MAGAZINE BestJetEN ROUTE TO that’s withann an E get ready for ‘gen y’ a toast to health maritime VOL.25 | NO.1 | SPRING | 2008 Canada Post Publications Mail Return undeliverable Canadian Agreement No. 40065040 addresses to: Alumni Office Dalhousie University Halifax NS B3H 3J5 If this were a hockey team, they’d all be forwards. Meet the Dalhousie fundraising team. Play makers. Team players. Leaders. An eclectic group of dedicated professionals with one goal – a stronger Dalhousie. If you haven’t met them yet, you will. Relationship building is forefront on their agenda, every day. For more information or to schedule lunch, give them a call at 1.800.565.9969. LEFT TO RIGHT, FRONT ROW: Rhonda Harrington, Director of Advancement, Faculty of Medicine; Ann Vessey, Planned Giving Officer; Suzanne Huett, Director, Advancement Strategy; Linda Crockett, Director, Global Gifts; Dawn Ferris, Administrative Assistant; Sharon Gosse, Administrative Assistant. LEFT TO RIGHT, BACK ROW: Rosemary Bulley, Development Officer, Engineering & Computer Science; Mary Lou Crowley, Development Officer, Health Professions; John MacDonald, Director, External Relations, Faculty of Management; Chris Steeves, Development Officer, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences; Diane Chisholm, Development Officer, Law; Jennifer Laurette, Development Officer, Dentistry. Not Pictured: Wendy McGuinness, Director, Planned Giving; Ron Mitton, Sr. Advisor, Corporations & Foundations; Debbie Bright, Adminstrative Assistant DaMAGAZINE l h o u s i e 22Improving the health of our Maritime community Understanding sleep 18The ‘millennials’ disorders, hearing are coming to an problems and patient office near you safety. Extending the reach of specialists through a The millennial generation bedside robot. Volunteering 10Culture club is beginning to graduate in a developing country with and is heading out into inter-professional health Kidding aside, they’ve got to 14Reading between the labour market in care teams. We’re pleased to be about the most cheerful the lines quantities unheard of since share some highlights from On our cover employees around. Sean the baby boom. Instead Dalhousie Medicine 2007. Aloft is Sean Durfy, President and Durfy, WestJet’s President For a hundred years, readers of fighting for jobs, as in Edited by Betsy Chambers CEO of WestJet, who was a gracious and CEO, was responsible have loved author Lucy years past, there’s a stronger for the “because owners Maud Montgomery’s classic possibility that the jobs host to our photographer and care” advertising campaign. Anne of Green Gables. Now, will be fighting for them. DEPARTMENTS writer during their visit to corporate He more than lives up to it children’s writer Budge by Ryan McNutt FROM THE EDITOR 2 headquarters in Calgary. — he embodies it. Perhaps Wilson has written the (Danny Abriel Photo) that’s why their nickname prequel Before Green Gables CONVOCATION 4 is “BestJet.” and historian Elizabeth by Marilyn Smulders Epperly has described UPFRONT ON CAMPUS 6 the creative process DALUMNI 28 in Imagining Anne. What’s CLASS NOTES 34 been a secret THE BACK STORY 40 between bosom buddies until now is that these writers share the Dalhousie experience. by Marilyn Smulders FromtheEditor DalhousieMAGAZINE EDITOR Amanda Pelham ASSISTANT EDITOR/ADVERTISING MANAGER Here’s looking at you, kid Keri Irwin CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Marilyn Smulders hen she first got the invitation to be our cover ART DIRECTOR model, Karen Beazley tried to beg off. Fran Ornstein MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES/ DALUMNI/ IN MEMORIAM You can’t blame her, really. She was in her office For submissions, contact: Joanne Ward-Jerrett [email protected] BIG PICTURE W — in the Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building — sporting a thinking ADDRESS CHANGES my halifsterax’s owyn massive shiner. Tel: (902) 494-6855 writer fostering 1 (800) 565-9969 the will afghan of the During a trip overseas, she’d fainted at her London hotel, Email: [email protected] people po wer researchhouse for the region bumping her head on a porcelain bathtub. Waking up seconds Alumni Records, Macdonald Building VOL.24 | NO.2 | FALL | 2007 Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5 later, she felt the bump already growing. She’d been home just PRODUCED BY long enough for the bruising to spread and become multi-hued. Dalhousie University Communications and Marketing Creative director Fran Ornstein was merciless about the photo, but offered some compassion. “We’ll bring makeup,” she promised, dispatching photographer Nick Pearce. CONTRIBUTORS Temporarily in charge of a Designer Brian Harrison featured the image on his multi-layered cover to illustrate Marie WestJet 737, at least in their Weeren’s story “Big Picture Thinking.” dreams, are “pilot” Marilyn Smulders and “co-pilot” We were working on a new format under prompting from our boss Jim Danny Abriel. As well as writing Vibert, an advocate of creative risk taking. This cover was an Atlantic Journalism the profile of Sean Durfy for this issue, 2 Award finalist, offering a chance to celebrate the hands and hearts and minds Marilyn discovered the strange connection between that shape the magazine. This same edition — the first expanded and Budge Wilson and Lucy Maud Montgomery. redesigned university magazine — earned a national gold Prix d’Excellence At 25, Ryan McNutt is the youngest member of the Communications and Marketing award from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education. team but an older member of the millennial generation. He’s called upon to speak for M A G A Z I N E It all comes back to seeing and hearing from you. This time, we profile the high- his generation regularly enough that he | figured he’d best do some research before flying Sean Durfy, who leads WestJet and cheers his university on from Calgary. answering with any authority. His article exploring ‘Gen Y’ was aided greatly by Don (See “Culture Club”, Page 11). We’ll pursue a literary thread uniting alumnae Lucy Christie of Dalhousie’s Career Services Centre, who Maud Montgomery, Budge Wilson and Elizabeth Epperly. (See “Reading between provided countless contacts and background research. Improving the health of our Maritime community, which the lines,” Page 15). Our focus on research continues with the Dalhousie Faculty of contains capsules of selected articles in the current issue DALHOUSIEMedicine. (See “Improving the Health of our Maritime Community,”Page 22). It’s a of Dalhousie Medicine, was prepared in consultation with Dalhousie Medicine’s editor, Betsy Chambers, from stories pleasure to recognize our 2,800 newest alumni. (See “Facing the future,” Page 4). by Melanie Jollymore and Betsy Chambers. The ‘millennial’ generation faces the brightest career prospects in decades. (See Brian Harrison, a partner with Halifax-based Trivium Design, continues to guide the evolution of our new design. “Turning Ideals into Reality,” Page 18). Thanks to all who are willing to share Welcome to Debora Jewitt who has joined Creative Services their lives with us and who, one by one, are telling the Dalhousie story. and handles photography arrangements. Thanks to Jane Lombard for production coordination and Marla Cranston After all, it’s unanimous that Karen Beazley is a particularly for answering proofreading requests. good sport. And in the end, what matters most is how her Billy Comeau hails from Clare, N.S. He seems to be enjoying his internship with qualities of scholarship and leadership shine. Communications and Marketing, following “I got lots of comments on that magazine cover,” says Dr. Beazley, his program in Public Relations at the Nova Scotia Community College. Billy laughing. “I always ask, ‘Can you tell that I had a shiner?’ And nobody contributed a number of stories for different sections of the magazine. knew! That’s what you guys can do when you all get together.” DALHOUSIE MAGAZINE appears three times a year. Editorial deadline for the next issue is August 6, 2008. Photo: Danny Abriel Danny Photo: Guestview The best of both worlds t’s hard to believe four years have passed since I was a fresh-faced first-year, joining other Jessica Wishart is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new students on what was perceived by some as exciting, by graduating with the Iothers as a terrifying new adventure. Whatever our initial sentiments, most will agree (at Class of 2008. the risk of sounding cliché), that although we may be broke financially, we leave this experience enriched with more than just a piece of paper. Though I am a Haligonian, scholarship funds enabled me to stay in residence at first. This allowed me to become more involved in student life both socially and academically and to enjoy perks such as ‘bedhead chic’ from rolling out of bed 15 minutes before classes. Despite feeling a little shell-shocked adjusting from a fairly slack high school career to what I exaggerated as an endless onslaught of homework, I quickly adjusted to self-structuring. I will admit more independent study led to a few coffee–fuelled all-nighters, but it was this flexibility that I enjoyed most about university life. Studying international development allowed me the freedom to explore history, philosophy, environmental issues and economics. I was relieved by the ability to structure classes around my interests, favourite profs and schedule (spending hours 3 SPRING ...a large school with the in search of the elusive three- day weekend). I was also able intimacy of a small school... to combine the facilities and | selection of a large school with the intimacy of a small school by remaining an official King’s 2008 student while taking all my classes at Dal. With Dal’s financial and academic support, I attended UN Climate Change Conferences in Kenya and Indonesia, reinforcing my belief in the value of education beyond the classroom. I was able to apply what I learned in class to real-world situations. I appreciate that Dal recognizes the importance of out-of-class education and personal development.