UNews - Canadian Pacific Railway

Whishaw among those receiving key to city

trevor.kenney — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:27:11 +0000

A number of notable residents of southern Alberta, including many with ties to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, will receive a key to the city from Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck this week.

Neuroscience researcher Dr. Ian Whishaw headlines an impressive group of residents set to be honoured by the outgoing mayor. He'll receive his key on Thursday, Oct. 7 at a ceremony which begins at 2 p.m. at City Hall Council Chambers, 910 4th Ave. S.

Following is a complete list of those receiving keys to the city.

Mr. Ken Nakagama — Downtown business owner (Nakagama's Foods)

Senator Joyce Fairbairn — Member, Senate of Canada and U of L Honorary Doctoral degree recipient, 2004

Dr. Tracy Edwards — President, Lethbridge College

Mr. Kai Yip — Boxing coach, competitor and sports/recreation advocate

Mr. Kevin Sali — Manager, Canadian Pacific Railway and High Level Bridge lighting supporter/facilitator

The Hon. Rick Casson — Member of Parliament, Lethbridge, and recently-named Privy Council member

Dr. Ian Whishaw — Leading neuroscience researcher, member of the Royal Society of Canada and U of L Honorary Doctoral degree recipient, 2008

Ms. Rochelle Yamagishi — Author and U of L alumna BASc (BA) 1971, MEd 1991

Mr. Gary Kirk — Regional business owner, Kirk's Tire, and Faculty of Management Scholarship Dinner honoree, 2004

Chief Charles Weasel Head — Kainai First Nation

Chief Reg Crowshoe — Piikani First Nation

The public is welcome to attend the ceremony.

Williamson always had business in her blood

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:29:57 +0000

Looking back, Jessica Williamson (BMgt '02), owner and operator of the successful yoga/active-wear retail business, Hoopla Clothing, can't remember a time when she wasn't hooked on business.

"When I was about 13 years old, my brother and I started selling leeches for live bait," laughs Williamson. "I think I edged toward business because my dad had his own seed cleaning operation. I grew up with the entrepreneurial spirit in my home and I always knew I would have a business one day."

Williamson grew up in Pambrun, Saskatchewan, a very small town of approximately 50 people. After her high school graduation in 1998, she was offered, but later declined, a scholarship to attend the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Regina.

"I had done some research on several universities that were not in Saskatchewan. Coming from such a small community I felt it was time to spread my wings and go where I didn't know everyone and where I would have new opportunities and meet new people," says Williamson.

Jessica Williamson has established a thriving business since graduating from the U of L.

Attracted to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge because of its location, relatively smaller size and the opportunity it provided for management students to specialize in different areas, Williamson enrolled in a bachelor of management degree with a specialization in marketing. Finding a healthy balance between work and play, Williamson volunteered for events run by the Management Students' Society and participated in the Western Business Games. Working with several other students, she also won a business case competition for KPMG.

"People say that high school is supposed to be the best time of your life, but I seriously felt like university was one of the best times of my life. I always felt like the faculty and staff cared about the quality of education they were providing and about me as an individual," remembers Williamson. "Taking so many different classes opened my eyes to things I had never heard or thought about before and allowed me to learn and grow. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ is where I took my first yoga class. In retrospect, I realize that was a pivotal point in my life."
After graduating with great distinction in 2002, Williamson moved to Calgary. She began working for Canadian Pacific Railway and continued to dabble in yoga in her spare time.

"During my time at CP Rail, I had the opportunity to do some traveling across Canada doing process improvement work. It was a great experience and on the weekends we would travel to the area attractions and it gave me a bit of a travel bug."

After five years, Williamson knew it was time for a career change, so she turned in her resignation and took a month off.

"I wanted to go on a vacation that had a purpose. I went to a yoga retreat in Costa Rica, earned my yoga alliance certificate and became a registered yoga teacher. The retreat taught me to look inside, do what is in my heart and be happy about what I was doing," says Williamson.

Following her heart, Williamson moved to her future husband's hometown of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to open Hoopla Clothing in 2007.

"I applied to the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) for funding. It was a good process to go through.

It is not just about giving you a loan; it is about making sure you have done the proper planning. Once I opened Hoopla, CYBF set me up with a mentor, local business owner, Al Norman. He helped me set some long and short-term goals and stay on track with those goals," says Williamson.

Stay on track she did. Since opening, Hoopla Clothing has surpassed the $1 million mark in sales. In 2008, Hoopla launched an online catalog, and has expanded to include seven employees.

Williamson plans to expand her business to another Saskatchewan city in 2010 and is excited to begin her next adventure in early December when she and her husband have their first child.

Still standing strong, one hundred years

trevor.kenney — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:00:46 +0000

This year, Lethbridge celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Pacific Railway High Level Bridge – a landmark that has inspired many, including ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge architect Dr. Arthur Erickson.

"The coulees offered extraordinary opportunities: dramatic heights and depths unusual in the prairies, and the possibility of outlook, proximity to the river and a microclimate milder than the windswept flatlands. Standing there on the far edge of the coulee I saw etched against the sky the light tracery of an old iron railway bridge, 300 feet in the air, spanning a mile across the river. I came to the conclusion that though any building upon the exposed flatland should be interred in earth berms so that they would become part of the land, the academic building could span the coulees and, like the old bridge in its rigid flatness, reveal the rich contours of even the most level prairie. It seemed to me that the top storey of the university should lie below the tableland in an uncompromising straight line spanning the haunches of the prairie."

Dr. Arthur Erickson
The Architecture of Arthur Erickson
With text by the architect
Tundra Books, 1975

U of L collection part of Glenbow exhibit

trevor.kenney — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:19:49 +0000

The major strength of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Art Collection is its diversity, housing works that not only represent a wide range of geographic locations, but also the full spectrum of media, artistic movements, genres and approaches.

Due to this variety, the collection is often utilized by leading Canadian art galleries and curators as a resource for a wide range of exhibition programming. A summer exhibition (June 20 to Sept. 20) at Calgary's Glenbow Museum, entitled Vistas: Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway, features six works from the U of L Art Collection, by esteemed Canadian artists Frederic Bell-Smith, Forshaw Day, Robert Gagen, Marmaduke Matthews and Lucius O'Brien.

The exhibition focuses on these and 15 other artists who travelled west via the railway in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to capture images of the prairies and the mountains, and how their art production helped shape Canada's emerging national identity.

This curatorial journey, created by guest curator Roger Boulet, features over 130 art works and photographs from Glenbow's collections and from public and private collections in Canada and the United States – many not seen for decades. Images expressing the CPR's vision of a new Canada are featured in this sweeping exhibition. It's a stunning body of artwork, the first to reveal the Canadian West as a desirable, majestic and awe-inspiring destination.

Lasting Images - Art Collection

trevor.kenney — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:11:27 +0000

Due to this variety, the collection is often utilized by leading Canadian art galleries and curators as a resource for a wide range of exhibition programming. An upcoming summer exhibition opening at Calgary's Glenbow Museum, entitled Vistas: Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway, will feature six works from the U of L Art Collection, by esteemed Canadian artists Frederic Bell-Smith, Forshaw Day, Robert Gagen, Marmaduke Matthews and Lucius O'Brien.

UNews - Canadian Pacific Railway

Whishaw among those receiving key to city

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