Destination downtown - University of Calgary

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$LATEX for Philosophers - University of Calgary$

Top: Jared Sproule Bottom: right Melissa Ostroski Bottom: left Kristine Deisman Photos by Maja Swannie SMALL TOWNS; BIG DREAMS Haskayne bursaries help rural students adjust to city life by Lynne Dulaney-MacNicol GRANUM, PROVOST, RUMSEY, MANYBERRIES … the list of small towns across western Canada is almost as endless as the fields of rippling grain. Currently, thousands of students from these and similar tiny dots on the map attend the University of Calgary where, faced with a busy academic and social environment and close to 30,000 other students, they struggle to fit into big-city life. Everything from navigating traffic jams, to finding classrooms, to buying pricey textbooks can be a challenge for these small-town students. For a few lucky rural scholars, however, the financial burden of their first year of university has been lifted – thanks to the generous backing of bursary donors Dick and Lois Haskayne. The Haskaynes annually award $4,000 bursaries to 10 students from rural areas, based on academic merit and financial need. The couple hopes the awards will make students’ lives more financially stable and give them opportunities to prove their talents. And prove them they do. As local singer/songwriter Paul Brandt once wrote, “The best things around that I have ever seen/Came from small towns and big dreams.” Bursary winner and first-year student Kristine Deisman, taking a double major in applied and pure mathematics, dreams of becoming a high-school math teacher when she finishes university. “I want to show kids that math can be exciting,” she says, citing her own high-school math teacher Scott Carlson and guidance counsellor Karen Harris as important influences. Since few members of her family have post-secondary education, Deisman’s parents and grandfather are extremely proud of her achievement. Deisman grew up in the small town of Strathmore, 40 km east of Calgary. While she enjoys the many activities the city has to offer, she says after university she wants to move back to a smaller setting to teach. “You get to know people better in a small town, and there’s no rush hour!” she says with a smile. Another bursary winner, second-year geography student Jared Sproule, can empathize with this sentiment. He graduated with a class of nine people from the tiny farming community of Hussar, 100 km east of Calgary. “My first week in the city, I only knew one other person here and I was really nervous,” he admits. “I was a bit worried about the big classes, and I hoped I’d do well here. But living in residence, I met a lot of great people – and now I’m having a lot of fun.” A third bursary winner, Melissa Ostroski, says she rarely came to the city when growing up. She’s very thankful for the help provided by the Haskaynes through the Lee Haskayne memorial bursaries. “They helped me see my life outside of my sheltered little town and gave me the chance to go to university.” Calgary businessman Dick Haskayne and his wife Lois present the awards in memory of Dick’s first wife, Lee, who died in 1993. Haskayne, who grew up in the little town of Gleichen, southeast of Calgary, says he appreciates the difficult transition faced by rural students when they move to the city to attend university. “Lois and I believe it’s a real benefit to come from a small town and it becomes even more of a benefit later in life,” says Dick Haskayne. “The strong family backgrounds these kids have, combined with their education at U of C, will serve to enhance their future.” Lois Haskayne, a retired teacher, advises students: “When you find your niche in life, then what you’re doing won’t feel like work anymore and you’ll find real joy in your career.” Originally from the hamlet of Rosebud, Lois Haskayne well remembers how she felt when she moved from a small town to the big city. “I know what it’s like – it’s terrorizing! I didn’t have a clue about city life when I came here. But on the whole, kids from small towns manage very well.” RECIPIENTS OF THE LEE HASKAYNE MEMORIAL BURSARY 2003 Christina Gagne, Assiniboia, SK Jacqueline Chan, Carstairs, AB Dawson Christie, Three Hills, AB Kristine Deisman, Strathmore, AB Carla Gerbrandt, Nanton, AB James Hand, Granum, AB Joshua Lowe, Provost, AB Stacey Lutz, Porcupine Plain, SK Melissa Ostroski, Okotoks, AB Lindsay Wright, Lac La Hache, BC 2002 Melissa Cole, Okotoks, AB Jack Cruikshank, Olds, AB Geoffrey Eustergerling, Canmore, AB Nathan Green, Pincher Creek, AB Raynell Hodge, Rumsey, AB Ryan Mahaffy, Nanton, AB Thet Soe, Stettler, AB Jared Sproule, Hussar, AB Sylvia Ulrich, Manyberries, AB Cody Wagner, Eatonia, SK 4 OnCampus / University of Calgary
A FINE BALANCE Course flexibility allows for both career and learning by Angie Hart CHARMAINE MARTIN wanted to go back to university but was worried it would be difficult to fit classes into her busy schedule. A support and training specialist with Canadian Pacific Railway in Calgary, Martin already had a degree in science, but wanted another credential that was specific to her career path. So, she enrolled in one course, “just to see what it would be like.” Two years later, despite a full-time job that requires odd hours and extensive travel, Martin graduated with her Faculty of Continuing Education Certificate in Adult Learning (CAL), specializing in workplace learning. Now, not even a year later, she’s considering enrolling in a second U of C certificate program. Continuing Education offers more than 30 certificate programs, and one diploma program. By convocation 2003, almost 7,000 certificates had been awarded since the first in 1963. “Everything just fell together,” says Martin. “It was way beyond coincidence. So much about CAL was appropriate for my job. And then, when travel and time constraints became an issue for me, I was able to take online courses.” Just as Martin was enrolling in her first course — Facilitating Adult Learning — she was promoted to a new position in her department’s Learning and Development unit. She believes her enrolment in CAL helped her get that job, and as it turned out, her course work was a perfect match for the new position. “The instructors were excellent and they helped me get through the tough times,” Martin says. “My classmates were great too. In fact, I’ve made some great friends that I still see regularly.” E-learning played an important role in the completion of Martin’s CAL certificate. For her, an ideal semester included one live course and one online course. Last year, a total of 225 courses were offered online. Martin has some great online memories, including working from a motorhome on a distant jobsite, from motel rooms in out-of-the-way locations, and from a downtown Toronto hotel in the midst of a heat wave and garbage strike. “I remember that one very well because I was absolutely stuck on a final paper at the time, but when I sent a note to the instructor, Gordon Graham, he immediately telephoned and helped me work through it.” Martin finished her program in June 2003, and since then has moved into a new position as a FastTrax Support and Training Specialist. She looks back at those two years as very intense, but well worth the effort. Martin’s advice about pursuing continuing learning programs: “As Nike says, Just do it!” FOR YEARS, Canadians have feared the public pension reservoir will dry up as soon as they’re old enough to draw from it. But now a University of Calgary sociologist who studies pension systems worldwide says Canadians are in pretty good shape for retirement, especially compared to Americans and most Europeans. “People think the baby boom generation is a demographic time bomb that’s going to obliterate the pension system for those who come after, but that’s an unlikely scenario,” says Daniel Béland. “Nevertheless, those fears continue to persist and they cause people a great deal of unnecessary anxiety.” Furthermore, if people mistakenly believe the public pension system can’t be sustained, or that their children will be stuck with a punishing bill, then support for the Canada Pension Plan could actually erode Charmaine Martin: “Just do it!” PENSIONS WILL WEATHER GREY WAVE by Greg Harris and the misplaced fears will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, he says. Canada’s public pension system is actually more flexible than the American system, more efficient at fighting poverty, and it costs proportionately less to operate, Béland says. And unlike many European nations, Canada’s steady immigration and economic development fuel a level of growth adequate for the system to sustain itself. “That’s not to say that we shouldn’t make improvements, or that there aren’t important questions to address, but the fact is, 30 years from now it is most likely that public pension benefits will still be available to Canadians who need them,” Béland says. March, 2004 5
Page 1 and 2: QUARTERLY Road warrior Second-gener
Page 3: DESTINATION DOWNTOWN Campus project
Page 7 and 8: RAISING THE BAR New plan will help
Page 9 and 10: EDLY MIC U of C alumnae’s pastime
Page 11 and 12: Ludo Zanotto leans on a pile of asp
Page 13 and 14: Photo courtesy of the Faculty of Me
Page 15 and 16: SUICIDE SOLUTIONS Health workers ho

Destination downtown - University of Calgary

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