UNews - Michael Davie

Alma Matters

trevor.kenney — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:54:27 +0000

What's new with our alumni? Let your classmates know what you are up to by sharing a note about your life. Share your news with us through e-mail (alumni@uleth.ca), or by phone (toll free 1-866-552-2582).

Check out the latest news from our alumni below.

1970

Kinahan holds community focus
Brian Kinahan (BMgt '79) believes his time spent at the U of L was foundational for his career. "At the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ I gained the ability to think through problems and come up with solutions, to expand my mind and think beyond more than just one focus," he says.

Now the president and CEO of 1st Choice Savings, Kinahan has played an integral part in the growth of the credit union, which currently boasts a balance sheet in excess of $400 million. While helping to build a successful financial institution is something he is proud of, he is also grateful for the opportunities he has to serve his community.

"My goal is to continue building on the success of 1st Choice Savings, guiding it to be a viable and important part of the financial world that focuses on being a community-minded institution that cares about individuals."

1980

Nancy Walker BMgt '82
Walker was awarded a Fellow of Chartered Accountants (FCA) from the Alberta Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Bill Neudorf BEd '88
"In memory: some of you may remember the little three-year-old girl who would come to class with her dad and spend the time colouring or playing with dolls. Her name was Bobbi Renee Neudorf. Bobbi later suffered from Crohn's disease through her time at university but finished a BSc in Occupational Therapy at the U of A and worked for three years in the QEII hospital in Grande Prairie. Bobbi succumbed to complications from the disease and passed away from a massive blood clot on Sept. 21, 2009. She was 25 years and two months old."

Pamela Zollner BEd '86
After graduating from the U of L, Zollner taught for a couple of years in Alberta before developing a taste for international travel by backpacking around Australia and New Zealand. Zollner incorporated this love for travel into her work by teaching in Singapore and India. Zollner completed her Master of Education in June 2008 and is currently teaching Grade 2 in Calgary.

1990

Winner of the $10,000 Alberta Readers' Choice Award
Michael Davie (BMgt '94) won the inaugural $10,000 Alberta Readers' Choice Award for his first novel

Author Michael Davie

, Fishing for Bacon. The Alberta Readers' Choice Award is modelled on the very popular Canada Reads prize. Five books, each one championed by a celebrity, vie to win a popular vote. With $10,000 going to the winner, the competition is on the same financial level as the Governor General's Awards.

Aaron Berg BSc '95, MSc '97
Dr. Aaron Berg was recognized as GeogNews' (News Digest of the Canadian Association of Geographers) Geographer of the Week. Berg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph. He completed a BSc and an MSc degree in Geography at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, an MS in Geological Sciences at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Texas at Austin and his PhD in Earth System Science at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of California, Irvine. His research focuses on hydrology and hydro-climate simulation. Areas of current research interest include: macro-scale modeling of hydrological states and fluxes; climate change and water resources; the spatial scaling of hydrological properties; and evaluating the impact of land use change on regional hydrologic cycles.

Thomas Latta BMgt '97
"I am currently working as the manager, Operations Accounting and Business Solutions for Enerplus Resources Fund and have been with Enerplus for a year and a half. Prior to that, I was with ConocoPhillips Canada and its predecessor companies for 15 years."

2000

Amos Altman BA '04
Altman's play FORTITUDE is part of Fuse 2010 (The Enbridge New Play Development Program) at Theatre Calgary. This heartwarming and hilarious play emerged from the 2008/09 FUEL Playwrights' Circle at Theatre Calgary.

Ryan Epp BA/BMgt '05
Epp, former captain of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's hockey team, is now a constable with the Lethbridge Police Department.

Barry Gergel BSc '05, MSc '07
"I'm currently working toward my PhD in the Department of Computing Science at the U of A."

William Katelnikoff BMgt '05
"I received my chartered accountant designation in January, and I am currently assistant coach with the Pronghorns men's hockey team."

Matthew Berrigan BEd/BA '06
Lethbridge College announced their 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients and recognized U of L alumnus Matthew Berrigan with the Rising Star Award. Since completing his education degree, Berrigan's rise as a teacher has been meteoric. Named best new teacher by the Foothills School Division for his work in Cayley, Berrigan is now a lead teacher in Turner Valley. The success of his teaching is reflected in his students' achievement results.

Angela Kastelic BN '06
"I am currently pursuing a Master of Nursing (Family/All Ages) with intent to become a family nurse practitioner."

Keely (Kavanagh) Semenuik BEd/BA '09
Following graduation in April 2009, Semenuik was married and travelled to France. She is now excited to begin her teaching career with École St. Mary School in Lethbridge, teaching French immersion kindergarten.

Kinley passes on the inspiration
After attending a presentation by guest speaker John Carr from Pixar, Brad Kinley (BFA '04) remembers telling a friend that the talk was life-changing.

"Seeing what he does and his approach to the whole process of character animation crystallized what I wanted to do," says Kinley.

Now, after being a key player in the design of Mass Effect 2, one of the most popular and highly rated games ever made for the Xbox platform, Kinley returned to the U of L this spring and gave a presentation to the next generation of new media students.

"I know how influential my exposure was to somebody actually working in the business," he says. "If I can lend a little knowledge or inspiration to someone else, hopefully it will help them the way it helped me."

Congratulations
Daniel Wong (BFA '03), Mary-Anne McTrowe (BFA '98) and Robyn Moody (BFA '00) have made the long list (Prairies and North region) for the 2010 Sobey Art Award.

Munton & Co. chartered accountants recently announced that Curtis Michaelis (BMgt '03) and Michael Quinton (BMgt '04) have been admitted to partnership.

Susie Martin (BEd '81), Judy Lynn Miller (BA '91, BEd '93), Matthew Berrigan (BA/BEd '06) and Tracy Inaba (BEd '92) were among 23 outstanding Alberta teachers selected to receive the prestigious 2010 Excellence in Teaching Award.

Sports Hall of Fame

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Chinooks women's basketball team (1970/1971) was inducted into the Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame at this year's celebration. The team won the provincial and national championships and represented Lethbridge with pride.

Members of the team included: (Back row, L-R) Wilma Winter (coach), Dixie Dow, Linda Dogterom, Leona Voth, Minnie Van Dieren and Sharon Giduk (BA '73, BEd '75). (Front row, L-R) Marge Moore, Linda Voth, Rosemary Brodrick, Joan Cannady and Linda Dow (BEd '71).

Andrea Hlady (BEd'93) and Sharon Chmielewski (BEd'75) were also inducted at this year's celebration. Hlady was recognized in the athletes category. She was a two-time All-Canadian basketball player with the U of L Pronghorns. Chmielewski, recognized in the builder category, was honoured for building high school and high-level curling in Lethbridge with her work as an official, instructor and coach.

To view the entire issue of SAM in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Alumnus Davie wins writing award

trevor.kenney — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:30:52 +0000

It's easy to picture: a canopy of glimmering stars, crickets chirping in the background, rolling waves lapping against the shore as crisp dry wood crackles in the campfire, and the words of award-winning author and storyteller Michael Davie (BMgt '95) mesmerizing friends with a fantastical tale.

"I love the way that words sound, especially words that sound like what they are," says Davie, recent winner of the Alberta Reader's Choice Award. "The sound of words can change a sentence, but I would categorize myself as a storyteller rather than a word-person. I've just always wanted to tell a story, whether it was around the campfire or by putting words on paper."

In May, Davie earned an Alberta Reader's Choice Award for his comedic coming-of-age novel entitled Fishing for Bacon. The lead character, Bacon, is a sheltered young man experiencing sexuality and life in the big city. Davie is excited with the feedback he has received.

Alumnus Michael Davie has always been able to spin an interesting yarn.

"I love reading the critiques. It has been a bit of a rush that, for the most part, has been overwhelmingly positive, but there has been some criticism of it that I find fascinating. I just try to take what everyone says and learn from it," says Davie. "It has been a great confidence boost to write a novel. It sounds so cliché to say that anything is possible, but anything is."

Davie's first storytelling outlet was through cartoons. He had dreams of following in the footsteps of noted comic artist, Charles Schulz.

"My mom used to buy me Peanuts comic books. I was always glued to them," says Davie. "I started to bring my own cartoons to high school and my best friend would laugh at them; hearing that laughter was a drug to do more."

After graduating from high school, Davie took a year off to commune with nature, spending a lot of time camping. In the fall of 1989, Davie entered the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge hoping to fulfill his creative aspirations.

"My original goal was to get to the Alberta College of the Arts but I couldn't connect the dots to form a career path. I decided to go into management. I have a very strong creative drive but I also have a strong analytical drive. To feel fulfilled I need to use both sides of my brain. I discovered a great path to that in marketing," says Davie, who is an ardent believer in the benefits of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's liberal arts philosophy.
"The exposure to liberal arts classes, to different people and different viewpoints and the respectful environment under which we could express or challenge those views, really opened my eyes."

Davie graduated with a bachelor of management degree in marketing in 1995 then worked as a marketing manager in both Waterton and Banff. He also drew political cartoons and created a successful comic strip, The Last Resort, which he continued to do for about four years. In 1997, Davie travelled to Korea with a friend. He stayed for almost a year and a half, backpacking through the country and teaching English.

While in Korea, Davie's creative medium morphed from cartoons to short stories, for which he won several contests including an opportunity to attend a one-week course at the Victoria School of Writing.

"I had been taking some creative writing classes at the U of C and both my professors at the university and the instructors in Victoria told me that my short stories were novellas that I was refusing to allow to grow," recalls Davie. "That is what sparked my novel, Fishing for Bacon, that and the fact that there were so many interesting people and stories I saw when I lived in resort towns that I wanted to convey how it seemed to me."

That encouragement has benefitted us all.

Davie a born storyteller

trevor.kenney — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:01:18 +0000

Davie's first storytelling outlet was through cartoons. He had dreams of following in the footsteps of noted comic artist, Charles Shultz.

That encouragement has benefitted us all.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ bookstore has a fabulous display of Michael Davie's book Fishing for Bacon, prominently featured at the front of the store. As with all of their trade books, there is a 15% discount off the suggested retail price.

UNews - Michael Davie

Alma Matters

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Alumnus Davie wins writing award

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Davie a born storyteller

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