Long Service & Retirement Recognition Ceremony

trevor.kenney — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:44:43 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is holding its annual Long Service Awards and Retirement Recognition Ceremony on Wednesday, May 9 at 1 p.m. in the Students' Union Ballrooms.

A total of 103 employees, including 20 retiring employees and those who have completed 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of service, will be honoured.

All employees are invited to the ceremony and reception to honour the award recipients listed below. The reception will include light refreshments.

Retirees

Nola Aitken, Pat Anderson, Bill Cade, Maria Draper, Carol Gaetz, Mary Anne Hellinga, John Johnston, Cindy Kabelka, Frank Klassen, Michael Kubara, Christina Lastuka, Rita Law, Kathy Lee, Marg McKeen, Bruce McMullin, Shari Platt, Charlene Sawatsky, Richard Tedesco, Barbara Wolstoncroft and Joan Zimmer

Long Service Recipients

40 Years

Lois Boras and
Jean Mankee

35 Years

Barbara Dickinson, Heather Mirau and Brian Parkinson

30 Years

Rene Barendregt, Annette Bright, Peter Heffernan, Barb Hodgson, Kurt Klein, William Krysak, Judy Lacey, Phill Lema, Valerie Richardson, Kim Selk and John Vokey

25 Years

Candace Dueck, John Eng, Frank Klassen, Sheila Lowe, Fiona Randle, Thomas Staples, Greg Tompkins, Kelly Vaselenak, Peter Visentin and Diana Young

20 Years

Lynn Ambedian, Robin Bright, Naomi Cramer, Mary Dyck, Rod Gelleny, Michael Kern, Judith Kulig, Rick Peter, Robert Runte, Sandy Slavin, Maxine Tedesco and Jeff Vucurevich

15 Years

Dwayne Armstrong, Mara Baldwin, Kerry Bernes, Lesley Brown, James Clark, Tom Doyle, Larry Flanagan, Carolyn Gaebel, Cam Goater, Bradley Hagen, Rob Johnson, Ed Jurkowski, Angela Luck, Goldie Morgentaler, Dan O'Donnell, Kent Peacock, Brent Selinger, Marlo Steed and
Nicole Wilson

10 Years

Peter Alward, Christine Anderson, Ebenezer Asem, Roberto Bello, Shawn Bubel, Kris Caldwell, Michael Campbell, Connie Chaplin, John Claassen, Melanie Collado, Dagmar Dahle, Alesha Farfus-Shukaliak, Bev Garnett, Daya Gaur, Joanne Gedrasik, Betsy Greenlees, Trevor Harrison, Linda Janz, Sharon Kanashiro, John Kometz, Igor Kovalchuk, Olga Kovalchuk, Bette Jo Kulak, James Linville, Douglas MacArthur, Claudia Malacrida, Kyla McFadden, Jacqueline Montain, Mandy Moser, Bob Muskovich, Janice Newberry, Tammy Paskuski, Jill Payant, Wilf Roesler, Edward Sandzewicz, Daryl Schacher, Darren Schell, Arlan Schultz, Daniela Sirbu, Debbie Tarnava, John Usher, Derek Vincent, Bernie Wirzba and Cindy Yee

DELF-DALF Centre a language hub

trevor.kenney — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:22:45 +0000

More people in southern Alberta will have access to an internationally recognized French language testing process this year.

The DELF-DALF French Language Proficiency Testing Centre at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge offered its first exams in April and is now gearing up for a new round of testing in November.

The DELF-DALF tests recognize written and spoken competency in the French language at several levels, ranging from beginner to expert. More than 50 people, including U of L students, middle school students from Pincher Creek and members of the general public, completed the testing process last year. Successful candidates receive an internationally recognized diploma issued by the Centre International D'Etudes Pédagogiques (CIEP) in Paris.

Modern languages professors Steven Urquhart and Barbara Dickinson founded the local centre through a successful grant application to the Canada-Alberta Official Language Protocol (COLEP) in 2009, which saw them receive $127,000 per year over four years.

Modern Languages faculty members (L to R), Steven Urquhart, Mélanie Collado and Barbara Dickinson.

A steering committee, consisting of director Urquhart and co-directors, Dickinson and Mélanie Collado from Modern Languages and Peter Heffernan from the Faculty of Education, is working with local school boards to promote French in southern Alberta. The entire testing process is strictly controlled by the French government through the CIEP and depends on "corrector-examiners" who have successfully completed an extensive training course. Currently the Centre has recruited correctors from Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Pincher Creek.

As part of the Centre's ongoing work, Urquhart and Collado spent part of their summer in Nantes, France attending a program offered by the CIEP to become trainers for the DELF (Diplôme d'études en langue française) and DALF (Diplôme approfondi de langue française) corrector-examiners.

"In this way, we will be able to train correctors without depending on the Alliance Française in Calgary, " says Urquhart. "This past summer, a few correctors took training in order to be able to offer advanced testing (DALF C1/C2), which should appeal to ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ students as well as to people looking to work and or study internationally. Most French universities, for example, require students to have the C1 level to enroll in regular courses with French students."

Urquhart adds that employers are increasingly recognizing the DELF/DALF standard when a second language is required or suggested as part of a job description.

"The DELF and the DALF correspond to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), which is quickly becoming the international standard with respect to the evaluation of language proficiency," says Urquhart. "For example, at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the Common European Framework of Reference was used to evaluate potential employees' language proficiency."

Urquhart says that the French diplomas have equivalencies in German (Zertifikat Deutsch), Spanish (DELE), Italian (CELI) and many other languages. These diplomas serve as language proficiency guides for public and private sector institutions around the world, and allow them to better understand an individual's language competency.

"This is the only French testing centre south of Calgary, so anyone in this area can contact us to learn more about the process. We are also looking for people to act as corrector-examiners. The more people we have helping us, the better we can serve those who want to take the tests and have their language skills officially recognized."

The deadline to apply for the next round of testing is Oct. 4. The tests begin in early November. There is no cost, but a deposit is required to confirm enrollment and is refunded when the course is complete.

To learn more, please visit this website: http://www.uleth.ca/artsci/delf-dalf/

This story first appeared in the September issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Barbara Dickinson

Long Service & Retirement Recognition Ceremony

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