Tells the story - actually, thirty-seven stories - of the little university that could, told by some of those who devoted themselves to transforming the school from its modest beginnings into a superb small liberal arts college, and in turn to the university whose growth, diversification, research, and partnerships characterize it today.
I Remember Laurier is the storyâactually, thirty-seven storiesâof the little university that could, told by some of those who devoted themselves to transforming the school from its modest beginnings into a superb small liberal arts college, and in turn to the university whose growth, diversification, research, and partnerships characterize it today. Although the stories are diverse in content, viewpoint, and tone, readers will note a number of unifying themes, one being nostalgia for a small university where faculty, staff, and students were close and new initiatives were readily approved and easily implemented. Here too are reflections, sometimes bemused and sprinkled with humour, on professors, administrators, and students, the "Laurier Experience," and significant events such as "WLU" becoming "WLU" (Waterloo Lutheran University was renamed Wilfrid Laurier University in 1973). Evident throughout is the pride of the contributors in the development of the university to its current status and in having played a role. In the photo album at the back of the book readers will find vintage prints of the authors and of many others mentioned in the book. More photos will soon be available on the website of the Wilfrid Laurier Retirees' Association:
General editor Harold Remus, professor emeritus, Wilfrid Laurier University, is the former executive officer of the Council on the Study of Religion and the former director of Wilfrid Laurier University Press. He is past president of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and the founding managing editor of Religious Studies Review . His publications include "Pagan-Christian Conflict over Miracle in the Second Century," "Jesus as Healer," and various articles in scholarly journals and encyclopedias. Rose Blackmore worked as a social worker with the Ontario Department of Public Welfare and as a field instructor for social work students from the Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. After ten years in this dual role, she was named assistant director of Staff Training and Development and became aware of the new school of social work being established at Waterloo Lutheran University with an emphasis on field practica for the students. Hired to head a practicum unit of students, she joined Waterloo Lutheran University in 1970 and retired from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1993. Boyd McDonald, pianist and composer, made his New York debut in 1963. He joined the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University as a member of the Beckett and McDonald Piano Duo in 1976. His compositions have been played by orchestras in Kitchener, Vancouver, and Hamilton. McDonald has recorded with the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, The Streicher Ensemble, Bellows & Brass, Willem Moolenbeek, and Sylvia Tyson.
Table of Contents for I Remember Laurier: Reflections by Retirees on Life at WLU , Harold Remus, general editor, Rose Blackmore and Boyd McDonald, editors Preface: Recalling Life and Livelihoods at WLU Part I: Foundations Money: Counting It and Making It Count | Tamara Giesbrecht Waterloo College Student to University Lawyer: On the Legal Side of Things | Reginald A. Haney The Bookstore Grows Up | Paul Fischer Odyssey: Waterloo College, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, WLU | Delton J. Glebe An R.C. Comes to WLU: Early Days of Social Work and a Threefold Maturation Process | Frank Turner Part II: Getting Started From Two to Four and MoreâEarly Days in Chemistry at WLU | Ray Heller The Best Job I Ever Had | Ralph Blackmore Spatial Memories, Mostly Geographical, Mostly of the Sixties and Seventies | Herbert A. Whitney In the Beginning: Life at Biologyâand Off Campus | Robert W. McCauley Physics, Administration, Astronomyâand Music | Arthur Read Community Psychology, Community Building, and Social Justice | Ed Bennett Our Home on Native Land: Digging Up a Pre-Contact Site (and Beyond) | Eduard R. Riegert Part III: âLutheranâ to âLaurierâ Putting a New University on the Map | Arthur Stephen The Perks and Perils of a University Photographer | James Hertel A University Press Comes into Being | Doreen Armbruster Procurement: A New Day | Bob Reichard The LibraryâGrowing with a Growing University | John Arndt The Computer Comes to WLU: Honeywell 316, Xerox Sigma 7âand Great People | Hart Bezner Donât Judge a Book by Its Cover (Or, Peeling the Onion) | Bruce Fournier Making Canadian History | Barry Gough From Poverty to War: An Historianâs Odyssey | Terry Copp Multiculturalism at WLU: Opening to the Wider World | Josephine C. Naidoo Reflections: One Personâs Perspective | William Marr Old English, Old Norse, Dr. Roy (and Bishop Berkeley): Fifty Years at WLU | Peter C. Erb Laurier Looks Abroad: Waterloo, Marburg, and Laurier International | Alfred Hecht The Golden Hawks Take Flight | Rich Newbrough Part IV: Quotidian: The Day-to-Day (Or, Keeping the Wheels Turning) Getting Everyone and Everything Just Right | Jim Wilgar Five Years as University Secretary | Frank Millerd On Students and Deaning | Fred Nichols A Picture Is Worth a Thousand WordsâAV and Beyond | Wilhelm E. (âWilliâ) Nassau Part V: I Came to WLU (Whereâs That ?) How I Almost Got a Job at a New University Down the Street and Instead Found a Career at WLU | Loren Calder One Job + One Job + One Job = A Job | Harold Remus French House: A First, and Then Some | Joan Kilgour Peripatetic Peregrinations | Andrew Lyons Part VI: Arts and Culture Voices from the âScales Houseâ: Music at WLU 1965â76 | Walter H. Kemp The First Four Years: Foundations for the Next Thirty | Paul Tiessen Remembering Maureen Forrester | Gordon Greene About the Editors and Contributors I Remember Laurier: Photo Album About the Editors and Contributors The Editors Rose Blackmore was a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Social Work (later renamed the Faculty of Social Work) from 1970 to 1993. She has been a member of the WLU Retirees Association almost since its inception and served for many years on the executive committee. Boyd McDonald taught piano, harmony, and counterpoint in the Faculty of Music 1976â1996. He became interested in fortepiano in 1980 and has since recorded Beethoven, Brahms, and Molique using various fortepianos. Following retirement, he taught piano part-time until 2008 and served for many years on the executive of the WLU Retirees Association. Harold Remus came to WLU in 1974, teaching in Religion and Culture and as adjunct faculty in Waterloo Lutheran Seminary; he served as director of Wilfrid Laurier University Press (1978â83) and as executive officer of the Council on the Study of Religion (1977â85) when its office was located at WLU. He retired as professor emeritus in 1994. The Editorial Committee Robert Alexander taught philosophy at WLU from 1964 to 1984, including four years as chair of the department. Since retiring from the Ontario civil service in 2002, he has been teaching courses for the Laurier Association of Lifelong Learning. Loren Calder was born in Trail, B.C., in 1929. He joined the WLU Department of History in 1960, where he taught Russian, Soviet, and modern diplomatic history, serving at times as department chair; he retired in 1994. Joan (Weber) Kilgour taught French language, literature, and culture at WLU from 1964 until her retirement in 2007. Frank Millerd joined the Department of Economics in 1970, serving as chair of the department from 1987 to 1993 and as university secretary from 1994 to 1999. He retired in 2006. Baldev Raj, professor emeritus, School of Business and Economics, came to WLU in 1972. The former editor of Empirical Economics , he was honoured as university research professor for 1989â90 and has held visiting professorships in the UK, Norway, Austria, Australia, Japan, New Delhi, and Canada, and now serves on the executive of the WLU Retirees Association. The Photographer James Hertel began his career at WLU on September 1, 1977, after being hired by Dr. Flora Roy and Willi Nassau with the title of University Photographer, retiring from 2009 from a career he had always dreamed of. The Authors John Arndt graduated from WLU in 1964; the holder of the B.L.S. and M.L.S. degrees from the University of Toronto, he came to the WLU library in 1967, where he served variously as head of information services, collections management, and acquisitions. He retired in 1999. Doreen Armbruster began at WLU in 1973 in Academic Publications, the forerunner of the Wilfrid Laurier University Press (established in 1974). Production Coordinator for two decades until retiring in 1998, she continues as a freelancer on the production of the Pressâs sixteen-volume Collected Works of Florence Nightingale . Ed Bennett taught in the WLU Department of Psychology from August 1971 until his retirement in June 2005. He introduced community psychology courses and community-service learning at WLU and served as the director of the Community Psychology M.A. program for many years. Hart Bezner obtained a B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from McMaster University. He was a member of WLUâs Department of Physics from 1967 until retiring in 2003, during which time he also served for twenty-three years as director of Computing Services. Ralph Blackmore (1916â2002) began teaching economics in the School of Business and Economics in 1966 after serving as financial editor at The Globe and Mail and in public relations at Massey Ferguson. He retired from WLU in 1981 and again in 1991. The Ralph Blackmore Award is given annually to a first-year student in honours Economics. Terry Copp joined the Laurier Department of History in 1975, retiring in 2004 to become director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, a position he still holds. Peter C. Erb was a student in Honours English at WLU from 1961 to 1965, taught English in the English 10 program in 1966â67, in the Department of English 1971â1984, and in the Department of Religion and Culture 1984â2008. In 1989 he was honoured with Laurierâs Outstanding Teacher Award. Paul Fischer, after nine years in a parish ministry, served as manager of the WLU bookstore from 1965 until 2004. Bruce Fournier joined the School of Business and Economics in 1978, after seventeen years spent hunting submariines and conducting personnel research in the military. In addition to teaching management and organizational behaviour he served as associate dean and in the Research Centre for Management of New Technology and in the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy. He retired in 2002. Tamara Giesbrecht began in accounting at WLU in 1960, became comptroller in 1963, and vice-president: finance in 1967, retiring in 1978. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of Equitable Life Insurance Co. from 1970 to 2002. Delton Glebe (1919â2011) graduated from Waterloo College (1947) and Waterloo Lutheran Seminary (1950). He chaired the Board of Governors when Waterloo Luterhan Univeristy was established, taught at the seminary and university 1960, and served as the principal-dean of the seminary 1970â84. Barry Gough joined the Department of History in 1972. He was university research professor and served as assistant dean of Arts and Science. In 2004 he reitred to Victoria, B.C., as professor emeritus. Gordon Greene joined WLU as professor of music history in 1978. A year later he became dena, serving for ten years, and again in 2005â06. The Aird Building was constructed during his tenure in the 1980s. Reginald A. Haney taught law in the School of Business and Economics from 1970 to 1995 and also
``The great author Virginia Woolf said that 'Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title.' This volume is a wonderfully welcome attempt to ensure that the leaves of the book of Wilfrid Laurier University are read by many. Intimate and highly personal glimpses into the soul of an institution are relatively rare. Here, and in celebration of the centennial of the university, are glimpses to remind us both that our future springs from our past and that our past is a rich and strong foundation on which to build. The vignettes presented in this book are a wonderful read--enjoy!'' -- Max Blouw, president and vice-chancellor, Wilfrid Laurier University -- 201108
"I Remember Laurier" is the story--actually, thirty-seven stories--of the little university that could, told by some of those who devoted themselves to transforming the school from its modest beginnings into a superb small liberal arts college, and in turn to the university whose growth, diversification, research, and partnerships characterize it today. Although the stories are diverse in content, viewpoint, and tone, readers will note a number of unifying themes, one being nostalgia for a small university where faculty, staff, and students were close and new initiatives were readily approved and easily implemented. Here too are reflections, sometimes bemused and sprinkled with humour, on professors, administrators, and students, the "Laurier Experience," and significant events such as "WLU" becoming "WLU" (Waterloo Lutheran University was renamed Wilfrid Laurier University in 1973). Evident throughout is the pride of the contributors in the development of the university to its current status and in having played a role. In the photo album at the back of the book readers will find vintage prints of the authors and of many others mentioned in the book. More photos will soon be available on the website of the Wilfrid Laurier Retirees A A Association:
"The great author Virginia Woolf said that 'Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title.' This volume is a wonderfully welcome attempt to ensure that the leaves of the book of Wilfrid Laurier University are read by many. Intimate and highly personal glimpses into the soul of an institution are relatively rare. Here, and in celebration of the centennial of the university, are glimpses to remind us both that our future springs from our past and that our past is a rich and strong foundation on which to build. The vignettes presented in this book are a wonderful readenjoy!"