Celebrating citizenship

trevor.kenney — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:43:39 +0000

As a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge student, Janay Nugent (BA '95) was influenced by professor James Tagg's profound belief in community involvement. Tagg, who retired in 2003, believes that educated people have a duty to engage in the support and improvement of their communities, from the local to the international level.

Now a professor herself, Nugent continues to impress upon students the importance of citizenship and encourages them to get involved.

"We, as a department, believe that with your degree comes a responsibility to society. You should be taking the skills that you've gained through this experience to get involved in your community. This was something that Jim was developing and was instilling in the faculty even when I was an undergraduate student."

After receiving a generous donation from the Czechoslovak Canadian Cultural Society of Southern Alberta, a group that was very active in the community, Nugent set to work developing a scholarship that would reflect the values of her and her colleagues. The Department of History eventually established the James D. Tagg History and Citizenship Award, which recognizes academic achievement and community involvement, honouring both its namesake and the society that provided the initial investment.

"When Jim retired, he encouraged us to keep striving to instill citizenship in our students. This is something we continue to put at the forefront of our teaching and this award really and truly reflects his legacy," Nugent says.

Nugent's colleagues embraced the award, and history is one of only two departments on campus to achieve 100 per cent participation in this year's Supporting Our Students (SOS) campaign.

"Not only are we honouring a colleague who's recently retired, but we're also honouring the concept of community involvement. More importantly, we're all giving, which demonstrates the department's commitment to citizenship and hopefully encourages others to follow suit."

Nugent stresses the importance of campaigns like SOS, maintaining that donations to student scholarships help the U of L grow as an institution.

"It builds a sense of community when everyone is involved," she explains, once again placing the emphasis on the role that individuals play in the larger community.

"For faculty and staff to encourage further academic studies and scholarship, to support a highly achieving student body, is something from which we all benefit."

UNews - Southern Alberta

Celebrating citizenship

Related Topics