Keep in Touch
Find out what your fellow classmates are doing now. You
can share your news and updates by going to the alumni
website and click on "Update your information."
1970s
Ali Choucair, MD’79, and his wife moved to Utah to be closer to family
and friends. As well, Ali has taken on the position of medical director
of neuro-oncology with Intermountain Health Care.
Gerald Fuller, BSc’75, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering
in the U.S. this year. He has taught chemical engineering at Stanford
University since 1980.
Eldon Godfrey, MA’75, received the Lifetime Volunteer Achievement
Award at the 32nd annual Canadian Sports Awards in March 2005. He is a
member of
the World Swimming Federation and secretary-treasurer
of the Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas.
Sean Goodwin, BSC’79, LLB’97 and his wife, Tina McKay,
BA’88,
BA’94, LLB’97, both received their LLM degrees in intellectual
property from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2005. They have their own law
firm in Calgary with specializations in patents, trademarks, and immigration.
Paul Miller, BEd’79, was appointed head of the Humanities Department
at Kyoto International University.
He also works as a columnist for a C.S. Lewis fan site
(www.thestonetable.com).
Doug Royale, BA’70, is looking
to pursue a degree in social work and working on a science-fiction romance
novel. He’s happy to be back in Calgary after a short
stint in Edmonton. He has a 20-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter.
John Snyder, BA’75, was appointed minister of Nanton-Cayley pastoral
charge with the United Church of Canada.
Keith Walker, BSc’76, earned a
certificate in conflict resolution from Mount Royal College and has
since moved to Denman Island in BC to
live out the hippie dream!
Jan Wagner, BA’77, won two
first-place awards for his photographs at the 2005 American Auto
Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association’s 50th anniversary
journalism competition. His other
work includes writing and producing TV commercials, industrial
video scriptwriting, technical writing,
and TV news. Jan is a member
of the Motor Press Guild, the American Auto Racing Writers and
Broadcasters Association, Nikon Professional Services, and the
San Diego Press Club.
1980s
Shirley (Ksienski) Anderson, BA’84, married Neil Anderson in 2001
and they just became parents in January 2005 to Arnold Rubin Anderson.
The family
lives in Thornhill, ON.
Mark Charles, BSc’81, is a contractor with IBM in the U.S.
and working from home.
Patrick Costigan, BSc’83, is living in New Zealand on a
41-foot sailboat. He has an e-business company
that is growing well after years on
the rocks. He’s looking forward to retirement in the next few years
when he’s 47.
Kevin deBruyckere, BComm’86, manages major investigations for the RCMP’s
Commercial Crime Section in BC. He received his Queen’s
Commission in December 2004.
Richard Frederkind, MArch’82, spent five years as
a senior architect and project manager for the largest 100 percent Native-American
owned A/E
firm in the U.S. He has since been promoted to associate vice-president
and is being transferred to the company’s Denver office where he’ll
start a new architectural department.
Mathew Kattapuram, BSc’83, is married with two girls, and
is vice-president for the Public Private Partnerships division
of Carillion Canada.
Maureen McGraw, BA’89, is the director of human resources
for The Focal Point, an Oakland-based litigation graphics and
strategy firm.
 Building
a solid career
Yves Gosselin,
MEDes’78, is currently the president
of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. He is also the director of
Architecture and Engineering Resources for Public Works and Government Services
Canada. In this position, Gosselin is responsible for the management of professionals
in architecture, electrical and mechanical engineering, interior design, landscape
architecture, urban design, and civil engineering.
“ I became interested in architecture towards the end of high school because
I wanted to find a field of study, and possibly a profession, that combined art,
history, and science,” says Gosselin. A very busy man, Gosselin has also
been a sessional lecturer and adjunct professor at various universities, including
Carleton University, where he lectured in urban
history and urban design.
Bruno Sahut, BEd’89, is looking to build a private walk-in
clinic in Calgary that would offer up to 2,000 MRI and PET
scans a day at a budget price.
Aside from a $36-million venture
capital infusion, everything, including
a team of doctors, is in place. Paul Varro, BSc’86, is still working hard at Image Inspection Services
to pay for his four kids!1990s
Fraser Abbott, BA’93, MA’97, was awarded the “sales manager
of the year” for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts for all the properties
in North America. He also continues to serves as the pipe major
of the U of C
Pipe Band.
Mastura Ahmad, BA’96, works
as an English and literature teacher
in sunny Singapore, and she
welcomes fellow alumni to come
on over for a visit.
Zahir Amin, BKin’99, graduated from medical school from the Flinders
University of South Australia in 2004 and has since returned
to Canada to start a family medicine residency at the U of C in June.
Jade (Shyback) Anderson, BA’96, worked for an insurance company for
10 years, and is now taking a break while her husband furthers his aviation
career in the Middle East. She’s enjoying spending time
with their three children and learning Arabic.
Jenna Barker, BA’98, lived in Tokyo for several years before completing
a master’s of library and information studies at the U
of A in 2004. She currently works for the Alberta Government
and
is working towards a project
management professional certification.
Paul Brown, BA’94, BFA’97, says his stepdaughter, Beth, had a
baby girl last year, Scarlett Bradley Kaecker. The middle name is in honour
of Beth’s brother who died in a car
accident last year.
Annie Chen, MBA’95, recently passed her certified financial planner
designation exam.
Nicole (LeBlanc) Collard, BA’94, finished her MBA in public relations
and communications at Royal Roads University in Victoria. She’s
also started a new position in investor relations at Vault
Energy Trust in Calgary.
 Mixing
art and educaton
Liz Lee,
BFA’90, was recently appointed Chair of the Department of Visual
Arts
and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia where she
has
been teaching photography
since 2000.
“
The absolute best aspect of teaching photography is working with a student
for a number of years; watching their evolution as a student, artist and human
being and being a part of those events.” Even though both of her parents
are professors, they were not the ones who made her think to become a prof
herself. One night after returning to Calgary from Vancouver, where she unsuccessfully
tried to make it in the film industry, Lee had dinner with her former U of
C photography professor, Arthur Nishimura. “He listened to me pour
out my frustrations and cry about my future; all he offered were words of
encouragement
and suggestions for success. When I got into
my car, feeling much better, I thought ‘if I could do the same thing
for just one other person I will have accomplished something with my life.’”
Lee also had
one of her digital photographs (pictured here) accepted into the public
collection of the Novorsibirsk State Art Museum in Novorsibirsk,
Russia.
Julie (Williams) Cowie, BA’94, gave birth to her second
son, Morgan, in October, and is serving her third term as
president of the Nanaimo Branch
of the Archaeological Society of BC. Lettie Croskery, BA’90, started a holiday business in Crowsnest Pass
in 2002, and says it’s an ideal place for families or couples wanting
a ‘holiday headquarters’ from which to explore beautiful
mountain recreation areas.
Peter Davis, BComm’91, and
his wife welcomed their daughter, Kaia Lynne Davis Goddard,
on
May 9, 2003.
Kelly (Young) D’Eath, BSc’90, is the leader of the IS Regulatory,
Forecast and Design FST at TransCanada Pipelines.
Michelle (Heinz) Drysdale, BSc’94, is currently on maternity
leave with her second child.
Amy Eyman-LeBlanc, BA’91, works as a senior consultant with
IBM in the Learning and Development Division; her current
assignment is
as an ERP training manager for
the Department of National Defence in Ottawa.
Sarah Graham, BComm’98, has moved to London with her husband, Greg Clerkson,
because he’s been transferred there with the Royal
Bank.
Ian Gunn, BA’98, is a lawyer with Saskatchewan Government
Insurance. Dezene Huber, BSc’95, began his position as Canada Research
Chair in forest entomology and chemical ecology in July
and is also an assistant professor
in the Ecosystem Science and Management Program at University
of Northern British Columbia.
Stephanie Skoyles Jarkins, BA’96, earned her PhD in religious
studies from Marquette University. She says life is wonderful
in the southern part
of the U.S., but admits she misses the mountains and
wishes the best to everyone at her Canadian alma mater.
Steven Kelly, MBA’98, returned to Calgary afer a four-year posting in
his company’s London Office.
Shamimur Khan, BSc’91, and his wife had their first child,
Zain, in April. Teresa Kinney, BSW’91, is working at the London Abused Women’s
Centre in Ontario as an advocate and counselor for women
who are in abusive intimate relationships.
Pam (Watson) Lafave, MSW’98, and her husband, Jeff, had a baby girl,
Lauren Jane, on August 31, 2004. Pam’s enjoying her
maternity leave from her social work position at Algoma
Family Services
in Sault Ste. Marie,
ON.
Ken Lima-Coelho, BA’94, and Tara Lima-Coelho,
BEd’97,
are pleased to announce the birth of their first child, Adam Grayson,
who was born
on March 8, 2005. Ken is a TV producer with CBC Newsworld in
Calgary, and Tara
is on maternity leave from her teaching position with the Calgary
Board of Education.
Nancy MacDonald, MCE’99, is
retiring after 37 years with Human Resources Development Canada and two
years teaching online for Loyalist College in Belleville, ON. Nancy will
still be staying active and putting in two days a week working at her daughter's
flower shop called Flowers by Dustin. Her own 1/2-acre property will be
keeping
her busy as well.
 Voicing
her talents
Patrice
Jegou, BMus’98, recently took first prize at the IX Concurso
y Festival Internacional de Canto Lirico in Trujillo, Peru, which brought
almost 40 competitors from 13 countries to the South American country.
In addition to a cash prize, the award comes with an invitation to give a recital
during next year’s competition and to perform in London, England, with
the Iberian and Latin American Music Society.
Jegou just finished
a year
of teaching music at the University of Lethbridge
and has now moved to New Jersey to work on her
doctoral degree at Rutgers University.
Rachelle McDonald Nichol, BA’95, has been living and working in Asia
for nearly four years. In October she married Steven Nichol in Taichung,
Taiwan, in a ceremony on a mountain overlooking their home. Her family
came from Canada
and his from England for the wedding.
Jacalyn McGee, BA’91, MBA’96, will be transferring back to the
Calgary office of Husky Energy after spending two years working on a special
project on the East Coast.
Ian Mitchell, BA’94, married Carole-Sophie Richard
on July 23, 2005.
Anna Onishi-Gilchrist, BA’96, and her husband Kevin
Gilchrist, BA’95,
BEd’97, married in 1998 and had their first child, Ethan, in 2003. Caterina
Olivito-Veltri, BA’96, is a private mortgage specialist for
the Alberta region with One Stop Mortgage Corp.
Constance (Contantinescu) Park, BComm’94, and her husband Tom
Park, BComm’93, married in 1998, and the two have beautiful boys. Constance
is the principal with Tasc Energy Systems, and Tom is the
vice-president of marketing with Fairborne Energy. Sara
(Bacalmasi) Pettigrew, BSc’98, and her husband Chris
Pettigrew, BSc’98, moved to Aberdeen, Scotland, in January. Sara was working
as a reservoir engineer in Calgary until she was given the chance to lead
the
subsurface work in the development of a new BP oilfield in the North
Sea. Chris will maintain his job in business development at Mentor Engineering
in Calgary by working over the Internet from their home in Aberdeen.
Richard Smalley, BComm’95, and his wife Marsha
(Keller) Smalley, BComm’95, celebrated the birth of their third daughter on April 7, 2005.
Neil Thomlinson, BA’91, received a PhD from the U of T in March for
his doctoral dissertation, “Unfinished Business: The Remaking of Toronto.” He
is currently an associate professor teaching urban, Canadian, and sexual
politics at Ryerson University.
Denise Gagne Williamson, DipEd’93, produced and published
a bilingual teacher resource book entitled “Teaching French Through
Songs and Games: Even if you can’t sing… or don’t speak
French.”
Rebecca Wood, BComm’98, moved back to Calgary last year just before
the birth of her son. She has returned to work and is working at the Fairmont
Palliser.
Greg Wutzke, BComm’93, relocated to the Chicago area
in order to set up a U.S. presence for Guest-Tek Interactive Entertainment.
2000s
Tom Adkins, MBA’01, is an active partner in one of the top wineries
in Canada.
Jeff Almon, BSc’03, was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders 36th overall
in the Canadian College Draft in 2002. Then he played with the Ottawa Renegades
and later the BC Lions. He’s since retired from football and will be
graduating in 2008 from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto.
Gabriel Becerra Ayala, BSc’04, just finished his first year of grad
school at U of C working under Rob Kremer. His research deals with ambient
intelligent environments, constraint satisfaction theory, social commitments,
and negotiations between agents.
Jaqueline Gemmill, BSc’02, is
trying to finish writing her master’s
of science thesis in geography.
Cesar Gordon-Calienne, BSc’03, and Sophie Durzi, BSc’02, will
be getting married in Patras, Greece, on September 17.
Kristi Grant, BA’01, is engaged to be married in April 2006.
Stephan Hardy, BA’00, BComm’00, was the business director of a
Montreal-based general interest magazine Maisonneuve for the past 2 1/2
years. He is now the creative director at Airborne Entertainment, generating
wireless
media for brands such as Maxim magazine and Fox’s The Family Guy. He
also maintains a weblog called Creative Generalist (www.creativegeneralist.com).
Matt Hartman, MBA’02, recently left his post
with Lafarge to become the national director of
procurement and materials for National Process Equipment.
Chauntille Hawley, MD’05, is currently doing her family medicine residency.
Tammy (Gamracy) Huggins, BSW’03, and her husband now have a little girl
named Eden. She keeps them busier than they could have ever imagined!
Nimtaz (Rashid) Kanji, BComm’03, BA’03, recently married Alim
Kanji, BSc’03,
Bahng-Shin Kim, BSc’04, just got a job as a sales manager, but is hoping
to find a business partner in the LED (Light Emitting Diode) industry.
Mark Krahn, PhD’03, postponed his convocation until June 2005 so that
he could graduate with
his wife, Jennifer (Brown) Krahn, PhD’05. To
add to the excitement of that week, Jennifer also gave birth to their second
daughter three days before convocation!
Daniel Krut, BA’02, broadcasts his radio show, Local Revolutions: Calgary
Talks, every Monday at 11 a.m. on CJSW 90.9 FM. The show’s about the
ideas presented by people who speak in Calgary, from author John Ralston
Saul to scientist David Suzuki.
Valerie Millette, BSc’04, has been admitted into the veterinary medicine
program at the University of Saskatchewan.
Rachel Mintz, MSc’04, is enjoying her job with Environment Canada using
the same fuzzy logic methods of her thesis to other air quality issues. Devin
Nobert, BA’01, has a two-year-old daughter, and is in his second
year of veterinary medicine at the U of S.
Paul Norris, MArch’03, is working for housebrand in Calgary. He’ll
be writing his professional exams soon, and he’s looking forward to
building beautiful houses and marrying his beautiful girlfriend, Rachelle
Scarrow.
Wendy Osborn, PhD’05, recently obtained a tenure-track position in
the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University
of Lethbridge.
Kenton Puttick, BA’05, married his sweetheart from CNST 231 Jeanette
(Manning) Puttick, BA’04, in June. Dwayne
Redekopp, BSc’05, moved to Red Deer for an engineering job
and is trying to make a dent in his student loans.
David Reynolds, BSc’74, MSc’76, MBA’04, retired from the
City of Calgary to start his PhD in the Inter-Disciplinary Graduate Program
at the U of C this fall.
Kurtis Sims, BSc’94, MSc’02, and his wife, Julie
(Ethier) Sims, MD ’01, had their first child in February.
Claire Solohub, BSc’01, graduated with a co-op degree
in ecology and is currently working as a wildlife officer near Boulder, Colorado.
She enforces hunting, fishing, and other wildlife laws of the state,
and handles human-wildlife conflicts— particularly dealing with black bears and cougars.
Valerie Stephenson, BComm’01, was expecting her second child in August.
She works for the U of C on a part-time basis from home.
Charissa (Stumborg) Hovdebo, BA’02, BEd’04, and Greg Hovdebo,
BA’04, recently married and moved into their new condo.
Tom Susnir, MBA’02, was appointed quality assurance manager for Hunting
Energy Services in Calgary.Leslie Erin (Srigley) Swan, BSW’02, married
Jeff Swan in Sandals Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in January 2005. Brad
Uggerslev, BA’03, is still
loving life and enjoying his career choice as an environmental
coordinator with ConocoPhillips.
When not at work, he can usually
be found on a golf course or
ski hill.
Heather Waddington, BA’96, BEd’00, has been living
in England for five years where she’s working
on a MEd at Cambridge. She will
be married to her husband, a Brit,
at Devonian Gardens on
Christmas Eve.
Clarissa (Wong) Chow, BComm’00, and James Wong, BSc’00, BEd’03, married in 2003, and they moved into
a new home in 2004. U
U
The Keep in Touch submission
deadline for the next isssue is August 19, 2005.
Return to Fall 2005 issue » |
