Tidings Summer 2002 by University of King's College

Tidings

The University of Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College Alumni Magazine

FYP: The next generation Alexandra Society bids farewell New chancellor Michael Meighen

Summer 2002

ALUMNI MARKETPLACE 13

4 1

16 LIMITED

SWEATSHIRTS

GOLF SHIRTS

Available in crew neck ($42.00), polo ($53.00), zip ($53.00) or hooded ($60) 7 Colours are Forest Sand, Navy, Navy Sand, Burgundy Sand, & Grey

100% Cotton Golf Shirts available in White and Navy ($38.00).

King’s pens (Bic Metal Rollers) with King’s crest ($2.75).

the A&A Bldg. ($80.50).

SHORTS

(Not shown) Flannel boxer shorts available in Black Watch and Dress Stewart ($19.50).

KING’S

DEGREE FRAMES

NOTECARDS

TOQUES

ALUMNI T-SHIRTS (Not shown) 100% Cotton T-Shirts available in Forest Sand, Navy Sand and Teal Sand ($10.00).

100% COTTON T-SHIRTS 6

MINI PHOTO ALBUM

SCARVES AND TIES

BALL CAPS

Scarves bearing King’s crown and St. Andrew’s cross ($19.50). Men’s ties of silk/polyester (not shown) bearing same design ($23.00).

Pin with University Crest ($6.00). Alumni Pin ($9.00) (not shown).

Mini Photo Album (Navy) ($12.00).

EUROFLEECE 1/4 ZIP

Hats available in Tartan, Forest Green and Navy ($15.50).

KEY CHAINS

Navy with White, university logo on left chest ($80.00)

T-SHIRTS (Not shown)

Long sleeve T-Shirts ($15.00).

100% Silk Ties striped with King’s crest ($43.00).

CAR DECALS (Not shown)

ENVIRO MUGS

University car window decals ($2.50)

Navy with “King’s” embroidered in White ($15.00).

LAPEL PINS

EDITION PRINT

9 Peter Bresnen’s watercolour of

Ceramic coffee mugs ($10.00). Ceramic beer steins ($23.00).

Pewter Key Chains with University Logo ($12.00).

SILK TIES

MUGS (Not shown) AND BEER STEINS 2

Same image as 9 Blank notecards featuring a print of the watercolor by Peter Bresnen ($1.15 each).

Available in Navy Sand and white with University Logo full front or on left chest ($17.50). 8

PENS

STAINLESS STEEL TRAVEL MUGS 15 With King’s crest in Navy ($18.00)

Gold metal frame, blue matte and King’s College crest embossed in gold at the bottom: BJ, BJH, BA, & BSc prior to 1994, 18 x 24 ($75.00); BA & BSc from 1995 and BJ & BJH from 1996, 15 x 18 ($65.00). Dark wood frame, blue and gold double matte and King’s College crest embossed in gold at bottom: BA & BSc from 1995 and BJ & BJH from 1996, 15 x 18 ($85.00). Italian wood, triple blue matte with King’s College crest embossed in gold at bottom: BA & BSc from 1995 and BJ & BJH from 1996, 15 x18 ($155.00)

BACKPACKS Briefcase bags available in Navy/ Green and Black ($50.00) 1 and Navy backpacks ($40.00) 17

SWEATPANTS

(Not shown) Available in Navy Sand ($42.00)

Recyclable coffee mugs ($5.00).

FOR MORE INFORMATION or to order any of the above items, contact Jen Laurette in the Alumni and Public Relations Office at 422-1271, ext. 128. Cheque, VISA or MasterCard accepted. Cheques should be made payable to the Alumni Association, University of King’s College, Halifax, NS, B3H 2A1. Prices include HST. Shipping is extra.

Tidings

Summer 2002

Inside 5

COVER STORY

ON CAMPUS

16 FYP: The next generation Their parents were in the very first FYP class. So is it destiny that they’re here 30 years later? They say no.

Florence Yoon is King’s newest Rhodes Scholar Demographic boom tests university’s resources Students warm to New Academic Building

ALUMNI PROFILE

19 Stephen Hart: Family physician of the year Organ donation is only the latest cause for dynamic N.B. physician.

Classroom names to get some character J-school expands offerings 500 students affected by strike Construction begins on link to New Academic Building

22 KING’S PEOPLE

ENCAENIA 2002

27 New chancellor has strong ties to King’s

Jone Mitchell misses students, but finds new challenges at MSVU New EMSP prof enjoying Kings’ intellectually ‘ambitious’ students

The Hon. Michael Meighen has interests in fundraising, programme development.

25 ENCAENIA 2002 Encaenia in photos Honorary degree recipients

COVER: First-year students Eva Holland and Adam Hardiman. Story on page 16. Photo: Michael Creagen

Summer 2002

Tidings

Letters

Tidings Summer 2002

Retain Anglican heritage To the Editor: I have read, with my usual interest, the Winter 2002 copy of Tidings. However, I was saddened to read that your new vice-president’s greatest challenge was “the shedding some of the legacy of being an Anglican college.” How very politically correct. As far as I know, students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds have always been welcome at King’s. Do they not have the option, if they feel exceptionally out cast or anti-religious, of attending Dalhousie but also taking courses at King’s? One ought not to infer too much from a few sentences but one senses that the heritage of the Anglican Church is a drag!

✁

Ms. Edwards does not indicate what part of that legacy she deems worthy of preservation. She claims demographics is the biggest problem facing King’s in the next few years but I suggest procuring a faculty capable of teaching people to think is the most urgent priority. Can we expect to see Saint Mary’s, Mt. Allison, Acadia And Mount St. Vincent all shed their past connections? Perhaps, on the other hand they are able to welcome all comers, all races and even feel that they have something, beyond secular values to give them. Ursula Vondette West Vancouver

Managing Editor Tim Currie (BJ ’92) Address letters to: Tidings c/o Alumni Association University of King’s College Halifax, NS Canada B3H 2A1 Alumni and Public Bev Mahon Relations Officer: King’s Web site: www.ukings.ns.ca

This issue of Tidings was written by third-year students in the Bachelor of Journalism Honours programme, and students in the one-year Bachelor of

What’s

New?

Have you changed jobs? Are you moving?

Journalism programme. Tidings is produced on behalf of the University of King’s College

Have you married recently?

Alumni Association. We welcome your feedback

Send us your news and we will pass it along to your classmates in our next issue. Mail it to the address at right, e-mail: jen.laurette@ukings.ns.ca, or enter it on the Web at: <http://www.ukings.ns.ca/for/alumni/alumni.htm> NAME

(MAIDEN NAME AT KING’S)

on each issue. Letters to the Editor should be signed and typed. We reserve the right to edit all submissions.

DEGREE (EG. BA ’63) OR YEARS AT KING’S

HOME PHONE

The views expressed in Tidings

E-MAIL ADDRESS

are those of the individual ADDRESS

contributors or sources.

YOUR NEWS

Mailed under Canada Post Publications Mail Sales Agreement No. 1493094

Tidings

Summer 2002

OnCampus ‘You can’t fake passion,’ says King’s newest Rhodes Scholar Florence Yoon will continue studies in classics at Oxford By Sonja Koenig Florence Yoon talks with her hands. The entire time she sits at a table in the Wardroom she keeps gesturing for emphasis. But her words need little help. Yoon is direct and articulate. Not unsurprising for a woman, who at 20, is a Rhodes Scholar. “Everyone at King’s is so happy for me,” she says. “They all said they knew I would get it. No one is surprised.” No one, it seems, but Yoon herself. She still doesn’t understand what really distinguished her from the 10 other people who made it to the final interview. Her pages and pages of academic achievements and extra circular activities are impressive — a full page is required to list what she received during her King’s days alone. But, says Yoon, “All the finalists all have the same stuff. It’s like the committee is looking for some ‘indefinable’ quality and they just know it when they see it.” Whatever it is, they saw it in Yoon. She was selected from 40 Maritime applicants for the award. She is the 22nd student to receive the award while at King’s. She will begin studying for her Master’s degree in classics at Oxford in October. The award is considered a mark of prestige and viewed as a distinguished achievement by graduate schools and employers.

Summer 2002

Rhodes Scholarships were created by British nobleman and statesman Cecil Rhodes upon his death in 1902. They aimed to enable students from Commonwealth countries and the United States to spend two to three years studying at Oxford University. Candidates are judged on intellectual ability, character (integrity and compassion for others), fondness for and success in sports, and instincts to lead. Yoon had never considered the award until she was nominated at the beginning of her third year by Dalhousie’s English department. Although she declined at the time, when she was nominated again in her fourth year by the classics department she felt ready to accept. It is something she has, unknowingly, spent most of her life preparing for. Born and raised in Halifax, Yoon is the youngest of four children of a psychologist/neuroscientist father and a violinist mother. She started playing the violin when she was three. “Music is a consuming part of my life,” she says. After school when the other kids were playing and going to each other’s houses, Yoon was going home to practise and do her homework. “It was just the way it was,” she says. “I don’t feel I missed out on anything.” She says her family has been the most influential force in her life.

Tidings

“We’ve always been close, “ she says. “They did everything in their power to support me.” Yoon’s older sister was a finalist for a Rhodes scholarship several years ago. But unlike her siblings who have all pursued careers in medicine and computer science, Yoon knew from the time she was young that her passion lay elsewhere. “I heard my first Greek myth when I was seven,” she says hands gesturing in excitement. “It was in one of those kids’ storybooks — and I just loved the way those stories were told.” That passion is the thing Yoon feels is most important in pursuing any ambition. “I think that is what a lot of people miss,” she says. “You can have talent and work hard, but if you don’t have passion for what you are doing, you can’t fake it.”

“Music is a consuming part of my life,” says Florence Yoon. Photo: Sonja Koenig

Continued on next page

OnCampus

‘I can’t rest on it. It’s not enough.’ Calendar of Events

Continued from previous page

After she started at King’s she realized the demands of her music were competing with the demands of university. She decided to do music less and other things more. “As an instrumentalist you always have this need to protect your fingers. Suddenly that wasn’t there,” she says. “It’s like my fingers were free for the first time.” Yoon took up rowing, fencing, judo and tae kwon do. She credits the King’s community with helping develop her leadership potential. She has been involved in as many as 15 different clubs and societies, taking a leadership role in many of them. She also started a choir. But the contribution that excites her the most was through her involvement with the King’s Theatrical Society presentation of “Classics in the Quad.” Yoon volunteered to direct a play. After she began reading it in Greek, she decided to translate it and

act out her translation. “It was amazing,” she says. While she would love to pursue a career in teaching she also confesses a love for translation. Whatever she does, she wants to share her passion for classics. “The point is not to preserve something dead, “ she says. “The point is to keep it alive, keep it breathing.” It is hard to imagine anyone who is familiar with six languages feeling behind about anything. Yoon has studied English, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian, German and of course Greek and Latin. While she recognizes the value of her award, she says she can’t count on it to carry her through life. “It’s not a cause,” she says, hands emphatic. “It’s an effect. It is not so much an accomplishment as the result of accomplishments. It’s an extra shine on me, but I can’t rest on it. It’s not enough. It will never be enough.”

Aug. 13 King’s Classic Golf Tournament Granite Springs Golf Club Aug. 18 Class of ‘72 30-year Reunion 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Senior Common Room Sept. 25 Brian Flemming Lecture FYP Lecture Hall. Speaker to be announced

Please call the Alumni Office for further details (902) 422-1271 ext. 128

Students protest rising tuition About 150 King’s students took part in the Day of Action for affordable education on Feb. 6. The students began the protest in the King’s quad, eventually joining an estimated 2,000 other students at a rally outside the Nova Scotia legislature. Nova Scotia students already pay the highest tuition in Canada, at an average $4,700 per year — $1,300 higher than the national average. In May, King’s and Dalhousie raised tuition eight per cent for the 2002-2003 academic year. Photo: Tim Currie

Tidings

Summer 2002

OnCampus

Demographic boom tests university’s resources Out-of-province enrolment on the rise By Jennifer Stewart Foundation Year’s growing reputation and the allure of studying in Nova Scotia seem to be rubbing off on Upper Canadians. Over the last few years there has been a steady rise in the numbers of out-ofprovince students, especially those from Ontario. King’s Admissions Liaison Officer Karl Turner says even though the school’s recruiters don’t travel out west very often, student applications from the rest of Canada are on the rise. Out-of-province students made up 57.1 per cent of FYP enrolment this year, up from 54.7 per cent last year. Students from Ontario high schools made up the largest component of that — 39.2 per cent of enrolment this year, compared to 36.7 per cent last year. Just this year the Foundation Year Programme increased its class number to 270 students — the highest ever. “Ontario students are drooling over an East Coast education,” Turner says. “They’re actually in awe of our universities.” The change prompted the university to hastily erect new residence rooms in the basement of Alexandra Hall last summer. But it still needed to lease 18 residence rooms from a Dalhousie residence in Gerard Hall at the corner of Morris and Queen streets because it couldn’t provide rooms on campus. In past years, King’s often opened its residences to

Summer 2002

“

Ontario students are drooling over an East Coast education.” – King’s Admissions Liaison Officer Karl Turner

Dalhousie students in an effort to fill rooms. Kings’ Registrar Elizabeth Yeo anticipates the increase in Ontario applications will continue in the next few years, especially with the so-called “double cohort” expected to peak next year as Ontario phases out its Grade 13. Two grades will graduate together in 2003, potentially doubling the number of Ontario students entering Canadian universities. Yeo says the university has formed an enrolment management committee to monitor changes in student demographics. Contrary to what many students believe, there is no university policy guaranteeing out-of-province stu-

Tidings

dents a room in residence, so many incoming King’s students may be faced with an unprecedented problem of finding a place to live for first year. Yeo hopes the university will be able to help students avoid this setback. King’s is already busy completing renovations to Alexandra Hall, relocating the alumni office and completing the lower level’s transition to a residence-only floor. Despite any problems the rise in out-of-province students has created, Yeo feels the change is healthy for both the students and the school. “Having diversity in the population is a good thing,” Yeo says. “It provides the community with expo-

Nova Scotia universities expect an enrolment boom over the next few years, due in part to Ontario’s phasing out of Grade 13 next year. Photo: Michael Creagen

Continued on next page

OnCampus

‘Diversity is a good thing’

click with these programs, no matter where they’re from.”

Continued from previous page

This year’s King’s Students’ Union President Dave Hare says he has noticed the increase in the number of out-of-province students, but he doesn’t feel it’s a bad thing. “Because Kings is such an old school, it would be nice to retain the local population, the history and the characteristics of King’s,”

sure to different aspects of Canadian culture, and even other parts of the world. And especially when you look at Kings’ programs, they’re so discussion-based that the diversity brings so many new ideas. We’re working to attract students who

Dalhousie residence Gerard Hall housed 18 King’s students this year.

“King’s character is strong”

‘Lonely’ experience for students in downtown residence By Myra Hyland It’s early January and Jill McTiernan gazes out her window at the quad and smiles. The first-year King’s student lives in a crowded, secondfloor residence room with a roommate. Pictures and posters hang off the walls, every available surface is covered with clothing and knickknacks, and the sun shines warmly in the window onto all the clutter. She couldn’t be happier. McTiernan was originally one of 18 students who didn’t get into residence at King’s this year. Because of heavy demand for rooms, the university found them homes in a Dalhousie residence — downtown Gerard Hall — at Queen and Morris streets. Some who ended up there say it wasn’t an ideal location. A few, such as McTiernan, even made the jump from a beautiful, big, single room with a sink and a great view of the harbour, to the King’s campus. “Gerard Hall sounded really exciting at first,” McTiernan says. “But you can feel really segregated down there. It’s kind of far away, and you get almost an isolated feeling.” Matt Gardener, a first-year King’s journalism student who also ended up at Gerard, agrees.

he says. “But it’s always nice to attract students from other provinces, and other countries as well. “Any sort of change will affect King’s personality, but its character is so strong, it could never change completely:” Hare himself came from Toronto in 1999 to take the Foundation Year, and is now working toward a major in philosophy He says King’s has a small community feeling — and that’s what is important to him

Tidings

“The reason I came to King’s was to be part of King’s,” he says, “and it was really hard for us to be part of King’s here. I was one of those people who was excited that we were going to have things like formal meals,” he says, laughing. “The whole idea of getting to wear robes and have sherry with the president was intriguing to me.” But he feels he missed out on many such things because he lived in Gerard Hall. Gardener offers a telling example of how Gerard students felt excluded: When they were at a day students’ party, they had to pay the same price as residence students. But at the Christmas dinner, they had to pay the same price as the day students. In essence, he says, they weren’t really day students or residence students. Dean of Residence Kelley Castle says the university did what it could to include the Gerard Hall students in King’s life. She says the fact that King’s was able to provide the rooms on short notice — even though they were off campus — indicates the university’s efforts to accommodate them. Gerard Hall was a last resort, taken after other measures to house more students on campus came up short, Castle explains. The universi-

Summer 2002

OnCampus and his friends. Interdisciplinary programmes promoted The administration is working hard to strike a balance between accessibility and diversity within the university. Yeo says King’s has not established an optimum mix of students for the university (King’s does not have quotas for students, based on geography). But the university clearly believes one of its primary

ty built 14 more rooms in the basement of the women’s residence, Alexandra Hall, increasing the number of beds to 260. This, Castle says, is a fairly big increase for a small school — but it wasn’t quite enough. “We had a lot of people apply this year for residence, and more from outside Halifax Regional Municipality. Dalhousie kindly offered us some residence rooms in Gerard Hall. We knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but we considered it infinitely better to offer something other than just ‘Find an apartment in Halifax.’” While Gardener and McTiernan are grateful for having a place to live, they say the drawbacks often outweighed the benefits. Although Castle fought to get Gerard students lunch at King’s during the week, it didn’t provide supper, an inconvenience on nights with scheduled play rehearsals or sports team practices. This made it hard to be part of extra-curricular life at King’s. And, while the students living in Gerard Hall paid less for a single room, Gardener says they were stuck paying more for Internet access and a mini fridge. “We’re always helping each other out” “It’s just much easier up here academically,” McTiernan says from her room in Alexandra Hall. “We have midterm study sessions and oral exam study sessions, and we’re always helping each other out and editing papers. We’re always exchanging papers and stuff.” Gardener agrees. He found the

Summer 2002

missions is educating Nova Scotia students. “Locally, King’s is well-recognized for FYP and journalism,” says Yeo. “We are now working to increase awareness of our upper-level interdisciplinary programmes and new options for journalism students such as the combined honours and the minor in journalism.” The registrar’s office has taken steps to encourage Nova Scotia students to consider King’s in its high school visits, recruitment materials,

library and other resources far away. Once, he says, he even had a late paper because he didn’t get to school in time — something he feels never would have happened if he lived on campus. Although Gardener and McTiernan complain, they say that it’s not all as bad as it sounds, and Castle hopes there will be no need for King’s students to live in Gerard Hall next year. The university residences are expanding into the rest of Alexandra Hall’s basement, and there should be about a 10 per cent increase in rooms in total. These 25 rooms should help to accommodate everyone who wants to live on campus and Castle feels the King’s population likely won’t grow significantly in the near future. As for this year’s Gerard Hall students, Castle says they can’t have minded living downtown so much. “The deal I made with them in the beginning was that if we had people who dropped out of residence (at King’s), I would go in order of their applications to Gerard Hall and ask them if they’d like to move here. In fact, when we had empty rooms, most of them didn’t want to move because they were already settled in. So they at least liked it enough that they wanted to stay there and not move.” Gardener says he hopes to live on campus, in the Roost, next year. “I think King’s lost out on 18 students who could have played a lot more of an active role at King’s,” he says. “That’s 18 people who missed contributing to the community.”

Tidings

and in promoting journalism scholarships for black and Mi’kmaq students. Both Yeo and Turner agree that at this point, the university’s main concern is providing high schools and students with the proper information for them to make an informed decision about the university they will attend and the programme they will enrol in. “This is a time of growth and change and opportunity,” Yeo says. “We have to make sure we take advantage of that.”

King’s Classic Golf Tournament Granite Springs Golf Club, Halifax, Aug. 13, 2002 Support your Alumni Association while you stroll the golf links this August!

Your $125 ticket includes: Steak dinner One round of golf at Granite Springs Great prizes Contact the Alumni Office for more information (902) 422-1271, ext. 128 Dinner tickets are also available for spouses and friends. 9

UNIVERSITY OF KING’S COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES AND SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2002 (Unaudited) Budget 2002 $

Actual 200 $

Actual 2001 $

8,100 10,500

16,864 4,295

9,312 5,305

18,600

21,159

14,617

2,200 20,000 12,500 2,000 8,500 100

4,841 19,925 14,361 2,088 7,156 167

2,481 19,950 12,201 1,653 8,078 586

45,300

48,538

44,949

63,900

69,697

59,566

9,550 2,000 6,000

14,175 2,000 -

17,550

16,175

18,000 100 2,000 11,000 1,500 5,000 100 1,800 900 3,000 1,000 250 4,000

16,000 100 2,193 9,920 1,705 4,655 46 1,550 475 2,099 222

16,000 100 2,115 10,010 1,317 4,809 48 1,935 711 392 50 3,605

48,650

41,850

41,092

TOTAL EXPENDITURES

66,200

59,400

57,267

EXCESS OF RECEIPTS OVER EXPENDITURES SURPLUS - BEGINNING OF YEAR SURPLUS - END OF YEAR

(2,300)

10,297 267,004 277,301

2,299 264,705 267,004

RECEIPTS Endowment Investment income Endowment donations General Investment income Annual fund Sale of memorabilia Annual dinner Special events Other

TOTAL RECEIPTS EXPENDITURES Endowment Awards Bursaries Minority scholarship General Scholarships The John Godfrey Prize Professional fees Purchase of memorabilia Annual dinner Special events Bank charges Student activities Receptions and meetings Travel and gifts Office and newsletter Miscellaneous Gifts to endowment from events

2,885

The financial statements of the University of King’s College Alumni Association for the year ended March 31, 2002 were audited by Rector Colavecchia Roche, Chartered Accountants. A copy of the audited financial statements can be obtained from the Alumni Association office, or from the Alumni website at www.ukings.ns.ca. RECTOR COLAVECCHIA ROCHE Chartered Accountants

Tidings

Summer 2002

OnCampus

Students warm to New Academic Building Structure wins high praise, but doesn’t yet attract busy campus life. By Sharon Boyd This time last year students and faculty at King’s had just finished moving into the New Academic Building. Now, one year since its opening, reaction from students is positive, but low-key. Foundation Year Programme Administrative Secretary Pat Dixon says the building experienced some initial growing pains. “We didn’t have heat for awhile,” Dixon says. “There was also problems with the washrooms because of poor water pressure.” These problems have since been dealt with. Aside from a few minor glitches, the building has offered a welcome change. “It’s a lovely new setting,” Dixon says. “The classroom facilities are fantastic and I think that students enjoy being in a new facility. It also gives us the chance to start over in a new environment.” Manuela Serpa, a first-year FYP student, says she’s glad she has her lectures in the new building even if she has to go to class early to make sure she gets a seat. The main lecture hall — which, on paper, seats 275 students — is filled to over capacity. There were 274 students enrolled in FYP this year but only 246 seats at desks in the lecture hall. That left more then 20 students to sit at temporary seats in the back of the room. “There are always a group of students who come in late and sit in the windows and write on their laps,” Serpa says.

Summer 2002

Despite this problem Serpa thinks the lecture hall is a great facility. “The sound is great, the images are great,” she says. “Everything is very clear.” Because Serpa is in her first year she has nothing to compare the New Academic Building to. Dixon says the new building hasn’t yet acquired the atmosphere of Prince Hall [the former FYP lecture hall]. “In Prince Hall students had seats that they sat in for the entire year,” Dixon says. “That hasn’t happened yet in the new building. Students haven’t made the connection yet that this is their room. But I think that will come.” Day Students’ Lounge still popular The student common room located on the second-floor of the building has not yet caught on with students either. Despite its bright blue colour, working fireplace and inviting leather couches, students still seem to favour the Day Students’ Lounge in the basement of the A&A Building. Dixon says part of the reason may be the due to the new building’s no smoking policy and the absence of facilities for buying food or drinks. “Students don’t seem to want to linger in the new building,” Dixon says. “At 10:30 a.m. (the break time in a lecture) they go to the Wardroom to get coffee or juice.” Students themselves agree. “I go to the Wardroom to buy a coffee and

Tidings

I just stay there — it’s more convenient,” third-year student Jennifer Sheppard says. “I feel like it’s a building just for FYP.” As of yet, there is no indoor link to the A&A Building, leaving the new building separate from the rest of the university. Construction on this final phase began in May. But students say the new building has much better acoustics than Prince Hall. King’s Vice-President Elizabeth Edwards points out that students can now hear other students asking questions. “I don’t like to be wired for sound,” Edwards says. “But in there you don’t feel like you are.” “I think it’s about time they got a better lecture hall for FYP,” Sheppard says. “Prince Hall was very echoey and when someone asked a question you couldn’t hear a thing.” Aside from the few glitches that come with any new project, Edwards says the New Academic Building has become an important draw for the university. “The building has big, bright, beautiful classrooms,” Edwards says. “It’s a good place to think. We now have a proper lecture hall for Foundation Year and lots of design features (like the round windows).” With time, Dixon says she believes students will make the building their own. “Prince Hall was traditionally King’s,” she says. “We had a good program, but not stateof-the-art facilities. We might look different now, but it’s still us.”

Students relax in the New Academic Building’s secondfloor student lounge. Photo: Michael Creagen

➜

See our story on link construction p. 15

OnCampus THE NEW STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE

Classroom names to get some character Can’t find Seminar Room 2? Don’t know who the Vroom Room honours? King’s looks at decrypting puzzling room names. By Angela Chang

Introducing the

Alumni Association of the University of King’s College Platinum Plus ™ or Preferred MasterCard ® credit card • No annual fee • Low Introductory 4.9% annual interest rate for cash advance cheques and balance transfers • High credit line, up to $100,00 with the MBNA Platinum Plus MasterCard ® • Toll-free Customer service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year • Fast credit line increase decisions within one hour • Immediate cash access at more than 430,00 ABMs worldwide • Optional MBNA Payment protection Plan ™ can provide extra security (subject to certain costs) • Around-the-clock fraud protection • Privacy Protection

Apply today! Contact the Alumni Office for more information: (902) 422-1271 ext. 128

The mysterious room known as Classroom 3 might soon lose its mystery. A committee formed last year focused its energy on finding names for some of the more oddly named — and unnamed — rooms around campus. University President Dr. Colin Starnes says some of the rooms were due for new names. “There was a feeling that some things were inexplicably named,” he says. ”Like Classroom 3 — there is no Classroom 1 or Classroom 2. “I asked the committee to look at all the rooms on campus to see if they could find away to make sense of the names they had.” Some of the suggestions by the committee include naming the King’s gym after its benefactor, Dr. W. L. Muir and naming the library after the university founder, Bishop Charles Inglis. Seminar Room 6 will be named after Frances Mary Woodworth, the first female graduate of King’s. Classroom 3 will be named the Ritchie Room after brothers Charles and Roland, both King’s alumni. At least one of the name changes recommended has already been carried out. The Haliburton Room, formerly located on the second floor of the A&A Building was lost when the bursar’s office moved into that space. A new classroom on the ground floor where FYP offices used to be is now called the Haliburton Room. The university intends to have a picture in each room of its namesake, with a small plaque explaining why the room was named after the individual. Starnes says he hopes all the rooms will be named eventually. “I’d certainly like it from a fund raising point of view,” he says. “And

Tidings

there certainly are families who have given a substantial amount of money. I’m still in negotiations with those families to see how they want their name to appear.” In the meantime, some of the rooms in the New Academic Building have been given temporary names. CSP, EMSP, HOST and FYP have each had rooms named after the respective programs. Some students say they will continue to use the existing names and many are already calling rooms in the New Academic Building by their wall colours, such as the Red Room. “Each room breeds its own name,” says journalism/CSP student Jen McCauley. “Classroom 3 will always be Classroom 3.” However, she says she likes the idea of naming the rooms after King’s alumni. “Naming them after famous alumni gives me hope,” she says. “Someday I may be a famous alumni and they’ll name a room after me.” Rooms will be named and plaques made up as the names are approved. Starnes hopes all of the rooms will have names when the last phase of construction is completed this fall.

The Meta-Reunion June 20-22, 2003 University of King’s College Campus

Calling all former Watch publishers, editors, contributors, distributors, production staff and Head to Head participants to gather for a Watch reunion. Get on the mailing list for updates by contacting: kingsalu@admin.ukings.ns.ca Find out more by contacting: bruce.geddes@sympatico.ca

Summer 2002

OnCampus

J-school expands offerings New minor program will create two streams of students in BJH By Angela Chang New changes to the journalism curriculum mean that any King’s and Dalhousie student can now take a journalism course — not just students registered in the program. The journalism school has begun offering a minor program in addition to the current four-year honours program and the one-year post-baccalaureate degree. The minor does not require students to take the Foundation Year Programme, currently a first-year requirement for the four-year honours program. Journalism school director Stephen Kimber says the change will open the school to more students. “Number one, they’ll understand more about how journalism works and what it does,” he says. “Secondly, many students may see it as a career option and come back for the one-year programme.” The department requires minor students to take the first-year Introduction to Journalism class and the second-year Reporting Techniques class — as well as three other electives, such as copy editing and feature writing. However, the change will lead to an unprecedented division among second-year students — those who have taken FYP and those who have not. Laura deCarufel, a third-year student in the honours programme who transferred to King’s this year from Carleton University, says she sometimes feels disadvantaged because she didn’t take FYP. “It inhibits me because everyone else has the same foundation,” she says. “For example, I’ve never read Dante’s Inferno. It’s better to have that general knowledge base. It provides a better understanding of people.” The school is considering a proposal to remedy the discrepancy by dropping the honours Foundation Year requirement altogether.

Summer 2002

Students in the one-year program face no such requirement. Sandi Lamey, a third-year journalism student who took FYP in her first year, says such a move would be unfortunate. She says while it may not need to be a requirement, FYP provides an important knowledge base for future journalists. “The Foundation Year Programme challenges you to do well,” she says. “It is very different from journalism — you have to write differently, for example. Everything’s not always about journalism.” The department is positioning itself for considerable growth. Right now, about 125 students apply to the journalism honours program each year. The school normally accepts only 40 of those who apply. This year it added an additional 20 seats for potential journalism minor students. In the end, 56 students enrolled in the first-year course this year. The school is further considering requiring students to apply to the honours stream after completing first year. King’s currently accepts students before they begin first year. More electives could be offered The proposal could lead ultimately to as many as 90 students taking second-year classes in both the honours and minor streams. Teaching more students would mean the school could offer thirdyear elective classes beyond the feature writing and copy editing options currently on offer. Despite the plans, Kimber says the school does not expect to increase its complement of core journalism faculty members. Parttime instructors will teach many of the additional students. In fact, parttime instructors already assist current first-year course professor, Bruce Wark. “Changes to the program should be small,” says Kimber. “There

Tidings

shouldn’t be that many more honours students — the industry can’t absorb many more. Instead, there will be an educated group of people interested in journalism that might continue into the one-year programme, improving the pool of people who apply.” Kimber says he doesn’t see much potential for competition between the journalism honours students and the minor students for seats in classes. Honours students will be guaranteed places in the classes they need to complete their degree. The school will reserve the fourth-year workshops exclusively for honours students and the oneyear journalism students. Kimber says the minor programme will primarily attract students interested in learning the craft of writing, research and interviewing. “Students who are interested in the workshops will likely take the one-year programme,” says Kimber. The minor programme is expected to be in full swing by 2004.

Kimber: “There will be an educated group of people interested in journalism that might continue into the one year program, improving the pool of people who apply.” Photo: Tim Currie

OnCampus

500 students affected by strike Dal dispute put King’s students, faculty in awkward situation By Emanuella Grinberg

The Dalhousie Faculty Association maintained a picket line on Coburg Road for the duration of the strike March 4–29. Photo: Tim Currie

Despite the rain ushering King’s students to school on April Fool’s Day, it wasn’t hard for them to see the silver lining behind the clouds on their first day back to school in four weeks. Most of the more than 500 King’s students whose classes were cancelled as a result of the Dalhousie Faculty Association’s strike said they were glad to be back in class. As classes resumed, students and faculty began working overtime to ensure that all learning and “assessment evaluations” were completed by April 29, a few days past the original exam schedule. But that didn’t mean students weren’t inconvenienced. “I would have been done with exams by April 17; now I have to stay around until the 24,” said secondyear Contemporary Studies student Razielle Aigen. “Whatever! As long as it’s done with.” The dash to the finish line began on March 28, when 92 per cent of Dalhousie professors voted in favour of an agreement reached by faculty association members and the Dalhousie University Board of Governors. On the issue of complement —

“

If you view the school year as a crescendo, it’s hard to pick up again.”

the number of full-time professors the university employs — the agreement mandates the increase of fulltime professors by 18 positions over the next three years; 12 positions less than the DFA had originally been asking. The three-year agreement also contains a 2.8 per cent raise each year, where the DFA had been asking for a 3.4 per cent increase in the first two years, followed by a four per cent increase in the third. By the third week of the strike, one could feel the tension on the King’s campus among the few hanging about, attempting or pretending to do work. Anxious students began asking, ‘Why here at King’s? Our profs aren’t part of the DFA.’ “I totally supported a better quality of education at Dal, but what does that have to do with King’s?” asked third-year journalism student Eloisa Mayers. “I thought King’s was entirely separate from Dal.” This confusion was the primary reason the two universities decided to cancel all classes at King’s in Contemporary Studies, History of Science and Technology, Early Modern Studies, and second- and third-year journalism for the duration of the strike. Complex relationship “People seem to think King’s is wholly independent from Dal, but that shouldn’t be the case for more than their first few seconds at King’s,” King’s President Colin Starnes says. Courses taught mainly by King’s faculty — Foundation Year and oneyear BJ and fourth-year BJH classes proceeded during the strike. For rea-

Tidings

sons of consistency, the two universities cancelled classes for all other students who shared learning facilities — including the teaching faculty — with Dalhousie, says Starnes. “As Dal gains experience with strikes, they’re getting much clearer and sophisticated — they knew what problems they ran into before.” He says one thing King’s and Dal learned from the previous strike was that all students had to be offered the same conditions in order to fairly assess grades. That’s why he says the two universities cancelled so many classes. It was a difficult situation for the university, he says, and difficult for students too. “If you view the school year as a crescendo, layer upon layer, to stop for four weeks, it’s hard to pick up again.” Most students agreed. “So many people have so much work right now and no inspiration to do it,” said Jeff Baggs, a third-year theatre student, in early April. King’s faculty members were also feeling the after-effects of the strike. “We’re very busy now,” said CSP/HOST professor Daryn Lehoux as classes resumed. “Mostly, it’s not so bad, but in one of my classes I have to fit five weeks into two. “King’s professors are in a funny situation, because my classes were cancelled, but most of the clauses [in the faculty association agreement] don’t affect me at all,” he said. Some do, he said, such as salary, which King’s pays at Dalhousie’s scale. “It’s weird. They were on strike for my benefit, but I still went to work and got paid.” While the university may be better off in the long run, fourth-year classics student Matt Wood was still disappointed. “Sure, the strike was a good thing, but that’s hard for me to remember while I have three papers, two take-home exams and two exams to do in two weeks.”

Summer 2002

OnCampus

Construction begins on link to NAB New inner quad ‘offers a lot of possibilities’ By Neate Sager King’s expansion programme will finally be finished this summer, when the link between the Prince Hall foyer and the New Academic Building is completed. Excavation for the link, which will have twice as much usable space as architect Roy Willwerth’s original design called for, began in early May. This is welcome news to the expanding university. Construction was originally scheduled to begin Oct. 1. However, those plans conflicted with Dalhousie University’s building programme. “It’s not actually a delay,” explains King’s President Dr. Colin Starnes. “We might have pushed to begin in the fall, but Dalhousie needed time with its new construction. They were still building the new day-care centre and needed the use of the old building (behind the Arts & Administration Building) and we did not want to build during winter.” The link, or “breezeway‚” which contains three new classrooms, is the second building phase of King’s $6.7-million capital campaign, which began in 1999. The first phase, the New Academic Building, opened in January 2001. Previously, the university was severely overcrowded. FYP students were sitting on the dining hall floor for their lectures and instructors worked without offices. Willwerth’s original design for the link had rooms on only one side of the hallway connecting the new building with the A&A Building. When the link is finished, it will have rooms on both sides of the hallways, providing additional seminar rooms and offices. According to Starnes, the link had to be expanded because existing

Summer 2002

space in other buildings was being converted to residence rooms. He noted 57 per cent of King’s students hail from outside the province. That figure is comparable with Mount Allison University, which traditionally has the highest percentage of outof-province students in Canada, approximately 60 per cent. Starnes estimates the cost of digging for the link and the construction to be approximately $1.2 million. Twice as much usable space “We’re looking at a 50 per cent increase in the cost of the link,” he says. “However, we’re going to have twice as much usable space.” For his part, Willwerth says the larger building won’t have too great an impact on the inner quad he included in his original design. “We’re only going to lose about 12 feet of the inner quad,” he says. “That in and of itself is not too critical. One has to balance design with the needs of the institution.” Willwerth, a TUNS (now DalTech) graduate, was made a honorary fellow of King’s for designing the university library, which opened in 1991. Designing the new building and link was no mean feat, because the available parcel of land was small. “The limited space we had to work with lent itself to creating a corridor tied to the surroundings,” he says. “There were two concepts I was trying to adhere to: visually, linking the New Academic Building to the institution, and secondly, the creation of the more intimate courtyard.” Starnes says he likes the concept of the inner quad, which will complement the main quad that was part of Willwerth’s design.

Tidings

“It offers a lot of possibilities,” he says. “I expect our students certainly will use it for socializing, or for reading, as long as it’s still warm enough outside. It certainly is a nice space for us to have.” As an architect, Willwerth has to determine how to get use out of space, both indoors and out. “You’re trying to create buildings with nice exterior rooms,” he says. “Hopefully the inner quad provides a more contemplative atmosphere were people can sit and chat, or sit and read, rather than throw a ball, which they have the outer quad for. It brings a sense of closure to the campus.” Willwerth says he draws inspiration for his designs from many sources, but admires American architect Robert A.M. Stern, dean of Yale’s School of Architecture. Stern has designed buildings for Brooklyn Law School, Princeton, Stanford, and as well, the Walt Disney Company. “Essentially, his whole premise was to show modern technology and traditional forms can work together nicely,” he says. “This is fundamental to King’s.

Architect Roy Willwerth: “Hopefully the inner quad provides a more contemplative atmosphere were people can sit and chat.” Photo: File/ Michael Creagen

COVER STORY

FYP

The next generation 16

Tidings

Summer 2002

Their parents were in the very first FYP class. So is it destiny that they’re here 30 years later? They say no. By Rhia Perkins

atherine Tate’s experience with Foundation Year was a short, but memorable one. She stumbled into the first semester of the inaugural Foundation Year Programme a month late in the autumn of 1972. She had just transferred from Carleton University at Thanksgiving to attend King’s with other graduates of her [Ottawa] high school class. “I was a bit of a lost girl,” she says today. “I knew it was a fantastic programme, but I’d already missed so much. I was over my head from the start.” Catherine never managed to catch up. She didn’t finish her year at King’s, and instead moved to Toronto to work for several years before returning to studies in sociology and political science in her 30s. But Catherine says Foundation Year instilled in her a love of critical thought — something she had never conceived of in high school. “It confirmed for me that it’s possible to be interested in ideas and books and history,” she says. Twenty-nine years later, she knew the programme would be perfect for her daughter, Eva Holland. “Eva’s a real planner, she was already thinking about where to go in Grade 9. “My friends have asked me if I’m living vicariously through Eva, but it was all her decision. She was looking for a small, liberal arts school and King’s fit the bill. ” Eva was born in Toronto, grew up in Saskatoon, and attended Canterbury High School in Ottawa. Despite the family history, she says her mother didn’t pressure her at all into attending King’s.

Summer 2002

“I wasn’t really influenced in an ‘I want to follow in her footsteps’ kind of way,” she says. “I had never even heard of King’s until she mentioned it, and she probably wouldn’t have mentioned it if she hadn’t gone here. It was an important factor in that way.” Eva also shares this “factor” with one of her classmates, Adam Hardiman. Adam’s dad, Tom Hardiman (BA ’75), was a classmate of Catherine’s in that first FYP class. Tom had been seriously considering enrolling at the University of Toronto in 1972 before he heard about King’s new programme from his parish priest. Instead, he was intrigued by FYP’s ambitious curriculum and he wasn’t disappointed. “You were never really finished with class,” he says today. “You never got to escape the day’s topic. It would be nothing to sit up all hours of the night talking about things we had discussed in class.” FYP is “best kept secret in Canada” Twenty-nine years later, his son Adam is also following in his father’s FYP footsteps. Adam, who grew up in Port Hawkesbury and attended the Strait Area Education and Recreation Centre, also had a memorable year. “My first year was unbelievable,” Adam says. “Foundation Year is probably the best-kept secret in Canada as far as academics go. I’ve met so many great people and it’s been fun, challenging and interesting.” Adam says he felt welcomed by the intimate atmosphere at King’s. “I basically grew up with the same class from grade primary to Grade 12,” he says. “But I didn’t find King’s that much of a change — it’s

Tidings

pretty similar, a close-knit communi- First-year students Eva Holland and ty.” Adam Hardiman Adam initially had his sights set on Mount Allison University, until he Photo: Michael Creagen looked at the King’s curriculum. “I can’t really say my dad directly influenced me or pressured me,” he says. “Foundation Year was a pretty big drawing card on its own.” His dad says the academic atmosphere in 1972 kept him motivated, but he also had fun. He remembers his involvement in sports, the Haliburton Society and the Outreach Tutorial Programme — a group that brought less-privileged Halifax children to eat and socialize at the university. “You only get out what you put in to the programme,” he says. “Let’s put it this way — I tried not to miss any parties, and I didn’t miss any breakfasts either.” Tom graduated in 1975 with a BA in English. He considered enrolling in a journalism programme after that, but he fell into “more gainful employment” before continuing his education. Today he is a power engineer in Port Hawkesbury. Both Adam and Eva plan to continue their studies at King’s. Adam hopes to go on to a combined honours degree in political science and either history or philosophy. “I want to take philosophy but I love history so much,” he says. “It’s tough to decide what to do. In a sense Foundation Year points you towards what you like.” Eva couldn’t agree more. She enjoyed the first section of the programme — the ancient world — most, and plans to study classics next year. Continued on next page

“

The programme has really become what it had wanted to be. I like the maturity, the reputation and the high quality of the students.”

Eva Holland with Continued from previous page her mom, Catherine Tate

***

Photo: Submitted

The idea for Foundation Year was encouraged by Graham Morgan, who was, in 1970, the president of King’s and a professor of sociology lecturing at Dalhousie. At the time, the university was undergoing a crisis, as the rapid expansion of Dalhousie University threatened to swallow King’s entirely. Morgan believed the trend toward specialization at many universities in the 50s and 60s ran contrary to the traditional, well-rounded university education. To counter this, he guided the creation of Foundation Year. At its inception, the founders of the programme were divided into two camps — a group which believed ideas must be taught in a political and social framework, and a group based in the humanities that believed the ideas could stand on their own. In that first year, the early sections of the programme — taught by the humanists — and the more contemporary sections — taught by the social scientists — were almost entirely independent and there was continuing conflict between the groups. Morgan left the presidency at the end of the 1977-78 school year, and the other social scientists quickly followed.

Over the years, the university has integrated more social and political studies into the programme’s curriculum. It has also added more content dealing with the status of women and minorities. Catherine Tate is impressed by the way the programme has evolved and was happy her daughter decided on King’s and Foundation Year. “I was pretty eager for her to go,” she says. “The programme had really become what it had wanted to be. I like the maturity, the reputation and the high quality of the students.” ‘It’s comforting’ Tom Hardiman was also delighted his son opted for the Foundation Year over other programmes he considered in Atlantic Canada. “I was very excited, but I tried to hold it back,” he says. “It’s comforting in a way that I know what he’s going through. The Foundation Year twigs your interest in so many areas, that you can decide to study in more depth later if you wish.” Adam says his decision to attend King’s has brought him and his father closer together. “After having come here we talk about it a lot more now, because King’s is very much the same place it was 30 years ago,” he says. “The bulk of the curriculum of the Foundation Year Programme is still the same, so you can discuss it.”

Tidings

Tom Hardiman also remembers Dr. Colin Starnes, current president of the university, but then a graduate student in the classics department at Dalhousie who was one of the core members of the first year’s staff. Tom says the programme’s teaching approach was different from other introductory university courses. ”You got a lot of information in the lectures and tried to pull it all together with your tutors,” he says. “When you took your elective at Dalhousie and saw what another 100-level course was like, it made you consider what it would be like to take five courses like that and make it a year.” Both father and son say the most lasting impression of the programme was the education in how to think. “I’m not sure it changed much of my views,” says Tom. “But what it did do was give me a better understanding of western society. Being able to adapt is what makes us human, and FYP gives you a philosophical basis to do that on.” Adam says it’s hard to judge his education impartially, but he knows he’s gained a broad perspective and an ability to argue his beliefs. “Foundation Year opens up so many doors,” he says. “You’re finding out what was behind all the things you already believe. From there you can decide if you still want to believe them or not.” ■

Summer 2002

ALUMNI PROFILE

Hart named family physician of the year Dr. Stephen Hart (BA ’64), a family physician from Fredericton who has been one of New Brunswick’s leading advocates for public and health safety, has been named the 2001/2002 Canadian Family Physician of the Year by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). Dr. Hart taught history, science and mathematics to Grades 6 to 9 at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, for two years before deciding to go into medicine. He graduated from the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine with an MD in 1972. “I originally began my studies at King’s as a divinity student,” says Dr. Hart, whose father, Bill Hart, was a Canon in the Anglican Church and who was awarded the Order of Canada for his many good works for social justice for New Brunswickers. “After a time, however, I realized that my real calling was medicine, particularly family medicine. And I knew right from the start I wanted to return home to New Brunswick and practice there.” A long-time Chairman of the New Brunswick Medical Society’s Committee on Preventable Aspects of Motor Vehicle Death and Injury, Dr. Hart is perhaps best known in New Brunswick for his tireless advocacy of seat belt legislation that finally became law in 1983. As a result, seat belt use in the province has risen from 5 per cent in 1982 to more than 95 per cent today, with a corresponding significant drop in highway injuries and fatalities. With seat belt legislation in place, Dr. Hart and his medical society colleagues turned to drinking and driving as one of the committee’s key issues. “There used to be a License Suspension Review Board in New Brunswick,” he says. “You could actually get caught drinking and driving and lose your license in the morning and have it reinstated that same afternoon, after appearing before the

Summer 2002

Board, paying a fine and their $10 reinstatement fee.” As well, the group also worked to change the law under which all impaired drivers were charged as first-time offenders. Today, police have the resources available to charge drivers for the appropriate number of offenses. They also initiated a Roadside Alert Program that enabled police to run roadside checks for impaired drivers and faulty vehicles. “It was really a common sense thing,” says Dr. Hart, “and the public, legislators and the law enforcement community eventually agreed that it was a good step. Everyone agreed that if you can halt someone before an accident happens, or if you can draw attention to bad driving habits or faulty vehicles, then that’s going to affect the accident and injury rate. As a result, highway fatalities in the province are half what they once were.” Organ donation a “vital issue” At present, Dr. Hart’s newest challenge is serving as Chairman of the New Brunswick Organ Donor Network, in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation. It’s a coalition of three physicians (himself, a gastroenterologist and an orthopaedic surgeon), administrators, representatives from organizations like the Eye Bank and The Kidney Foundation, as well as patients who have either had transplants or are waiting for one. “Organ donation is a vital issue, and not just here in Atlantic Canada. It’s a problem across the whole country,” says Dr. Hart. “Even though tremendous advances have been made in the science of transplantation, we’re still very far short of the number of donors we require to meet our needs.” Dr. Hart emphasizes that it’s not just enough today to fill out an organ donor card or to have the appropriate

Tidings

Stephen Hart: “We’re still far short of the number of organ donors we require to meet our needs.”

notice affixed to a driver’s license. “It’s vital,” he says, “to discuss the issue with family members so that they clearly understand the donor’s wishes. It may not be something that’s top of mind in an emergency situation, but if the family is aware then it’s much more likely that the donor’s wishes will be followed.” Looking to the future, Dr. Hart still sees a difficult time for healthcare in Canada, particularly in the Atlantic provinces, where he’s predicting a continued shortage of physicians for the next few years. Dr. Hart received his certification in family medicine in 1980. His family practice in Fredericton has grown in the years since to serve 2,700 patients. He is responsible for several hospital inpatients on a regular basis, does emergency room shifts every month and is one of four physicians providing care to a 200-bed nursing home. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Chalmers Regional Hospital Foundation, is a Preceptor of the Dalhousie Family Medicine Residency Program, and a Member of the Executive of the Christian Medical and Dental Societies of Canada. He serves on the Executive of Doctors Opposed to Violence Everywhere (DOVE). Reprinted courtesy of the College of Family Physicians of Canada

Alexandra Soc. bids farewell

King’s President Dr. Colin Starnes helps Alexandra Society members Vivian Whynacht, centre, and Leslie Walsh (’58), right, By Karl Turner plant a forsythia bush in front of When a group of women alumni Alexandra Hall.

University supporters cap 100 years of service

Photo: Karl Turner

formed the Alexandra Society 100 years ago, their main objective was to support the university. So it was fitting that their successors’ final gesture before disbanding was to give the university one of their most cherished worldly possessions, the silver tea service that marked their 50th anniversary. For decades, the Alexandra Society was a tireless champion of the university. But society membership has been declining for years and executive members began considering their graceful exit from university life three years ago. “In 1999 we knew it was all over,” says Dartmouth society member Lottie McAlpine. “Our major fundraiser was our annual Valentine’s tea. But we weren’t able to muster enough support to get it going. We decided to hang on long enough for us to reach our centennial.” At a service in the King’s chapel on May 14, former King’s professor

Dr. Henry Roper gave a moving homily that celebrated the society’s achievements. “The Alexandra Society came into being in another world,” he said, “and its work has helped King’s College to survive, and bring a new world — a world of female equality — into being.” The society’s began in 1902 when several women got together and formed what was then called the Women’s Auxiliary of King’s College. By 1903, they petitioned the Anglican Bishop and the Board of Governors. “Having a specially deep interest in the welfare of the Church,” they wrote, “and realizing the all-importance of a thorough training in Divinity for the candidates of the Holy Ministry we beg most respectfully to suggest to the Board the addition of another Chair of Divinity to be called the Queen Alexandra Chair.” This wasn’t just a pleasant letter of introduction from a newly formed group of ingénues. These women

Tidings

committed themselves to provide the professor’s salary up to $1,000 for the next five years. It’s hard to imagine a society in this day and age petitioning the university for an extra member of faculty, and then volunteering to foot the bill. But that’s exactly what they did. In 1910, members changed the group’s name to the Alexandra Society in honour of Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII. Within 15 years they had more assets than the Alumni Association. At its peak, the society had 29 branches in the Maritime provinces, mostly in Nova Scotia. Members raised most of the money through bake sales, church teas, luncheons, concerts and donations. Simple, yes, but the society proved to be as resourceful as it was ambitious. Not only were they committed to paying for the Alexandra Chair, but, in 1914, they assumed responsibility for furnishing the women’s residence. When the university was destroyed by fire in 1920, they did it again in Halifax. Then, in

Summer 2002

1963, they helped raise funds for the construction of a larger residence, Alexandra Hall. Although the society’s main objective was to provide support to the university, they increasingly fostered a faith-based commitment to women and education. King’s Assistant Librarian Patricia Chalmers (BAH ’80) recalls the society’ s unassuming, but ever-present, work on campus. “I remember when I was a student they supplied all of the irons and ironing boards in Alex Hall,” she says. “It wasn’t something I thought about at the time, but there they were working quietly behind the scene providing us with the things we needed.” By the 1960s they were providing scholarships to the growing number of women students on campus. In the early 1970s, though, they hit their first major stumbling block when the Atlantic School of Theology absorbed King’s faculty of divinity. The society quickly shifted focus and created bursaries for full-time Anglican students, but fewer people were going to church, and that was the connection that had always sustained them. By the 1980s membership num-

(Left to right) Society members Leslie Walsh, Verna Munroe and Joy Smith Photo: Karl Turner

bers began to stagnate. Branches closed as the average age of members increased with each passing year. Those who were committed held their breath as they laboured on, waiting for an increase in new members. But it never happened. Traditionally, the society held its annual meeting every Encaenia week. beginning with Holy Eucharist in the chapel. This year things changed slightly. In recognition of the society’s 100th anniversary, King’s held a ceremony in the Quad before the service. At their request, the university planted a forsythia bush in front of Alexandra Hall.

At the reception that followed in President’s Lodge, there was a feeling of jubilation in the air as university President Dr. Colin Starnes received the society’s silver tea service on behalf of the university. He thanked them for their generous support over the years and expressed deep regret that this would be their last meeting. But if the members were sad, they didn’t show it. “The reason we wanted forsythia,” says Joy Smith (BA ’42), former society president, “was because it’s one of the first plants to flower in the spring. It’s such a beautiful, bright flower. It’s always been in bloom when we met here each year.”

War stories Globe and Mail investigative reporter Peter Cheney [BJH ’84) and fellow Globe colleague, feature writer Stephanie Nolen (BJH ’93), returned to King’s March 22 to tell war stories — literally. The pair, with CBC national radio news reporter Stephen Puddicombe, related their experiences in Afghanistan to King’s journalism students. Photos: Michael Creagen

Summer 2002

Tidings

King’sPeople Jone Mitchell misses students, but finds new challenges at MSVU By Jennifer McCauley

Jone Mitchell: “I still read the Watch, to find out what’s going on” Photo: Tim Currie

Waiting at a coffee shop on Quinpool Road, I hear a voice saying, “I bet you thought I wasn’t coming,” and Jone Mitchell appears right behind me. She settles herself in at the table for questioning. “I don’t have any stories, you know,” she says. “I’m really a boring person.” This self-effacement is genuine Jone. Despite being the university’s public relations officer for 11 years, the woman-behind-it-all at King’s doesn’t like being in the spotlight. In July, 2001, Mount Saint Vincent University in Bedford hired her away to become the university’s new director of university advance-

ment. She left her position as Kings’ director of alumni, development and public relations on June 30, 2001, and started at MSVU three days later. She spent her summer learning about the university and meeting the faculty. She works with a staff of six, no longer a staff of two or three. “I’m doing much the same as I did at King’s,” says Jone. “What I’m not doing as often is the new student recruitment. I miss that part of my job.” Another part of the job she will miss is the interaction with students. At the Mount, there are more students, more programmes and less time to meet them all, as she tried to do at various King’s functions, such as the annual prospective student receptions in Toronto and Ottawa. Andrew Soren, a fourth-year Contemporary Studies/theatre student, is one student who got to know Mitchell through these receptions, and also through her work on the King’s Sexual Harassment Committee. A “wonderful person” “Jone is a wonderful person,” he says. “She’s very supportive and caring and always interested in how everyone is doing. “She is good at taking something very ‘everyday,’ and personalizing it,” continues Soren thoughtfully. “I won an alumni award one year, and I remember getting a form letter congratulating me, very nicely written, and at the end of it was a couple of sentences that made the letter very personal. She has a habit of doing that.” This warmth is extended to everyone — students, alumni and faculty. Almost everyone walks away from a

Tidings

conversation with Mitchell feeling important. “I remember back in the early days when we had one of the only fax machines at the university,” she says. “The alumni office used to charge students for long-distance faxes, so I got to meet and talk to a lot of students that way.” Kings’ director of athletics, Neil Hooper, says Mitchell was always very supportive of the athletic program. “Not only did we get together to decide awards and allocate funding, but I’d see her year-round at various games and functions.” “She always had a way of making everybody feel good,” says Paula Johnson, administrative secretary in the alumni office (currently on leave). “I never left the office once without hearing Jone thank me for all the work I did that day, and to drive safe.” Mitchell was Johnson’s first boss, starting from the time Johnson in her late teens, and working at the Canadian Cancer Society. They worked there for two years, then Mitchell moved to King’s to fill a newly created position. Johnson heard that there was a position available that she qualified for, so she applied, and subsequently earned the position of administrative secretary, working again for Mitchell. They worked together for another 11 years. “We got to the point where we would finish each others’ sentences,” they both say independently. “Jone would start to ask me something, and I would hand her the file she was looking for,” adds Johnson. Such a close relationship didn’t make the office any less busy, Continued on next page

Summer 2002

King’sPeople

Most common question asked of admissions officer Turner: ‘Who are you?’ By Emanuella Grinberg Underneath the many hats Karl Turner wears in the registrar’s office is his wish that he’d known about King’s as a student. “Being interested in the sort of things I’m into, I think I could have benefited from what King’s had to offer,” he says. “But I didn’t know about it.” It is thus fitting that as an admissions and liaison officer, it is his job to show high school students what King’s may be able to offer them. Often he is the first and only contact from the university that they meet in October until they decide to move into residence in August. “Usually they’re all looking for the same things,” he says of incoming students to King’s. “Most want a small university, close contact with professors and friends, but then the next thing they want is a lot of options, which is difficult for a small university like King’s. “That’s where the relationship with Dal comes in.” He describes it as a mutually beneficial relationship, one that most prospective students don’t even understand until they see what they can do with it. “It’s great when you can open a brochure and show students all the degree options and combinations available to them at King’s and Dal. Their eyes just light up,” he says. “I feel a special connection with those people, because I was just like them. I didn’t know what options were out there for me.” He settled for a combined hon-

Continued from previous page though. “Some days, one of us would put the kettle on for tea, first thing in the morning,” laughs Johnson, “and we’d have to push down the button 20 times each before we got a chance to

Summer 2002

ours in philosophy and international development studies from Dalhousie, and began working in the registrar’s office in 1998. “When I was at Dal, I had friends who went to King’s and I hung out here a lot. When I started this job, I thought there was this certain type, or mould, that was drawn to the school,” he says. “Three years later, I realize the students are coming from wildly different backgrounds, with wildly different interests — the only real shared interest is the programmes,” he says. “Transformation takes place” “It’s when they get to King’s, especially in their first year, that a transformation takes place. Everything they experience is in this very small environment so it brings them together. “But once they head into second, third, fourth years, you see them branching off, exploring all those options you showed them when you met them in high school.” Turner says most students don’t even know about King’s, except for maybe the Foundation Year Programme. “The question I get asked most at information sessions is ‘who are you?’ and ‘what do you guys have?’ ” He does say that interest in the journalism programmes has become more popular in the days since Sept. 11. “It seems that the profession has captured young people’s imaginations. In their minds journalism is becoming regarded as an exciting and

reputable occupation.” He describes his two roles as admissions and liaison officer as a continuation of each other. In the fall he acts a liaison, traveling across Canada and New England promoting King’s. In the winter and spring, he spends most of his time at King’s processing applications from students he met in the fall. Soon, his “first group” of students that he personally recruited as high schoolers, will graduate, something of a milestone in an admissions and liaison officer’s career. It hasn’t happened yet, but when it does, he says, “it will be very moving to see these people — people you met when they were much younger, and different in many ways — and to see how a brief encounter altered their lives to this day.”

have our cup of tea!” “But we’d always have time for a laugh,” chorus the two. Mitchell says she still has an interest in King’s. “I still read the Watch, to find out what’s going on, and I read it here at Perks,” she says. “And I still keep in

touch with people at King’s.” Mitchell’s former position is being split into two positions, with newcomer Bev Mahon filling the position of public relations officer and director of alumni. A full-time fundraising position is expected to be filled this year.

Tidings

Karl Turner: “It’s great when you can show students all the degree options available at King’s and Dal. Their eyes just light up.”

King’sPeople

New EMSP prof enjoying Kings’ intellectually ‘ambitious’ students By Laura deCarufel John Milton isn’t known for being a funny guy. Of course, it depends on who you ask. In a white room in the basement of the Arts & Administration building, Milton’s Paradise Lost comes alive. Over the hum of the furnace, the students murmur in understanding, question each other, and yes, even laugh. The class runs five minutes late and no one seems to notice. Welcome to Professor Simon Kow’s Early Modern Studies seminar. After six years of studying political science at the University of Toronto, Kow moved to Halifax this past summer to begin his first year of teaching. In his office after class, Kow (pronounced “Koo”) is relaxed and smiling. He speaks with a slight Simon Kow: British accent, having lived in “Teaching is a way England until his family moved to to learn.” Toronto when he was seven. He puts Photo: Laura deCarufel his hands together under his chin

while he answers questions and always looks you in the eye. He’s enjoying King’s, he says. Leaving one of Canada’s largest universities for one of its smallest was an “exciting and daunting” change. “King’s is very different from U of T, which is enormous and anonymous,” he says. “King’s is more personal. It has a very collegial atmosphere which makes me feel comfortable.” Then there are the academic benefits that come with teaching at a smaller school. “There’s a greater degree of independence at King’s,” Kow says. “I’ve been able to design and create my own classes, whereas at other institutions, you’re forced to teach existing courses.”

that this time period is a bridge between the old world and the new.” So far, Kow says, his students are making the connections. “They’re very hardworking,” he says. “They come to King’s because they want to read these books. They’re ambitious in the intellectual sense.” Kow’s students like him too. Fergus O’Connor, a fourth-year seminar student, enjoys Kow’s open approach to the texts. “He’s different from a lot of other professors I’ve had,” O’Connor says. “We work through the text together, doing close reading. He’s receptive to different interpretations and allows you to have a personal reaction to the texts.” O’Connor grins. “Outside of class he’s also a great guy. He’ll sit down and have a beer with anybody.”

“Vitality in the early modern period” Kow designed both of the classes he is teaching this year. Changing Conceptions of Morality, Society, and History in the Early Modern Period is the full-year seminar that showed his students a different side of John Milton. In the winter semester, he taught a second-year class called Virtue, Vice and the Commercial Society in early modern literature. Kow is also the faculty adviser for the Early Modern Studies Journal and a Foundation Year tutor. “I find teaching is a way to learn, “he says. “There’s a vitality about the works in the early modern period. It was a time of turmoil and great change and new ways of thinking developed. The authors saw themselves as doing something new and their texts reflect that.” Although Kow is particularly interested in 17th-century England, he says he’s enthralled with the entire early modem era. He wants his students to come away with “a greater appreciation of the texts and authors and also to understand the connection with each other. To understand

Tidings

The Alumni Association gratefully acknowledges SPONSORS OF THE

Alumni Annual Dinner held May 14, 2002 at King’s

Allen Print Ltd. Barrington Market Superstore Joseph Howe Superstore Peller Estates Quinpool Market Superstore Sobeys, Queen Street Sobeys, Windsor Street Young Street Superstore

Summer 2002

Encaenia2002

Photos by Kerry Delorey and Michael Creagen

Summer 2002

Tidings

Clockwise from top left: Alumni Office Administrative Secretary Jen Laurette helps graduating student Shannon McDunnough with her alumni pin; the academic procession leaves the quad; graduates enter the cathedral; Alison McCabe gives the valedictory address; President Colin Starnes presents Florence Yoon with the King’s Medal; Chancellor Michael Meighen is welcomed by the audience; President Starnes presents BJ student Renée Devereaux with the Governor-General’s Silver Medal.

Encaenia2002

2002 Honorary degree recipients

David Cadogan

Hon. J. Trevor Eyton Christos K. Kritikos Dianne Swinamer

(Doctor of Civil Law)

(Doctor of Canon Law)

As writer/reporter, editor, publisher and industry executive, David Cadogan is a seasoned advocate for grassroots journalism. Community newspapering is in Cadogan’s blood. He has continued a grassroots journalism tradition that began with his parents who ran the Durham Chronicle in Ontario, where David grew up. David began his newspaper career with Southam Business Publications in Toronto and Montreal and ran a commercial printing business in New Glasgow, N.S., before acquiring his first Atlantic regional community newspaper, The Woodstock, N.B., Bugle, in 1970. He is now president of Cadogan Publishing Ltd., publisher of three community newspapers, including the flagship, The Miramichi Leader, headquartered in Miramichi, N.B. Cadogan is a founding member and past president of the Atlantic Community Newspapers Association. He is also past president of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association., becoming an Honorary Life Member in 1999, joining his parents who had become the first husband and wife team so honoured.

The Honorable J. Trevor Eyton, O.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.B., LL.D, an eminent leader in Canadian industry and commerce, has served on numerous boards of national organizations and held a number of senior executive positions including President and Chief Executive Officer of Brascan Limited. Senator Eyton is presently Senior Group Chairman, Brascan Corp. Eyton has strong ties with King’s and the King’s community. Former chancellor, parent and grandparent of King’s alumni, his commitment to the university contributed greatly to the success of the Rare Find Campaign and to the current Building on a Strong Foundation campaign. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1986 and was appointed to the Senate in 1990. He received an honorary LL.D from the University of Waterloo in 1992 and served as Chair of Waterloo’s Board of Governors.

Christos K. Kritikos is a pioneer of the modern international shipping industry. His vision and entrepreneurial spirit helped change the course of international ship transportation to what it is today. About 35 years ago, Mr. Kritikos forecast a new era in international ocean shipping. At considerable risk to himself and to CERES, his stevedoring company, Kritikos adopted containerization — what he believed would be a landmark development in the history of shipping. His vision was a brilliant one. Kritikos’ company now has container terminals worldwide, including one at Fairview Cove in Halifax Harbour, one of his earliest investments. Kritikos is an enlightened employer who believes that a well-trained and well-paid workforce, teamed with state-of-the-art equipment, results in corporate success. He is a generous supporter of local organizations such as the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Salmon Federation and has a strong interest in Nova Scotia’s postsecondary institutions.

Dianne Swinamer is a leader in the battle to eliminate chronic hunger in her native province, Nova Scotia, and in communities across Canada. Since 1991 Swinamer has served as Executive Director of the Metro Food Bank Society, an umbrella organization representing 26 Metro food banks and 40 other agencies serving the disadvantaged and needy. The Canadian Association of Food Banks achieved unprecedented growth while Swinamer served as the Association’s chairperson from 1994 to 2001. During those years the CAFB introduced the National Food Sharing System which now ships over 10 million pounds of industry food donations to food banks across the country. Swinamer’s commitment to Canada’s hungry goes beyond food banks. She has given sermons at numerous Metro-area churches on hunger-related issues. Prior to joining the Metro Food Bank, Swinamer volunteered and later was employed with the Halifax School Board where she helped develop a programme for elementary school children who came to school hungry.

Tidings

Summer 2002

Encaenia2002

Meighen has strong ties to King’s New chancellor interested in fundraising, programme development By Angela Chang As the father of a King’s student and first cousin to the president of the university, new chancellor Senator Michael Meighen is going to feel right at home. Although the role of chancellor tends to be largely ceremonial, Meighen says he intends to actively help the university in any way he can over his five-year term. “The role of chancellor as I see it is to represent the university, to preside over events like Encaenia and to offer what advice you can to the president and board whenever they need it,” he says. “If they ask me to come, I’ll come.” However, his cousin, King’s President Dr. Colin Starnes, says the position is much more than ceremonial. He says the chancellor acts as an administrator to the alumni in much the same way the president of a university administers to students. The role of chancellor is important, he says, because the backbone of a university is its alumni, and not its current students. “The real King’s is the body of graduates, and Encaenia is about you getting into that group,” he says. “I’m the executive president of the university. The chancellor is the president over that ‘mystical’ university.” Senator Meighen is looking forward to his official duties as chancellor. “I feel very honoured to be asked and I’m looking forward to being chancellor,” he says. “I’ll have to brush up on my Latin so I don’t pronounce it like French.” Michael Meighen was born in 1939 in Montreal. He holds a BA from McGill and a LL.L from Laval, as well as a honorary LL.L. from Mount Allison University. Like his grandfather, Canadian prime minister Arthur Meighen, he is a member of the Progressive Conservative party. In 1990, he was appointed to the Senate by then-prime minister Brian

Summer 2002

Mulroney. He is currently the chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Veteran’s Affairs and a member of standing committees on banking, trade and commerce, and fisheries. The senator currently lives in Toronto, where he is counsel to Ogilvy Renault. The Meighen family is a strong supporter of King’s. The boardroom on the second floor of the A&A Building is also endowed by his father, Theodore R. Meighen’s foundation. The senator’s son, Ted Meighen, is chair of the King’s Students’ Union, and Senator Meighen himself has been actively fundraising for the capital campaign for the New Academic Building. “It’s not as easy to raise money in the Maritimes” The senator also plans to assist in the completion of many of the university’s current projects, including construction of the link between the New Academic Building and the A&A. That project is expected to be completed in September. The funding needed by the building committee to finish construction has been provided through bank loans, but Senator

Tidings

Meighen says he hopes to find a more permanent solution through fundraising. He says he’s impressed by the amount of work done by the building committee, especially by George Cooper, the chair of the board of governors. “[Cooper] has done a wonderful job,” he says. “It’s not as easy to raise money in the Maritimes as it is in Ontario, or Quebec or Alberta.” The senator is also interested in offering some parts of the Foundation Year Programme to mature students outside of the regular school year, a project he fondly labels “Elder FYP.” “FYP is quite a unique programme of study in Canada,” he says. “It is undoubtedly highly popular and one that even people my age wish they could enroll in.” Starnes agrees an interest exists for a programme such as this, but he says a number of concerns have prevented the programme from taking off. Mature students interested in the programme, such as the parents of current FYP students, often have family and work obligations that would prevent them from taking the time for the programme. Also, it would be a question of who would teach the programme. “The problem is that the people who put on FYP are so exhausted by the end of each year, they need the summer to recover,” he says. He adds that the university would want to protect the reputation of FYP and would not consider lending the name to any group wanting to teach a programme. In the meantime, Senator Meighen says he plans on sitting in on some FYP lectures the next time he’s in town. He says he’s interested in taking in a few of his cousin’s lectures as well. “I’ll have to brush up on my Augustine first,” he says. Starnes was a little skeptical, however. “He’s just being nice and humoring me,” he says with a smile.

Hon. Michael Meighen: “I feel very honoured to be asked.”

AlumniNews John Stone wins 2002 Hudson Award The alumni association awarded John Stone (BA ’65) the Judge J. Elliott Hudson Distinguished Alumnus Award at this year’s annual dinner held Tuesday, May 14, in recognition of his more than 30 years dedication and commitment to educating Nova Scotia’s youth and for outstanding contributions he has made to the King’s community. Following in the footsteps of his father, the late Canon Stone, a former Associate Professor of Liturgics at King’s, John pursued his passion to teach, taking with him a philosophy in education that believes in bringing school and community together to establish a safe and nurturing

learning environment for children of all ages. After graduating King’s in ’65, he earned a Masters of Arts in Classics from Dalhousie University, a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Alberta, and a Master of Education in Curriculum Studies from the University of British Columbia. Since 1968, John has helped shape the lives and minds of students in Nova Scotia’s public and private school systems. He has worked in teaching and administrative positions at several high schools. He is currently Director of Senior School at Armbrae Academy in Halifax.

Rissesco is new Assn. pres. The new Alumni Association President is Timothy Rissesco (BA ’93), a Senior Commerce Officer with the Competition Bureau of Industry Canada in Halifax. He says one of his primary goals is to have more alumni active in the association. “A small number of alumni have done a great job of organizing events such as the Alumni Annual Dinner, the King’s Classic Golf

The Judge J. Elliott Hudson Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award was established in 1994 by the University of King’s College Alumni Association to recognize a King’s alumnus/alumna who, like Judge Hudson, has made invaluable contributions to his or her community, profession, and charitable or volunteer work. Past recipients are Peter Cheney (BJH ’84) in 2001, Ruth Hudson (BA ’61) in 2000, Gordon Earle (BA ’63) in 1999, Bruce Archibald (BAH ’70) in 1998, Linda Fraser (BA ’63) in 1997, John Mark DeWolf (BAH ’68) in 1996 and Lois Miller (BA ’65) in 1995.

Tournament and branch events in cities across the country. I’d like to see more alumni at more social events.” He says feels a strong connection to the university and he wants to build on it. “The King’s experience gives you the opportunity to meet and build relationships with amazing people,” he says. Rissesco will be on educational leave this fall to study French to advance his career in the public service. He furthered his studies at Université Laval in Quebec City and obtained an MBA from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax in 1997. He lives in Hillsvale, Nova Scotia with his wife, Genevieve Harvey and their three cats.

Ruth Hudson presents John Stone with the 2002 award. Photo: Bev Mahon

Welcome to new Alumni Office staff Jen Laurette (BA ’01) is Acting Administrative Secretary while Paula Johnson is on maternity leave. Bev Mahon is the new Alumni and Public Relations Officer. A BPR graduate from MSVU, Bev has more than 10 years experience in marketing and communications and four years experience working in the newsroom of a Halifax daily.

Alumni Association

Executive Committee 2002/03 Position

Name

Term

Position

Name

Term

President Vice-President Treasurer Past-President Bd. of Gov. Member Bd. of Gov. Member

Tim Rissesco (BA ’93) Doug Hadley (BA ’92) Andy Hare (BA ’70) Stuart McPhee (BA ’69) Ken MacInnis (BA ’71) John Stone (BA ’65)

2002-2004 2002-2004

Comm. Mem. Comm. Mem. Comm. Mem. Comm. Mem. Comm. Mem. Comm. Mem. Comm. Mem. Comm. Mem.

Jane Bailey (BA ’71) Frank Beazley (BA ’80) Joan (French) Buck (BA ’70) Ginny Clark (BA ’68) Brian Curry (BAH ’92) Joan Parsons Doehler (BA ’70) Cathy Reardon (’90) Charlie Wainwright (BA ’73)

2002-2003 2002-2003 2001-2003 2001-2003 2002-2004 2001-2003 2002-2004 2002-2004

2002-2004 2002-2004 2001-2003

Tidings

Summer 2002

AlumNotes the

60s

Robert Tuck (BA, DD ’48) launched his new book “Ned Harris’s Letters From Mahone Bay, 188489” at St. James Church, Mahone Bay, on Sept. 23, 2001. A copy is available in the King ’s College Library. For further information, go to <www.isn.net/friartuck>. Fellow alumni can contact Robert at: rtuck@isn.net. Dr. Stephen Hart (BA ’64) was named Canada’s “Family Doctor of the Year” for 2002. (See story on page 19.)

the

70s

Frank Beazley (’79/80) is now buyer for Waverley Energy Group. The group includes Paddy Excavations Limited, Qualtech Building Solutions, Coverall Building Systems and Canterbury Homes. Ian Deakin (BA ’70) will be appearing in the 50th anniversary season of the Stratford Festival. Brian Pitcairn (BA ’73) is assisting the Loon River First Nation in Northern Alberta conclude an on-reserve oil and gas development deal with a major oil company. The project will lead to employment and royalty income for the community. Brian lives in Slave Lake, Alberta.

the

80s

Brian Cormier (BJH ’86) was appointed Senior Analyst with ShiftCentral in April. The Monctonbased firm specializes in competitive intelligence and strategic planning. Brian leaves GCP Bristol, where he served as Director of Information Services. He will continue to work with GCP Bristol under contract for writing, editing and media analysis services. Brian can be reached at: brian@briancormier.com. James Cowan (BAH ’86) recently completed his MBA at the University of Colorado at Denver and is working for Stein Roe Mutual Funds as an Investment Advisor in the Private Client Group. He is sitting for the Level 1 Chartered Financial Analyst programme in June 2002. James’ e-mail address is: jcowan@lib.com. Patti Dunn-Grabham (BSc ’87) was married in Vancouver in September 2000, and is now living in Seattle. Patti is owner/operator of a fitness training company she started in 1999. Patti’s email address is: pattidunn@foxinternet.com. Ian Fairclough (BJH ’89) was recently elected presi-

Summer 2002

All in stride Old friends Bob Hyslop (BA ‘69) and Penny Moody-Corbett (BSc ’71) enjoyed a leisurely run in the Toronto International Marathon in October to catch up on their lives. King's people interested in joining their runs can e-mail Penny at: pmoody@mun.ca. Penny is Assistant Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the faculty of medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. dent of the PTA at Kings County Academy, a P-8 school in Kentville. Ian and his sons, Blake and Todd, live in Kentville where Ian is a reporter for the Chronicle-Herald. Fellow alumni can contact Ian at: ianfairclough@accesswave.ca. Amy (Pugsley) Fraser (BA ’89) and Hugh Fraser announce the birth of Patrick Ronald on Jan. 30, 2001, a brother for Ted. Amy is a reporter for the Halifax Herald. Andrew Laing (BA ’86) and his wife, Patricia, are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Kateryna Jean, born in August. Andrew lives in Toronto where he manages his own media research firm, Cormex Research. Fellow alumni can contact Andrew at: alaing@cormex.com. Keith McPhail (BSc ’82, BA ’83), accepted the newlycreated position of Cultural Officer with the Halifax Regional Municipality in September. David Meagher (BJ ’82) is a supply teacher working in Fredericton, N.B., and a writing tutor at the University of New Brunswick. Prior to receiving his Bachelor of Education from St. Thomas University in July 2001, he worked as a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist for 19 years. Celia (Anderson) Russell (BJ ’82) was promoted to Editor of the Queen’s Gazette, the faculty/staff newspaper at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON. Fellow alumni can contact Celia at: russellc@post.queensu.ca

the

90s

Natalie Bona (BJ ’98) took the oath to become a Civilian Member of the RCMP in a ceremony held Oct. 4, 2001. Natalie’s e-mail address is:

Tidings

nataliebona@hotmail.com. Kelly Bourque (BA ’93) and John Tsiptsis (BA ’92) were married July 14, 2001. They live in Toronto. Nicole (McBride) Dermoudy (BJH ’93) married Julian Dermoudy in 1999. Nicole is working as a senior consultant with a public relations and government lobbying firm in Tasmania, Australia. Fellow alumni can contact Nicole at: variablex@hotmail.com Brian Flemming (DCL ’91) has been appointed Chairman and Interim CEO of Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA); a new Crown Corporation created as of April 1, 2002, to take charge of all security at Canadian airports and on Canadian airplanes. Graeme Gunn (BA ’94, BJ ’96) became engaged to Catherine Paterson on Christmas Day 2001. The wedding will take place in October 2002. Graeme is a partner in the Halifax-based film production company, Chronicle Pictures, which produced the feature film, “Touch and Go.” Watch for it! Graeme would love to hear from old friends at: madbutcher99@hotmail.com Deborah Irvine-Anderson (BJH ’98) has accepted a job as morning show producer of CBC Radio’s Daybreak North, the morning show in Northern British Columbia. Eden Kaill-Walker (BA ’99) and Michael Fenrick married June 1, 2002, in the King ’s Chapel. Contact Eden at: eden_kaill@hotmail.com. Michal Kapral (BJ ’95) was the top ranking Canadian runner, placing 70th in the 2002 Boston Marathon. Michal ’s time was 2:32:07, ranking him just out of the top 20 for Canada. Karen (Blackwood) Lawrence (BJ ’94) is working with Health Canada, Atlantic Region. Karen is a Communications Officer with Health Policy and Communications in Halifax. She encourages her former classmates to drop her a line at Karen_Lawrence@hfx.eastlink.ca Mandy Mayor (BJH ’96) married Ryan Higgins on July 15, 2000, in Esterhazy, Sask. They currently reside in Meadow Lake, Sask., where Mandy is editor of the local newspaper and Ryan works as a cost accountant for a forestry company. Their e-mail address is: rhiggins@sk.sympatico.ca Kevin MacDonell (BJH ’91) has edited a book, “Getting Rid of Alders,” an anthology of the best writing from the past 25 years of Rural Delivery magazine. Kevin is also Webmaster for a weekly news site, Oran.ca. He lives in Havre Boucher with wife, Leslie Smith. Fellow alumni can contact Kevin at: wordsmith@auracom.com John Needham (BA ’94) is employed with Reuters in New York City. He is currently working on corporate strategic partnerships with Investment/ Commercial Banks and Reuters. John can be reached at: john.needham@reuters.com Katie Orr (BAH ’90) and Troy Myers are pleased to announce the birth of Tyler Munro Myers on Nov. 26, 2001. Troy is a librarian with the Halifax Regional Library and Katie manages international activities at the Dalhousie Medical School. Katie continues to coach the King’s women’s soccer team. Her e-mail is: korr@is.dal.ca

AlumNotes R. Scott Parker (BScH ’99) moved from Calgary to Houston in February, 2001, to continue his career as a geologist. In September, he became engaged to Margaretha Boudens. Fellow alumni can contact R. Scott at: sparker12@charter.net Andrea Pilichos (BA ’94) and Stephen Graham are pleased to announce the birth of Nicholas Christos Graham Pilichos on Oct. 20, 2001 in Gainesville, Florida. Steve is working on his PhD at the University of Florida. Lucy Pullen (’90) was recently appointed Assistant Professor, Visual Arts, at U. of Victoria.

Liz Rigney (BJ ’94) has joined the ATV/ASN newsroom as a reporter after years as host of Breakfast Television. Theresa (Nowlan) Suart (BJH ’90) received her Master of Education (Adult Education) from the University of New Brunswick in October 2001. Theresa received her BEd (Adult Education) with distinction from UNB in 1999 and a Diploma in University Teaching in 2000. Theresa is a certified Stepfamily Foundation Coach with the Stepfamily Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization based in New York. In addition to

facilitating workshops for stepfamilies, Theresa is the entertainment & arts correspondent for the Fredericton Daily Gleaner. Fellow alumni can contact Theresa at: suart@fundy.net. Peter Taylor (BAH ’94) and his wife, Pamela, are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Grace Carolyn Taylor, on Sept. 17, 2001. The Taylor family are living in the south of England. Nicholas Thorne (BSc ’98, BA ’99) has moved to Frankfurt, Germany, and is working for Deutsche Bank. Fellow alumni can contact Nicholas at: nrthorne@yahoo.com.

In Memoriam

Pamela Herod was heart and soul of j-school Every year, journalism students made the humorous observation that the school was run, not by the director, but by the school’s longtime administrative secretary, Pamela Herod. The sizable kernel of truth in that opinion was apparent to everyone, even King’s President Dr. Colin Starnes. “It seems to me the journalism school has always been like a beehive — with students flying in and out all the time,” said Dr. Starnes at a retirement celebration in her honour April 3. “The students knew it was not the faculty or the administration that kept it buzzing, but Pamela.” Pamela, 61, died April 18 after a yearlong battle with cancer. In addition to being a tireless organizer, she was the school’s heart and soul. Trudy MacCormack (BJ ’00), now working at the St. Francis Xavier University Writing Centre, credits Pamela with helping her survive her first month. “On my third day of classes something went terribly wrong with my back,” says MacCormack. “Immobile in my bed, I still mustered the strength to panic — I thought I would have to withdraw. But although she had known me only for three days, she would not hear of it. She called me regularly over those 10 days, to check in and to encourage me. And so it went on each day, ensuring I was comfortable.” Jeff Simpson (BJ ’96), now a reporter at

J-school Director Stephen Kimber presented Pamela with an honorary lifetime Golden Cobden Award at her retirement celebration. Pamela had won many of the student awards. Photo: Michael Creagen

the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, had a similar experience at the very end of his year. “When I moved out of residence I was

Rev. Theodore Kingwell “Ted” Burton (Lth ‘69) of Aberdeen, N.S. passed away March 20, 2002 at the age of 85. Martha Louise Mowbray Elliott (BA ‘74) of Bridgetown, N.S. died April 27, 2002 at the age of 49. Eugene Rathebone Fairweather (DD ‘73) of Hortonville, N.S. passed away April 6, 2002 at the age of 81.

flat broke and had nothing,” he says today. “She gave me a bunch of furniture that I used for years, including a bed, a table and some other stuff. I always appreciated that.” Pamela began working at King’s in the spring of 1991. In her 10 years at the school, she was a key organizer of the annual Atlantic Journalism Awards. She saw hundreds of students through the programme, answering their initial inquiries about the school and finally pinning their academic hoods at graduation. Many students credit her with convincing them to enrol. Wary of the profession’s stereotype of ruthlessness, they say Pamela convinced them they had what it took to be a good reporter. “Pamela Herod was the first person I spoke to when I called King’s to find out about taking the one-year programme,” says Bill Robinson (BJ ’01), now an editor at Canadian Press in Toronto. “I was very intimidated, and I could just as easily have decided that journalism wasn’t for me. But after hearing her friendly voice, I didn’t have any hesitation.” Many former students were among the hundreds who packed a memorial service April 22 at St. Paul’s Church in downtown Halifax where Pamela was active. – T. Currie

The Rev’d Canon Leonard J. Galey (BA ’53, LTh ’54) of Sussex, N.B. passed away on Dec. 6, 2001. He was ordained deacon in 1954 and priest in 1955. He served in numerous parishes throughout New Brunswick. He was a member of King’s Board of Governors (1980-89; 1991-92) and served as president of the New Brunswick Branch of the Alumni Association from 1994 until his passing. Audrey France Ohmen (Hollebone) (BA ‘58) of California and formerly of Halifax died March 2, 2002 at the age of 64.

Tidings

Summer 2002

AlumNotes Dan Trivett (BA ’92, MLIS ’96) has accepted a position as a Senior Youth Services Librarian with the Ocean County Public Library in Ocean County, New Jersey. His wife, Vanessa BurnsTrivett (BA ’92, BPR ’94) will be starting a new career as a Stay At Home Mom to their threeyear-old daughter, Olivia. Chris White (BAH ’94,BJ ’96) married Janine Furey on July 14, 2001, in Toronto. The ceremony was held at Trinity college Chapel at U of T, followed by a dinner reception at The Royal Canadian Yacht Club on Toronto Island. Chris and Janine celebrated with many old friends from King ’s and Dal, making it a great Maritime party! Stuart Wood (BA ’93) is spending 2002 at INSEAD in Singapore and France as part of the MBA programme. Fellow alumni can contact Stuart at: stuart-wood@alumni.insead.edu.

2001 Atlantic Journalism Awards Alumni finalists at this year’s AJAs were: • Jack Julian (BJ ’98) of CBC Radio Halifax, a finalist in the category Spot News — Radio. His story, “Burnside Fire” was a live, immediate report from the scene of an industrial fire in Dartmouth N.S. • Kelly Ryan (BJ ’84) of CBC Radio Halifax, with colleague Margaret McGee, finalists in the category Enterprise Reporting — Radio. Their story “Troubled Water” was a series of investigative reports on the quality of drinking water in Nova Scotia, which uncovered a disturbing picture of government inaction and bureaucratic bungling. • Dan O’Connell (BJ ’89) of CBC TV Halifax, a finalist in the category in Enterprise Reporting — Television. His report, “Hold your breath/Don't hold your breath” was a two-part series covering the 30-year on-again off-again cleanup of Halifax Harbour. • JoAnn Sherwood (BJH ’90) of the ChronicleHerald, a finalist in the category Continuing Coverage — Print. Her coverage, “Strait Scandal” covered the evolving financial scandal involving the Strait Regional School Board in Cape Breton. • Rob Antle (BJH ’94) in Atlantic Progress, a

Music option for King’s students In a new phase of the longstanding collaboration between King’s and Dalhousie, King’s students will now be able to enrol in the Bachelor of Music Programme at Dalhousie. A modified version of the programme will allow most students to do FYP and still complete a BMus in four years.

Claire Roussell-Sullivan, of the Dartmouth Refinery of Imperial Oil, presents King’s student Neeti Tomar (BJ ’02) with the Imperial Oil Prize For Excellence. The award is granted annually to a student in King’s journalism programme’s graduating class for excellence in student work. Photo: Kevin Devoe

finalist in the category Feature Writing — Print. His story, “Yard Work” looked at the Marystown Shipyard in Newfoundland and its on again-off again offshore fabrication work.

YOU REMEMBERED! We received a healthy seven responses to last month’s photo. The following guesses garnered at least three votes each. 1. Tom Scobie (’52) 2. Charles Collis (’53) 3. The Rev. George Burchill (BA ’49, LTh ’52)

4. The Rev. Cecil Hebb (BA ’50) 5. 6. The Rev. Canon Donald Neish (BA ’51, LTh ’54, BD ’68)

The identity of #5 remains in question. The following men received one vote each: Dave Lewis (’64), Ernie MacEachern, Donald Williams (’51), the Rev. Canon Bob Crouse (BA ’51). Please let us know if you can confirm any of these — it’s a difficult identification. Fortunately, most respondents placed the event as an Interbay play in 1949 or 1950. Thanks to Ron Buckley (BSc ’66), the Rev. Keith Mason (LTh ’51), Joan Morrison (BA ’53), The Rev. Canon Donald Neish, Earle Ripley (BSc ’53), Bruce Ross (’54), and the Rev. Canon Don Trivett (BA ’50, LTh ’52). 2 3 1

Some housekeeping matters from past issues … thanks to Bruce Ross and Bob Winters who wrote to confirm that curler #2 in the Summer 2001 issue was Fred Nicholson (’57). And finally, thanks (and apologies) to both Ian MacKenzie (BA ’41) and Ian MacKenzie (BA ’57) for pointing out that we inadvertently mixed you two up. Of course, we should have noted that it was the latter gentleman who appeared as curler #1 in last month’s photo. On to this month’s photo ... (over)

Summer 2002

Tidings

Alumni Association University of King’s College Halifax, NS B3H 2A1 (902) 422-1271 ext. 128

Photo: King’s Archives

WE NEED YOUR HELP ... Here is another photo from our archives. Can you help us identify the people in it? The place? The date?

2 1

4 3

6 5

Photos on this page either have no notes accompanying them or are missing key information. Send your letter in care of the office of Alumni, Development and Public Relations.

Do you have any old calendars, yearbooks, photographs, theatre programmes or literary publications in your basement? King’s archives gratefully accepts King’s material of any kind.