.9404 E-mail: asheley.cowie@ualberta.ca
Campus Tour 12:30pm-1:30pm Join the campus walking or bus tour to see how campus has changed since you graduated.
For University event details, please contact Colleen Elliott, Coordinator Alumni Special Events Phone: 780.492.0866 or toll free 1.800.661.2593 E-mail: colleen.elliott@ualberta.ca
Empey Lecture 1:30pm-3:30pm TELUS Centre Cost: Free
Where are you now? What’s new? What are you doing?
Class
Notes
Share your news with us, and we will include your update in the class notes section of the next Orange!
Name: Degree and Year: Street Address: City:
Province:
Postal Code:
q Check if new address
Telephone:
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Notes:
E-mail, fax or post this information to education.alumni@ualberta.ca Fax: 780.492.0155 4-107 Education North Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5
The personal information requested on this form is collected under the authority of Section 33 (c) of the Alberta “Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act” for the purposes of updating and maintaining donor/alumni records. Questions concerning the collection, use or disposal of this information should be directed to: Manager, Prospect Research, Advancement Services, 6-41 GSB, University of Alberta, Canada T6G 2H1
PAGE
Reunion
THE ORANGE I SPRING 2007
021
Announcing the
Education Generations Project The Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta has built a national and international reputation for excellence and our graduates exemplify creativity, innovation and teaching distinction. We are very proud of this incredible legacy of excellence built by many generations of Education alumni. The Faculty’s heritage includes many families with multiple Education graduates, ranging from grandparents, parents, spouses, siblings or children. We are excited to announce our Education Generations Wall to recognize these families, and we invite all Education families to participate, at no cost. Families will be represented on the Generations Wall which will be unveiled on Friday, September 19, 2008 as a part of the University of Alberta’s Centenary Homecoming Weekend.
John Smith
Rebecca Smith
2000 BEd
2005 MEd
Jane Smith
1950 MEd, 1955 PhD
Firstname Lastname
Firstname Lastname
If two or more members or generations of your family are Education graduates and you would like to have your family recognized on the Education Generations Wall, please fill out the form on the following page or email your family information to: edgenerations@ualberta.ca. Please include all of the information indicated on the form.
Firstname Lastnam
F
Firstname Lastnam
EducationGenerations PROJECT
F A M I LY P A R T I C I P A T I O N F O R M First Name: Surname (Married/Maiden): Title:
Degree 1 Route:
Year Earned:
Year Earned:
Year Earned:
Degree 2 Route:
Degree 3 Route:
Contact Information: Current Mailing Address:
Email: Telephone:
Family: Please include details of family members’ names, graduation details, their relationship to you, and their email address or phone number.
Questions? Please contact Diana White at 780.492.4742, or send a message to edgenerations@ualberta.ca E-mail, fax or post this information to edgenerations@ualberta.ca Fax: 780.492.0155 4-107 Education North Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40063579 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Dept. Office of External Relations Faculty of Education University of Alberta 4-107 Education North Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5
Help Support our Students’ Dreams It’s not easy being a student today. Students in the Faculty of Education juggle family, work and other responsibilities outside the classroom. Without scholarships and bursaries to support them, many of our students would never realize their dreams. By supporting scholarships and bursaries you are investing in our students and helping them become the teachers they dream to be. For further information, please contact: Michele Shea, Director of External Relations Faculty of Education, 4-107 Education North Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5 Tel: 780.492.3680 Fax: 780.492.0155
✁ I wish to make a gift of: q $250 Payment:
q $150
q $50
q $25
q Other________
q Visa q Mastercard q Cheque (enclosed) made out to the University of Alberta
Name (please print): Credit Card Number: Expiry Date: Cardholder Signature: Please direct my gift to: q Education Alumni Scholarship Endowment Fund q Teachers of Tomorrow Fund (provides funding for projects that will foster continued advancements in teaching and research) q Education Student Support Fund (provides bursaries to students in financial need) q School of Library & Information Studies Alumni Scholarship Endowment q Other: ______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________
q I would like information on how to establish a scholarship or bursary in the Faculty of Education q I would like information on including the Faculty of Education in my will q I have already provided for the Faculty of Education in my will Endowment: Generally refers to donations made to the University on the understanding that the capital or principal amount of the donation (the “contribution”) will be invested in perpetuity with the investment earnings used to advance specified educational purposes of the University. The original capital remains intact.
Please return to: Office of the Dean Faculty of Education University of Alberta 845 Education South Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G5
EDO