Dr. John Everitt, professor and chair
of the department of geography at Brandon University, has been named the
recipient of a Distinguished Service Award by World University Service
of Canada (WUSC), a leading Canadian development agency. The award, which
will be presented to Dr. Everitt at a ceremony this Friday in Ottawa, recognizes
his exceptional contribution over nearly three decades to international
development and global citizenship through his support of WUSC’s programming.
Dr. Everitt has been involved with WUSC since 1976, when he attended a
WUSC international seminar in Guyana. He became a founding member of the
WUSC local committee at Brandon University the same year, and was a member
of the WUSC board of directors from 1977 to 1981.
Those who know Dr. Everitt commend his tireless devotion
over many years to the WUSC Student Refugee Program (SRP) in particular.
The SRP enables student refugees from developing countries to resume their
studies at Canadian universities. Through the program, some 45 student
refugees enter Canada in a typical year, usually from Asian and African
countries. By 2008, WUSC expects to have facilitated the placement of about
1,000 sponsored refugees. For the SRP to be successful, WUSC local
committees on university and college campuses must raise awareness of the
program and recruit sustainable financial support for it, which can be
challenging. Thanks in large part to Dr. Everitt’s efforts, the local committee
at Brandon has been able to sponsor a student refugee every year for the
past 25 years.
Richard S. Mayombwe, originally from Uganda, was one such
refugee. “It was the summer of 1984 when I first encountered Dr. Everitt
at the Brandon airport,” said Selwanja. “He had come with his wife to pick
me up to stay with his family for a couple of weeks until the opening of
the university residence for the fall session. During my stay at his home,
he spent a significant amount of time assisting with my orientation to
the city and members of the local community. “This was invaluable
in making me feel at home and ultimately in helping me succeed in my academic
endeavours,” said Mayombwe, who now has a B.A., a B. Sc. (Hons.), an MBA
and a CGA.
As his greatest accomplishment, Dr. Everitt singles out
arranging the fundraising for the SRP so that it can be continued by others
after his retirement. Funds are currently raised from an annual alumni
donation, a Brandon University Faculty Association donation, and a student
levy. The faculty association donation is indexed, and he hopes to get
the alumni donation and student levy indexed this year as well. The
work is rewarding because it’s so easy to see the results, he said. “I’ve
done a lot of volunteering and charity work over the years, but I prefer
activities where I can see the payoff from my input rather quickly as opposed
to giving money and not knowing where it goes,” said Dr. Everitt. “Plus
it helps some nice people who otherwise have no hope.”
A leading development organization in Canada, WUSC is
a network of individuals and post-secondary institutions who believe that
all peoples are entitled to the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute
to a more equitable world. Active on more than 50 university and college
campuses across Canada, its mission is to foster human development and
global understanding through education and training.
Risk and Resilience in Beginning Teachers:
The First Year
By
Dr.
Cam Symons ~ Faculty of Education ~ Brandon University
The purpose of this study was to examine risk and resilience
factors for beginning teachers in the first five years of professional
practice. This particular document is an interim summary based the results
as of the end of the first year of practice. Read
the entire paper here in PDF format.>>>
Dr. Symons was awarded the Brandon University Senate Award
for Excellence in Teaching at the 2006 BU Spring Convocation. This award
was established to emphasize the importance of teaching at Brandon University
and to recognize and honour those faculty members who excel in this endeavour.
Events In Montreal Trigger More Than Memories
For A Brandon Professor
CKX/CHUM-TV
NEWS ~ September 2006
In 1989, 14 women were killed in the Ecole Polytechnique
massacre. Ten years later 12 students were killed in the Columbine High
School massacre. This week one person was killed in the Dawson College
Shooting. But before all of those, in 1975 it happened at Brampton Centennial
Secondary School in Ontario.
“He shot a couple kids in the corridor and then he committed
suicide,” explained University Professor Dr. Robin Enns. Enns is a former
teacher at the school. He was there when the shooting happened. His close
college friend was killed. “They were still cleaning it up when I went
back to teach in that classroom. I’m 6 foot 6 and when I went back to teach
in that classroom I saw things others didn’t,” he said. One other person
was killed and 13 were wounded. “There was a note that was left by this
young fellow. The note said that the reason he did what he did, to these
two teachers in particular, was because they had asked him to stay after
school for help,” Enns recalled.
The incident prompted Dr. Enns to head back to University
and get his Doctorate. He said he wanted to study why something like this
happened. Because of the shooting rampage in Montreal he’s going a step
further at Brandon University. He’s trying to set up a program to educate
future teachers on how to deal with these events. “It would be useful if
we could work with the applied disaster and emergency studies program here.
That’s unique in Canada -- how to prepare people for handling crisis,”
he explained. He’d like it to be carried out in the form of in-services.
The program is full this year, but he’s hopeful that it will be offered
next year.
The event is something Enns says changed his life. It’s
pushed him to get to really know his students, in hopes that tragic events
like the one he lived through can be avoided.
Visit the Professor Enns Website:
Robin
Enns: A Personal Journey
The latest paper from Dr. Robin
Enns has been accepted as a chapter in
The Handbook for Curriculum
from California's Sage Publishers:
Enns, R. J. (in press). "Hidden Research in Curriculum."
In F. M. Connelly, M. F. He & J. Phillion. Handbook for Curriculum
& Instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage Publishing.
Chapter 23, 24 pp.
Congratulations, Robin!
Evolution
of the Strathclair District for the BU Geography Department
Strathclair: A Prairie Town with a Past, Present
& Future
William
G. Hillman ~ Assistant Professor ~ Brandon University
Reprinted from the University Text Compiled by
the BU Geography Dept.:
THE GEOGRAPHY OF MANITOBA: ITS
LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
Edited by John Welsted, John Everitt and Christoph
Stadel
University of Manitoba Press
"An exploration of the various aspects of the
physical and human geography of the province, including: landforms, geology,
climatology, demographics, natural resources, and discussion of Manitoba's
role as a 'gateway' region in the staple economy. A comprehensive work
with case studies and over 200 maps, diagrams and photographs." More>>>
History
of the Blues Lecture Notes for the BU School of Music
Performance
Notes ~ Blues History Timeline ~ Blues Quotes ~ Assignment
William G. Hillman ~ Assistant Professor ~ Brandon
University
Lecture notes and references on
the History of the Blues for the Music Appreciation II course for the BU
School of Music. The presentation was done as a live off-campus performance
at a local nightclub. Hillman performed, with guitar, the various blues
styles, which he interspersed with descriptive commentary. Also included
is a Blues
History Timeline Handout with a Follow-Up
Assignment involving the analyzing & collating of quotations
relating to the The Blues.
