UNews - Sheila Matson

50 Voices research project gathering steam

caroline.zentner — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 18:26:13 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, as central as it is to the fabric of southern Alberta, means something different to each person who has walked its hallways.

What better way to commemorate the U of L’s 50th anniversary than by giving those who have been part of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s journey the chance to tell their stories? That’s the idea behind the 50 Voices research project by the Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT), led by Dr. Chris Hosgood, a historian and co-chair of the 50^th anniversary steering committee, Professor Emeritus Dr. Jim Tagg, Mike Perry, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ archivist, Dr. Heidi MacDonald, a history professor, and Tracy McNab, project manager.

“There’s not one story of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge,” says MacDonald, COHT director. “The great thing about oral history is that people interpret their own experience. The goal here is diversity.”

“The objective is to attain a richness and multiplicity of voices,” says McNab (BASc ’81, MA ’09). “We’re looking for voices from all populations, including students, professors, staff, community members, and alumni. We want to include everyone, from the movers and shakers to the ones we should know about but don’t. We want to get a flavour of what the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ has been like these last 50 years.”

Tagg has already captured some of that flavour in the interviews recorded for the First Generation Oral History Project. Those interviews focused on the formative years at the U of L and include such gems as the story of how Dr. Dennis Connolly, a longtime mathematics professor, joined the ranks of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

Connolly found himself stranded in Lethbridge in April 1967 when a blizzard shut down travel across southern Alberta. He knew nothing of Lethbridge then; it was merely a stopover on his way from Yellowstone National Park to Banff.

“I’ve never seen so much snow in my life. It was five feet of snow within a day or two. They were feeding cattle with helicopters,” he says.

Being stuck in a motel, Connolly found a copy of the Lethbridge Herald and read an article about the new ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ opening in a couple of months. With nothing else to do, Connolly made his way to the college campus to have a look.

“I put in an application,” he says, adding he thought he’d work for a year or two before doing a doctoral degree. “I thought it would be a new start and I’d be a professor all of a sudden.”

Excerpts from some of the First Generation recordings will be used in the 50 Voices project, complemented by additional interviews with other voices, like that of Sheila Matson, a U of L employee since 1968. She started in the registrar’s office when the U of L was still in its infancy.

“It was a really cool time. We were in little trailers over on the south side just at the corner where you turn to go the Enmax Centre,” she says. “I’m a people person and the thing I’ve loved about the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ is interacting with faculty and staff and students.”

Matson has been an administrator in almost every department on campus, from anthropology to student awards, and she’s watched the U of L become the dynamic place it is today. She didn’t hesitate to participate in the 50 Voices project.

“I was absolutely stunned, first of all, to even be asked. It’s a remarkable undertaking, especially for the 50 Voices to represent the diversity of this place,” says Matson. “I feel thrilled and very proud to be asked to contribute.”

To ensure a breadth of voices is included, the 50 Voices final project will feature equal numbers of interviews with men and women, represent all of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s constituency groups and cover the entire U of L timeline.

“We want a variety of stories from all walks, so the process is extremely difficult. We have literally tens of thousands of people from whom to choose. It’s been a tough job for us,” says MacDonald.

“It’s a considered effort and a lot of work has gone into looking at the people who have been brought forward. We’ve had suggestions from all over and we are still accepting suggestions,” says McNab.

Since 50 Voices is a research project, approval from the Human Subject Research Committee was sought and granted. Students are involved in the project through Applied Studies placements. In addition to selecting excerpts from the First Generation interviews, they will participate in interviewing new subjects. The end result will be a webpage with a photo of each participant, a short biography and a link to an audio excerpt from their interview. The interview excerpts will be less than five minutes long, but the full interviews will be available through ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives.

“Through these interviews we’re also building sources and preserving materials for future scholars,” says MacDonald. “Oral history, more than other kinds of history, is democratic and grassroots, bottom up. It shows that history is completely dependent on one’s perspective. We don’t believe in a single narrative. We think 50 Voices will, to some extent, give 50 histories.”

Suggestions are welcome and can be submitted by email to tracy.mcnab@uleth.ca.

Matson willing and able to play any part

trevor.kenney — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:59:19 +0000

Sheila Matson is adept at playing a variety of roles, whether professionally or on stage. This has served her well in a three-part career at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge that began in 1968 and has no end in sight.

"It's been wonderful," Matson says of her time at the U of L. "I love the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, I don't think there's a better employer in the city and I really don't say that lightly because I've been in many different spots."

Currently, playing an administrative support role in the physics and astronomy department, Matson has seen virtually every corner of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

She began with a job in the registrar's office in 1968, working out of a mobile trailer on the city's south side. Since then she's worked in the Department of Anthropology, as an administrative assistant for the vice-president of administration, the advancement (then development) office, the library and for the director of physical plant. All the while she's moved to England, Medicine Hat, worked for the Lethbridge Symphony and Lethbridge College.

The one constant is that Matson keeps coming back to the U of L.

"It's so neat walking around now and seeing how this place has grown from this one building that stretched across the coulees to what we have today. It's been amazing," she says.

Her ability to adapt to new roles and meet new challenges is surely aided by Matson's not-so-secret talent, musical theatre. She's long been recognized as one of the area's most accomplished actors, recently giving a command performance as Mrs. Lovett in Lethbridge Musical Theatre's presentation of Sweeney Todd.

"I've been fortunate enough to be in sort of a small pond like Lethbridge to be able to play some amazing pieces and have some wonderful parts in all of them," she modestly says.

Her role as Mrs. Lovett was a return to Sweeney Todd, a play she performed here on campus in 1991 with the Centre Stage Players. Her first piece with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Faculty of Fine Arts did not come until four years ago, when Brian Parkinson cast her in "Noises Off".

"We're an incredibly well-rounded artistic community so I'm thrilled and pleased to be a part of it. I almost feel as though I've taken over Joan Waterfield's role, I've inherited the mantle that she kind of passed down," Matson says. "That's why I've been able to adapt and move through things because nothing stays static. I love the variety and continued challenges you find."

That attitude, coupled with worldly experience, is the main reason she so seamlessly slid into her current position.

"When I heard the job was in physics and astronomy, I wasn't so sure my fine arts background would fit," she laughs. "But this is such a collaborative department in every way. I don't feel like I work for physics and astronomy. I'm treated as a member of the department and I'm involved at all levels. One of the things that I am here for is to be the face the students see and meet and I love that. That's the best part of the job as far as I'm concerned. I'm very proud to be that face and I always have been, whatever job I've done here at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ."

She's open to anyone dropping by the physics department to learn more about its programs but if you don't make it up there, check her out on stage next fall when she participates in the Lethbridge Symphony Association's kick-off fundraising production of Light in the Piazza.

It will be just another face she's eager to try on.

GET THE FACTS

• Matson managed the Lethbridge Symphony from 1998-2000

• Her daughter, Lindsay Pisko, and son, Matt Pisko, both graduated from the U of L

• Matson won the Grace Elliott Trudeau Scholarship for the best actor/actress under the age of 25 at the Dominion Drama Festival in 1970

• She credits longtime director Fran Rude as a mentor, having worked with her on Shirley Valentine and most recently on Sweeney Todd

• The Lethbridge Symphony Chorus spawned the LMT and Matson was a member of the chorus in LMT's first production, Finian's Rainbow, in April 1964

UNews - Sheila Matson

50 Voices research project gathering steam

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Matson willing and able to play any part

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