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Person

Emory Jackson

  • MRUASC-AR0076
  • Person
  • 1911-1998

Emory George Jackson was born in Calgary on December 23, 1911 and grew up on his father’s farm near Cheadle, Alberta. Jackson attended junior high school at Mount Royal College from 1926 to 1930. During his studies, he won the gold medal in general proficiency in 1926, and the excellence in history prize in 1929. Jackson also managed the boys’ hockey and basketball teams, was a member of the Literary Society, and assisted with the college yearbook, The Chinook, as a classroom reporter and wit and humour staff member. According to the yearbooks, his comedic antics earned him the nickname "Goofy" amongst his friends and classmates.

Bennie Emil Ehnisz

  • MRUASC-AR0075
  • Person
  • 1920-1943

Bennie Emil Ehnisz was a Mount Royal student and RCAF flying instructor during the Second World War.

Ehnisz was born in Burstall, Saskatchewan and attended Mount Royal College in 1938. The Chinook yearbook describes him as “a very amiable lad whose ambition on completing his education is to return to Saskatchewan and rehabilitate the drought area.”

On 11 October 1940, Ehnisz enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Regina. He became an instructor at the #2 Flying Instructors School in Vulcan, Alberta (the school later relocated to Pearce, Alberta). During a training flight with a student, the starboard engine of his aircraft caught fire and he ordered the student to bail out to safety. Ehnisz did not survive the crash as his parachute had malfunctioned. He died eight miles east of Champion, Alberta on February 13, 1943. Ehnisz is buried at Hillside Cemetery in Medicine Hat, Saskatchewan. Ehnisz Island at Kakabigish Lake in northern Saskatchewan is named in his honour.

Robert Steadward

  • MRUASC-AR0074
  • Person
  • 1946-

Robert Steadward is a professor, sports scientist, author, coach, community leader, and was the founding President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Steadward was born on May 26, 1946 in Eston, Saskatchewan to Danny and Irene Steadward. Steadward studied Dentistry at the University of Alberta before switching fields to earn a bachelor degree from the Faculty of Physical Education at the University of Alberta. He went on to earn a master's degree in Physical Education from the University of Alberta, and a PhD from the University of Oregon.

Steadward began working with disabled athletes and adaptive sports in 1960 when he coached the Edmonton Handicaddies, a wheelchair basketball club. Steadward went on to coach basketball, swim, and track teams for the Paralympic Sports Association, and coached the Canadian national team at the 1972 Paralympic Games, 1973 International Stoke Mandeville Games, and the Jamaican Pan-American Games. He was also responsible for organizing the Canadian team during the 1976 Olympics for the Physically Disabled. Steadward served as President of the Alberta Wheelchair Sports Association from 1971-1975, was the founding president and chairman of the Canadian Sports Fund for the Physically Disabled (1979-1989), and has served in various roles with the Canadian Paralympic Committee, including coach, chef de mission, national governor, treasurer, and president.

His involvement in organizing competitive sporting events for athletes with disabilities began in 1968 with the development of the first Canadian national championships for wheelchair sports, which was held in Edmonton. He became interested in establishing a central organization responsible for the international development of sport opportunities and competitions for disabled athletes after attending the Olympics for the Physically Disabled in Arnhem, Netherlands in 1980. Previous to the foundation of the International Paralympic Committee, Paralympics Games were run by a conglomeration of four different organizations: the International Sport Organization for the Disabled (ISOD), the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), and the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CP ISRA). Working with the Canadian Federation of Sport Organizations for the Disabled (CFSOD), Steadward aimed to develop a new centralized democratic model for disabled sport. Throughout the 1980s Steadward forged relationships with various disability sports organizations and sought support for the formation of a single organization to represent disabled athletes at the highest level of competition. Finally, in 1989 the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was formed with Steadward as the first President.

One of Steadward's goals for the IPC was to pursue recognition from, and eventual integration with, the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As a result of Steadward's communications with the IOC, demonstration events for athletes with disabilities started being included in the Olympics, and some competitions, such as the 2002 Commonwealth Games, started to fully integrated events for people with disabilities into their sporting program. Other IPC successes under Steadward's leadership include: developing the organizational and committee structure for the IPC, growing IPC membership to include 172 nations, and formally connecting the IPC and IOC with a memorandum of understanding in 2000. Steadward then stepped down as President and became Honorary President for Life in 2001.

Regarding his academic career, Steadward joined the faculty of the University of Alberta in 1970, specializing in exercise physiology, anatomy, and athletic injuries. Steadward founded the Research and Training Centre for the Physically Disabled at the University of Alberta (now known as the Steadward Centre for Personal & Physical Achievement) in 1978. The center became a multi-disability fitness, research, and lifestyle center that continues to be internationally recognized as a model in the field of independent fitness training for people with disabilities. Steadward retired from the University of Alberta in 2001 and was later named Professor Emeritus.

Steadward is the author of over 150 publications and has delivered over 300 speeches and presentations. He was also responsible for creating Vista '93, a disability sport conference that brought together over 160 sports experts and laid the foundations for the ensuing Paralympic Congresses. Steadward has been recognized as a pioneer in the field of disability sport and has received numerous honours and awards celebrating his contributions and achievements including: Alberta Sports Hall of Fame (1984), Order of Canada - Officer (1999), Terr Fox Hall of Fame (2002), Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), Edmontonian of the Century (2004), Canada's Sport Hall of Fame (2007), Alberta Order of Excellence (2010), and Order of Canada - Companion (2020).

Antoine Eche

  • MRUASC-AR0071
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Antoine Eche is an Associate Professor of French at Mount Royal University.

Eche obtained a BA, MA in French as a Foreign Language, MA in English and American Literature, and a PhD in French Literature from the Universite de Tours in France. He has previously taught the French language and French literature at the University of Strathclyde, the University of Calgary, and the University of Cyprus.

His research interests include travel writing from the Ancien Régime. At Mount Royal University, Eche is a member of the Enlightenment Group, an interdisciplinary group of faculty that have hosted colloquia and symposia on the 18th century.

Ronald Smith

  • MRUASC-AR0070
  • Person
  • [19--]-[200-?]

Ronald Smith was a student at Mount Royal College. He attended the college from 1960-1961 and took business administration and sales management.

Smith was a member of the Mount Royal College Junior Football team and wore number #74. In 1961, he was awarded the Henry Birks & Sons Gold Medal for highest general standing in Second Year Business Administration and the Calgary Section Council of Jewish Women Bursary for highest standing in Second Year Business Administration.

Linda Many Guns

  • MRUASC-AR0069
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Linda Many Guns is a Professor of Indigenous Studies, Arts & Sciences, at the University of Lethbridge, and has served as the Associate Vice-President of Indigenization and Decolonization at Mount Royal University and the Executive Director for the Nii Touii Knowledge and Learning Centre. Many Guns is a Blackfoot woman and elder, a member of the Buffalo Women's Society and the Beaver Bundle Society, and was born on the Tsuut'ina Nation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Thomas University, a Master's from Carleton University, a law degree from University of Ottawa, and a doctorate from Trent University.

Paul Brandt

  • MRUASC-AR0068
  • Person
  • 1972-

Paul Brandt is a Canadian country music artist. He was born Paul Rennee Belobersycky on July 21, 1972 in Calgary, Alberta. Brandt attended Crescent Heights High School and Mount Royal University, where he graduated from the nursing program in 1992.

Brandt made his music debut in 1996 with the release of his single “My Heart Has a History.” This single propelled him to become the first Canadian country singer to make the top 10 list on Billboard Hot Country Songs since 1974. Having a successful music career, Brandt was first signed by Warner Canada. His debut album “Calm Before The Storm” was released in 1996 and was certified gold in 1997 by the RIAA. Brandt followed this success with further albums “Outside the Frame” (1997), “That’s the Truth” (1999) and a greatest hits album, "What I Want to Be Remembered For" (2000), which was only released in Canada.

In 200[?] Brandt started his own record label “Brand-T Records." Through his label, he has released further albums including “Small Towns and Big Dreams” (2001), “This Time Around” (2004), “Risk” (2007), “Give it Away” (2011) and “Just as I Am” (2012). Brandt won the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Album of the Year award for “Small Towns and Big Dreams” in 2002, a Juno award for Country Recording of the Year for his album “Risk” in 2008 and gold or platinum certification for most albums.

Besides his music career, Brandt received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 2009 and an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Briercrest College and Seminary in 2010. He was awarded the HRM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 and inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017. Brandt is a humanitarian and has many philanthropic endeavours. He has supported charities such as the Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child and the campaign “Not In My City,” which raises money to support survivors of human trafficking. Brandt has also served as Storyteller-in-Residence at Mount Royal University from 2016-2018.

In 1997, Brandt married his wife Elizabeth (Liz) Peterson, with whom he has two children.

Marg Edmonds

  • MRUASC-AR0067
  • Person
  • 1927-

Marg Edmonds was a Social Work professor in the faculty of Continuing Education and Extension at Mount Royal University. She began teaching at Mount Royal in the 1970s and retired in the 1990s.

Leona Paterson

  • MRUASC-AR0066
  • Person
  • 1912-2004

Dr. Leona Flegal Paterson was a noted speech arts and drama educator, performer, and adjudicator who taught at the Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music for 33 years and directed the Conservatory from 1974-1977. Paterson was born in Calgary in 1912 to Otto and Mathilda Flegal and started making a name for herself in speech arts at an early age. Paterson’s first teacher was Calgary play-reader and impersonator, Theresa M. Siegal, under whose tutelage Paterson performed many reading concerts as a solo performer. Paterson was primarily educated in Calgary but continued her education in California, finishing high school and majoring in acting at the University of Southern California. She also earned an associate diploma (ARCT) in speech from the University of Toronto Conservatory of Music, studying under speech instructors Clara Salisbury Baker and Florence Aymong.

Paterson began her teaching career at a young age by offering private speech lessons in Calgary, and continued to offer private lessons to hundreds of speech students over her long career. In 1944 she joined the faculty of Mount Royal College as the director of the Speech and Drama department of the Conservatory of Music. Early course offerings in the department include theory of voice training, elocution, elementary prosody, public speaking, and dramatic art, with a degree in elocution offered from the Toronto Conservatory of Music. During her time teaching at Mount Royal, Paterson greatly expanded the speech arts program and introduced new programs such as a speech therapy program for children with hearing difficulties, speech course for radio and television presenters, a reader’s theatre program, children’s theatre program, and an expanded theatre arts program. Paterson also introduced a board of examiners for speech arts which administered an examination process which was similar to the one for music at the Toronto Conservatory. Paterson’s authority on speech arts was unprecedented in Canada. She authored numerous articles on voice production, readers theatre, and choral speech and published a book, Creative Communication: Teaching the Language Arts in 1972.

In addition to teaching at Mount Royal College, Paterson was also a highly in-demand summer faculty member at other notable institutions such as the Banff School of Fine Arts, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Alberta. Paterson was a faculty member at the Banff School of Fine Arts for sixteen summers, starting in 1946, where she taught speech arts and drama to students from around the world. Paterson also traveled extensively throughout Canada conducting workshops and seminars to increase the profile of speech arts education and was well respected for her work as a speech arts adjudicator and examiner. She adjudicated music, speech, and drama festivals across Canada and was instrumental in having speech and drama introduced to the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival. Paterson further helped to establish speech arts by founding the Canadian Speech Association and the Alberta Speech Association, and she served as president of both organizations.

Throughout her life Paterson received many awards honouring her contributions to Canadian speech arts and education. She received an achievement award in drama from the Government of Alberta in 1970, an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary in 1974, and an honorary fellowship from Trinity College of Music London in 1984. The Canadian Speech Communicators Association named her its "Speaker of the Year'' in 1983 and Paterson appears in the book 200 Remarkable Alberta Women: The Kay Sanderson collection, which was published by the Famous 5 Foundation in 1999.

Paterson was the wife of Harold Paterson and the mother of Grant Paterson, both of whom have worked as Mount Royal College Conservatory faculty. Harold Paterson taught literature and public speaking part-tim,e and Grant has been teaching speech and drama classes since 1994.

Francis Turner

  • MRUASC-AR0065
  • Person
  • [19--]-2000

Francis 'Scoop' Turner was a student in the secretarial program at Mount Royal College, and graduated in 1931.

Audrey Spencer

  • MRUASC-AR0064
  • Person
  • 1933?-

Audrey Spencer was a student and a teacher of speech at the Mount Royal Conservatory.

Doris Annear

  • MRUASC-AR0063
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Doris Annear, nee Greene, was a student from Innisfail, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College from 1947-1949.

Margaret Bertram

  • MRUASC-AR0062
  • Person
  • 1928?-

Margaret Bertram, nee Greene, was a secretarial student in Mount Royal College's Commercial Department in 1945-1946.

Wade Lorenzton

  • MRUASC-AR0059
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Wade Lorenzton was the chaplain for Mount Royal College.

Bruce Hunter

  • MRUASC-AR0057
  • Person
  • 1952-

Bruce Hunter is a Canadian author. The oldest of seven children, Hunter was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta and currently lives in Ontario. Hunter worked in Calgary as a gardener, labourer, and nightwatchman for fifteen years before winning a scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1978, where he studied creative writing with W.O. Mitchell. Hunter attended York University in his late twenties, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honours in 1983.

Hunter went on to teach a wide variety of English, Creative Writing, and Liberal Studies courses at Seneca College from 1986 to 2012, and has also taught at York University and the Banff School of Fine Arts. He has also taught workshops on poetry, spoken word, and creativity, and served as a Writer in Residence at the Calgary Public Library, the Richmond Public Library, and the Banff Centre (for the Writers' Guild of Alberta). Hunter worked as a reviewer for several literature journals, and served as the poetry reviews editor and columnist for Cross Canada Writers' Quarterly in the 1980s. Hunter was deafened as an infant due to a bout of pneumonia, and is an advocate for people with disabilities and a prominent member of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

Hunter is the author of: Country Music Country, a collection of short stories published in 1996; In The Bear's House, a novel published in 2009; as well as five books of poetry: Selected Canadian Rifles (1981), Benchmark (1982), The Beekeeper's Daughter (1986), Coming Home From Home, (2000), and Two O'Clock Creek (2010). In The Bear's House won the 2009 Canadian Rockies Prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival, and Two O'Clock Creek won the Acorn-Plantos Peoples' Poetry Award. Hunter's poetry has also been published in several anthologies and journals, and has also been published in Italian.

Jim Cameron

  • MRUASC-AR0056
  • Person
  • [19--]

Jim Cameron was a Calgary based photographer. Cameron was hired to photograph the construction of Mount Royal College's Lincoln Park campus in the early 1970s. He also captured images of the original downtown campus, Churchill Park campus, Old Sun College campus, and related ceremonies and events.

Grant Paterson

  • MRUASC-AR0055
  • Person
  • 1956-

Grant Paterson is a teacher, actor, musician, director, and adjudicator specializing in speech arts. Paterson began his teaching career in 1994, giving private lessons in drama and speech arts with his colleague Jim Dobbin. Paterson started teaching at the Mount Royal College Conservatory in 1995 in Speech, Theatre, and Communication Studies, and later served as the Coordinator of the Speech Arts department. Paterson continues to teach as a sessional speech arts instructor in the Conservatory and as a part-time lecturer in the School of Communication Studies.

Paterson is an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music and was heavily involved in the merger of the Mount Royal College Conservatory and Royal Conservatory of Music syllabuses and examination criteria. Paterson is also a well-known speech arts adjudicator and has adjudicated at various speech, drama, and performing arts festivals throughout Alberta and Canada.

Paterson has been involved in many theatre productions in the Calgary area. The play Rhyme Rustler: The Ballad of Robert Service was written, directed, and performed by Paterson and was taken up for two seasons by the Vertigo Theatre. Paterson graduated from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London in 1979 and also holds associate diplomas in speech arts and drama from Mount Royal College and the Royal Conservatory of Music. Paterson graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1980 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1994. Paterson earned associate diploma (1976), licentiate (1985), and fellowship (1988) degrees from Trinity College of Music in London, England.

Grant Paterson is also the son of Dr. Leona Paterson, who founded Mount Royal College's Speech and Drama Department in 1944.

Violet Armstrong

  • MRUASC-AR0054
  • Person
  • 1918-2018

Violet Armstrong was a student from Taber, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College in the early 1940s as part of the Provincial Health and Recreation Youth Training Programme. She "taught youth leadership and recreation classes in communities around the southern region. In 1944 Vi moved to Berkley, California with her husband, Malcolm Taylor. There she worked in Richmond, California's Recreation Department as a youth programmer and counsellor, creating some of the city's first integrated sport and social programs."

Gloria Heinzmann

  • MRUASC-AR0053
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Gloria Heinzmann (nee Hodgson) was a nursing student at Mount Royal College, and a member of the nursing program's inaugural graduating class in 1970.

Margaret Plewis

  • MRUASC-AR0050
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Margaret Plewis was a student from Swift Current, Saskatchewan who attended Mount Royal College in 1948-1949.

Stephen Wilk

  • MRUASC-AR0049
  • Person
  • 1923-2006

Stephen Wilk was the coordinator of the Mount Royal History Project and a former teacher of psychology and sociology at Mount Royal College during the 1950s. The goal of the Mount Royal History Project was to research the history of Mount Royal College to produce a book for the college's 90th anniversary. As Project Coordinator, Wilk acted as the photo page editor and conducted interviews of former Mount Royal students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Wilk acted as the Project Coordinator of the Mount Royal history project from 1996 to 2004 and produced a complete but unpublished manuscript entitled "An Institution and its Communities: A History of Mount Royal College 1910-2000."

Wilk held a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, a Bachelor of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry, and was a historian primarily focused on the history of Alberta. He was an active member of several local historical societies including the Nose Creek Historic Society, and was involved with local archives, museums, and heritage preservation efforts. He was the author/editor of several books on local history including "One Day's Journey", a history of the Airdrie District, "Pioneers of Faith", a history of the Airdrie United Church, and "100 Years of Nose Creek Valley History".

In addition to his work as a historian, Wilk was a United Church of Canada minister (since 1952) and served as a medic with the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. Stephen Wilk died on November 12, 2006.

Pam Nordstrom

  • MRUASC-AR0048
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Pam Nordstrom was a faculty member and administrator in the School of Nursing at Mount Royal University. A graduate of the University of Calgary, Nordstrom served in a variety of roles at Mount Royal including Director of the School of Nursing, Chair of the Department of Undergraduate Nursing Studies, Executive Director of Enrollment Services, and Program Chair of the Maternal Infant Child Healthcare program. In 2017, Nordstrom was appointed Vice President of Academic Affairs at Ambrose University.

Donna Taylor

  • MRUASC-AR0047
  • Person
  • [19--]

Donna Taylor was a nursing faculty member at Mount Royal College from 1971 to 1997. She started as a sessional instructor in 1971 and became full time faculty in 1983. Taylor joined the Calgary Conjoint Nursing Program Task Force in 1986. She was Chair of the Department of Nursing and Allied Health in 1991, and served as Director for the Centre for Health Studies in 1995 until her retirement in 1997.

Jack Kenyon

  • MRUASC-AR0043
  • Person
  • 1935-1994

Jack Kenyon was a successful basketball coach and mathematics professor at Mount Royal College. A native Calgarian and Mount Royal College student, Kenyon completed a Master of Science degree in Mathematics at the University of Alberta. In the early 1960s he returned to Mount Royal College and taught math and coached the college basketball team to great success until his death in 1994. In 1989 he received a Distinguished Faculty Teaching award, and in 1990 he was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1993, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Patricia Houghton

  • MRUASC-AR0040
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Patricia Houghton served on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association of Mount Royal College.

Steve Bascom

  • MRUASC-AR0038
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Steve Bascom was employed in Mount Royal College's Department of Program Research and Development.

Marilyn Meek

  • MRUASC-AR0036
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Marilyn Meek (née Duffy) was a student from Calgary who was enrolled in the Secretarial Science program at Mount Royal College in 1963-1964.

Mary Prossak

  • MRUASC-AR0035
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Mary Prossak was the Supervisor of the Student Store at Mount Royal College.

Barry Virtue

  • MRUASC-AR0034
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Barry Virtue was the Provost of Mount Royal College. In 1971, Virtue was made responsible for the operation of Mount Royal College's Churchill Park Campus (located at 300 5th Avenue SW).

Dick Cooke

  • MRUASC-AR0033
  • Person
  • [19--]

Dick Cooke was the Director of Planning and Development at Mount Royal College.

Ray Sloan

  • MRUASC-AR0032
  • Person
  • [1940?]-[1995?]

Ray Sloan was an environmental scientist, conservationist, and instructor at Mount Royal College.

Dorian G.W. Smith

  • MRUASC-AR0029
  • Person
  • 1934-2013

Dorian G.W. Smith was a Canadian mineralogist and professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Smith was born in London, England where he served in the Royal Air Force and attended University College London before completing a PhD at Cambridge in 1963. Smith subsequently completed a Master of Science at the University of Alberta and accepted a teaching position in the Department of Geology in 1966.

While at the University of Alberta, Smith taught mineralogy and acted as the curator of mineral and meteorite collections. He also helped to establish an electron microprobe laboratory and developed a software database used for the identification of minerals known as MinIdent, which is still used worldwide by mining companies and academic institutions. Smith's research focused on "K/Ar dating, clay mineralogy, meteoritics, X-ray spectroscopy, microanalysis, and computer applications" (Higgins, Dorian G.W. Smith). Smith remained at the University of Alberta until his retirement in 2000.

Smith was heavily involved with the geology and mineralogy community. He was an active member of the Mineralogical Association of Canada, where he held executive positions and acted as President from 1978-1979. Smith also traveled widely to collaborate with other geologists and mineralogists, attending and contributing to international conferences including the International Mineralogical Association. Even after retirement, Smith continued to contribute to his field by developing codes for unnamed minerals as part of the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals, and by continuing to update and maintain MinIdent.

Alan Dyment

  • MRUASC-AR0028
  • Person
  • [19--]

Alan Dyment was the Director of the Learning Resource Centre, and an administrator at Mount Royal College for twenty seven years. Dyment received a Master's degree from the University of Wales, and worked as a librarian at Centennial College in Toronto before moving to Calgary in 1973 to accept the position of Director of the Learning Resource Centre. During Dyment’s directorship, the Learning Resource Centre adopted an service model known as ‘resource islands,' where most faculty members were centrally located in the library near the teaching materials related to their disciplines. The model was designed to facilitate self-paced learning and became very popular with student, faculty, and staff. Dyment was also active in the library community outside of Mount Royal College, serving as chairman for the Alberta Council of College Librarians in 1976-1979, and as chairmen of the Community and Technical College Libraries section of the Canadian Association of College and University Libraries in 1982-1983.

Dyment was closely involved with the administration of Mount Royal College. He was a member of the Vice-President’s Advisory Group, which consisted of all Deans/Directors that reported to the Vice-President, and he was active on several committees and task forces including: the Planning Committee, the MRSSA Exempt Professional Development Committee, and the Organizational Review Committee. While serving as one of three members of the Organizational Review Committee, Dyment played a significant role in a major administrative reorganization of the college that took place in the early 1980s under the leadership of President Donald Baker. The committee solicited faculty member opinions, made recommendations, and authored reports that influenced the restructuring that laid the groundwork for the college's expansion.

In 1982 Dyment resigned as Director of the Learning Resource Centre to become the Director of Academic Services. He was replaced as head librarian by Elaine Boychuck. Dyment served in other administration roles in the 1990s including Assistant Vice-President, Academic and Dean of Academic Services, and Vice-President, Student and Academic Services. Dyment retired in 2000 and his service was recognized by Mount Royal College through the establishment of the Alan Dyment Bursary which is available to full and part-time students with a disability in their third or fourth year of study.

Gordon Stanley Purdy

  • MRUASC-AR0027
  • Person
  • 1890-[19--]

Gordon Stanley Purdy was a Lance Corporal in the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force during the First World War. He is the father of former Mount Royal College student and World War Two captain, Douglas Gordon Purdy.

Douglass Smith Kirkwood

  • MRUASC-AR0024
  • Person
  • 1921-1944

Douglass Smith Kirkwood was a Warrant Officer 2nd Class in the Royal Canadian Air Force and a former Mount Royal College student. Kirkwood was the only son of William and Catherine Kirkwood and was born in Calgary, Alberta. He attended Mount Royal College from 1930-1936 and continued his education in Edmonton, Alberta by attending the University of Alberta from 1937-1942, earning a Bachelor of Science in Geology. Kirkwood enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on April 28, 1942. Kirkwood was part of the seven man crew for a Avro Lancaster LL960 HW-D which was part of 100 Squadron, stationed at Royal Air Force Station Grimsby in County Lincolnshire, England. On May 21, 1944 Kirkwood's Lancaster bomber was deployed on a mission over Duisburg, Germany where it was shot down. Douglass Smith Kirkwood is buried at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Kleve, Germany.

Douglas Gordon Purdy

  • MRUASC-AR0023
  • Person
  • 1920-1942

Douglas Gordon Purdy was a captain in the Calgary Regiment of the R.C.C.A. during the Second World War and a former Mount Royal College student. Purdy was the middle son of Gordon Stanley and Margaret Purdy. He enlisted for military service on June 28, 1940 and was assigned to the Calgary Regiment, R.C.C.A. 14th Army Tank Regiment. On May 29th, 1942 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. Captain Purdy and the 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment were dispatched on August 19th, 1942 to participate in an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, which became known as the Battle of Dieppe. Purdy was the Troop Leader for 8 Troop B Squadron on TLC-3 (Tank Landing Craft). Captain Purdy died at age 22 during landing operations at the start of the battle and was buried in Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery in Seine-Maritime, France.

Diana Patterson

  • MRUASC-AR0021
  • Person
  • 1948-

Diana Patterson was a professor of English in the faculties of Arts and Communication Studies at Mount Royal University. She began her career at Mount Royal in 1991 and retired in 2013 after 23 years. As the acting chair of the Technical Writing program, she was instrumental in developing the Technical Communication Degree. Patterson is also well known as a Harry Potter expert and has published several papers and an edited book, "Harry Potter's World Wide Influence", on the subject. Patterson is currently working on a book about the history of the Mount Royal Conservatory and has been an invaluable resource in developing the University Archives and capturing the institution's history. In 2014 Patterson was selected by the University Board of Governors as Professor Emerita for her ongoing commitment to Mount Royal. Additionally, the SIGDOC (Special Interest Group for Design of Communication) offers the biannual Diana Award, named after Patterson who was a past president, to organizations, institutions, or businesses for their long-term contributions to the field of communication design.

Donna Hinde

  • MRUASC-AR0019
  • Person
  • 1946-1995

Donna Hinde (nee Hehr) was a nursing instructor and administrator at Mount Royal College from 1974 to 1995. Hinde was the daughter of Martha and William Hehr and grew up on a farm outside of Crossfield, Alberta. Hinde trained as a nurse at the Calgary General Hospital and graduated in 1967. After graduation, she worked as an operating room nurse and began her teaching career at the General Hospital's Nursing School, which she taught at until the school shut down in 1974. Hinde joined Mount Royal College as a nursing instructor and administrator in 1974 and taught until her death from cancer in 1995.
In addition to her nursing diploma from the Calgary General Hospital Nursing School, Hinde earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Alberta in 1970, and two master's degrees in Education in 1980 and Science in 1984, both from the University of Calgary. Hinde was active in several nursing organizations, serving as the chairwoman of the Nursing and Allied Health Department and as a member of the board of the Alzheimer's Society of Calgary. Hinde is also recognized for her commitment and contributions to the field of gerontology, and Mount Royal University continues to offer the Donna B. Hinde Memorial Scholarship in Gerontology to honour her contributions to the university and the nursing program.

Carol Shepstone

  • MRUASC-AR0018
  • Person
  • 1964-

"Carol Shepstone has been working in academic libraries for more than 18 years. [She became Ryerson University's Chief Librarian in September 2017.] As the former university librarian at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, she helped transition the Library through periods of significant institutional change, and provided key leadership in planning the new Riddell Library and Learning Centre facility, which is set to open July 2017. Her career has also included leadership roles with the University of Saskatchewan Libraries and positions with both the University of British Columbia (UBC) Library system and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Carol also has experience working in archives, academic research institutes, and public libraries.

Carol is an active member of many association boards, advisory committees, and academic library consortia. She is currently serving as vice-chair of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), and vice-chair of the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL). Her research interests include organizational culture, perceptions of the value and impact of academic libraries, library building design, and intellectual property.

Carol holds a bachelor of arts in Cultural Anthropology (Museum Studies) from UBC, where she also received her Master of Library and Information Studies. She is currently pursuing an LLM in intellectual property law from Osgoode Hall Law School on a part-time basis."

Pat Roome

  • MRUASC-AR0017
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Pat Roome was a history professor at Mount Royal College/University and the founder of what became the Mount Royal University Archives and Special Collections. Roome joined Mount Royal College in 1974 and taught Canadian history and women’s studies until 2007. Starting in 2008, Roome was seconded to lead the Centennial Archives Project, which sought to establish an institutional archives for the college, which would play a central role in Mount Royal's centennial in 2010. While heading the archives, Roome acquired institutional and private records relating to Mount Royal's history, inventoried the institution's art collection, and promoted the archives and Mount Royal College history though centennial projects such as the establishment of the military memorial scholarships and the naming of the Kerby LRT station. Now retired, Roome's contributions to Mount Royal continue to be recognized in the Patricia Roome Centennial Scholarship, which is awarded to a fourth year history student of high academic achievement.

Leonard Leacock

  • MRUASC-AR0013
  • Person
  • 1904-1992

Leonard Leacock was a Canadian pianist, composer, and educator who taught music and musical theory at Mount Royal College for over sixty years. Leacock was born in 1904 in London, England and immigrated in 1908 with his family to Canada where they settled in Banff, Alberta. Leacock started playing the piano at age 14 and was educated in Banff, Calgary, Toronto, and Boston. In 1924 he received an Associate Diploma from the Toronto Conservatory of Music and began his teaching career at Mount Royal College. He also completed his Licentiate Diploma from the Royal Schools of Music in London in 1937. In addition to his work as an educator for Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music, Speech Arts, and Dance, Leacock served as President of the Registered Music Teacher's Association, Calgary Branch, and was an examiner for the Western Board of Music.

Leacock composed compositions for orchestra, piano, strings, voice, and other instruments. Some of his most well known compositions include "The Lonely Lake", "Tic-Toc-atina", and "Sea Horses" which became popular with piano teachers and students, often being used as a competition test piece. Leacock gave many performances at Mount Royal College and performed with both the Calgary Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Aeolian Chamber Music Series. Leacock gave his last public performance in 1975 in the Leacock Theater which was dedicated in his honor in 1972 during the opening of the new Mount Royal Lincoln Park Campus. During his lifetime Leacock received many awards for his compositions and teaching. Most prominently, he received an Alberta Achievement award for service to music from the provincial government in 1985 and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1986.

In addition to his musical and teaching career, Leacock was also well known for his interest in amateur photography and mountaineering. He spent many of his weekends and summers hiking the Rockies and around Banff. One of his photographs was published in National Geographic in 1947 and his work was exhibited at the Brussels International fair in 1958. Some of his work is still on display around Mount Royal University in the Leacock and Wright theaters. Leacock was also a frequent speaker giving talks about his climbing and mountaineering adventures to groups such as the Knights of the Round Table and at the Banff Springs Hotel.

Leonard Leacock passed away on December 3,1992. More of his papers and photographs can be found in the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff.

David Raichman

  • MRUASC-AR0011
  • Person
  • [1916?]-[1997?]

David Raichman was the Calgary-Centre district candidate for the Communist Party-Alberta in the 1963 provincial election.

Ida Schrader

  • MRUASC-AR0010
  • Person
  • [18--]-[19--]

Ida Schrader was a student at Mount Royal College in 1914-1915. She was enrolled in the Commercial Department and received a diploma in shorthand in 1915. She was originally from Harmattan, Alberta.

Margy MacMillan

  • MRUASC-AR0007
  • Person
  • 1962-

"Margy MacMillan received her BA in Medieval French and Old Icelandic literatures in 1984. Taking this intensely practical focus to the next level, she received her Master’s degree in Library Service from Dalhousie University in 1986. She has worked for the University of Calgary, the Tsuu Tina Nation." (1)

"[She] worked in various capacities at Mount Royal College and University from 1990 to 2017. For most of that time she was an instruction librarian, but also had brief stints as Internet Coordinator working from the ADC, one year as acting Circulation Librarian and several years as coordinator of Information Services in the Library. She served on many committees for the Library, MRFA, and the institution. Her scholarly work was concerned primarily with information literacy, including how students read and used scholarly articles." (2)

Tom Besse

  • MRUASC-AR0006
  • Person
  • 1940-2010

Tom Besse was an instructor at Mount Royal College, as well as Coordinator of Theatre Arts and the Chairman of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts. Besse graduated with a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta. Besse was hired in 1967 to build MRC’s drama department, where he increased student enrollment from 60 students in 1967 to 1200 students in 1984. He taught at Mount Royal College for thirty years and was involved in directing, producing, and acting in over 60 theatrical productions.

Alina Dabrowska

  • MRUASC-AR0005
  • Person
  • 1932-2012

Alina Dabrowska was an instructor in the Department of Interior Design at Mount Royal College from 1979 to 2007. Born in Poland in 1932, she immigrated to Great Britain in 1972 and then to Calgary in 1979. Dabrowska had a successful career as an architect, engineer, college instructor, and artist.

Helen Hartman Smith

  • MRUASC-AR0004
  • Person
  • 1921-2016

Helen Hartman Smith was a student from Olds, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College in 1937-1938. Mount Royal University established the Helen Hartman Smith Centennial Scholarship in English in her honour in 2011.

Muriel Sanderson

  • MRUASC-AR0003
  • Person
  • 1926-2011

Muriel Sanderson was a student from East Coulee, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College in 1944-1945.

Joel Barrett

  • MRUASC-AR0002
  • Person
  • 1930-2015

Joel Barrett was an architect based in Calgary, Alberta and New Westminster, BC. Barrett studied architecture at the University of Manitoba and Columbia University before settling in Calgary, where he was a Design Partner with the firm Stevenson, Raines, Barrett, Hutton, and Seton. In 1989 he relocated to West Vancouver and joined CJP Architects in New Westminster, where he continued his career until retirement at the age of 79.