Focus on CUC History:
CUC Initially Hosted Alberta Camp Meeting

Photo 1

Photo 2

One hundred nine years ago the first camp meeting in Alberta was held at Ponoka with about 50 people in attendance. Many changes have taken place since that first camp meeting in the “Alberta Mission Field.” (The Alberta Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was not organized until 1906.) By 1915 camp meeting attendance increased to 500.  (Photo 1) No longer were meetings held in tents; meetings were held in the Assembly Hall of Alberta Industrial Academy, the forerunner of Canadian University College. Some attendees rented rooms in the two dormitories but many families still resided in tents.

Photo 3

Although camp meetings were held in various locations throughout the province as an evangelist outreach, Lacombe became the most common gathering place with a “white cotton city” laid out on the hillsides of Lake Barnett (Photo 2) and later on the present site of the McKibbin Education Centre and the church (Photo 3)

Attendance increased year by year so that by the 1970s, Canadian Union College could no longer accommodate the crowds. Smaller regional camp meetings were then held throughout the province until 1973 when Foothills Camp on the Little Red Deer River west of Bowden became the permanent campsite. (Photo 4)

 

Photo 4

What a contrast there is between living in tents to modern accommodations in a Lodge and RVs; from team and wagon to Cadillac transportation; and from a family setting of 50 people to an estimated 2,000 in 1973. (Photo 5)

 

Photo 5

July 12-20, 2013 marks the 40^th anniversary of holding camp meetings at the Foothills Camp. Plan to attend for physical rest, social interaction, and spiritual refreshing.

 

This post was prepared by CUC's historian and archivist, Edith Fitch.

Hundreds Gather for Homecoming Weekend

Members of the Class of 1963 pose for their group photo after the giant
potluck meal in the PE Centre.  Other honored classes this year were:
1938, 1943, 1948, 1953, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993,
1998, 2003, and 2008.

Hundreds of CUC's former faculty, staff and students converged on our hilltop the weekend of June 7-9 for a weekend packed with great activities and events.  Three events were live streamed online; you can watch the video archive of those events here.  You can read the Programme Booklet for the weekend here.

Dr. Douglas Devnich, Hs '58; C '63, was this
year's recipient of the Don F. Neufeld
Medallion of Excellence and the speaker
Friday evening and Sabbath morning.

In his welcome at church Sabbath morning, President Haynal said, "On behalf of all of the faculty, staff and students of Canadian University College, I want you to know we are delighted you are here worshipping with us this morning.

"If you are a former student of this institution, seeing you again makes as very glad because you are irrefutable proof that the Adventist church’s investment in this institution has not been made in vain.

"Your successful lives of service, the good you have done all over Canada and the world, is a sweet reward for those of us who work at CUC, and an inspiration for those who now study where you once studied.

"If you are here today because this is your regular, weekly place of worship, I want to thank you for being part of a congregation that has so wonderfully mothered and fathered CUC’s students through the years.  I hereby declare you are all honorary adjunct faculty and staff.  Unpaid, but greatly appreciated.

"And finally, if you are here today because you now work at CUC, I want not only to welcome you, but also thank you for casting your lot with this grand and good endeavor.  Thank you for your excellent service and generous sacrifice.

"May all of us be encouraged and inspired, comforted and renewed as we worship our God together this morning.   

A large group of friends and alumni enjoyed a banquet Friday evening in the cafeteria catered by Bob Ronnie Catering.

Ken Corkum, right, President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Mission, was the recipient of this year's Ambassador Award and the speaker for vespers Saturday evening.  All of the weekend events were planned and coordinated
by Jerrold Ritchey, C '87, Vice President for Advancement, and his coworkers.

Philosophy of Religion Study Tour Takes Students to Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam

A group of 15 students led by Dr. Tennyson Samraj, Professor of Philosophy, and Dr. Paul Ramalingam, Professor of Biology, recently traveled to Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam to study how Buddhism has been adopted and adapted.  The study tour also included a biology compoenent that involved field study of the flora and fauna in those countries.

Joining Dr. Samraj and Dr. Ramalingam for this tour were: Carvy Luceno, Francesca Debono, Selene Dublanko, Shawn-Kay Young, Esther Sydney, Pearly Dason, Gladvin Thyagaraj, Sarah Mallari, Abraham Samudio, Jennis Singla, Andlaine Joseph, Jamie Rudyk, Tessa Willing and Nelson Horsley.

Highlights of the tour include:

• Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon
• Various Stupas and Temples in Bagan
• The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi
• The 8-Hour Inflight Exam Dr. Samraj Administered

The group leaps for joy at having discovered a park named after CUC . . . Actually, the group is at the entrance of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam.

Faculty Engage in a Broad Range of Professional Development and Research Projects

Most of Canadian University College's faculty are, on an ongoing basis, involved in a variety of research and professional development projects.  Shown below is a summary (in alphabetical order) of some of the faculty's scholarly activity this past academic year.

• Dr. Justina Adaliku-Obisike, Associate Professor of Sociology, presented papers at two conferences and published The Paradox of Economic Globalization: The Case of the Niger Region, in the European Scientific Journal.
• Deborah Bakland, Associate Professor of Music, was involved in study in Ireland in August.
• Darel Bennedbaek, Associate Librarian, with Anne Carr-Wiggin (University of Alberta) prepared and presented, Through the Eyes of Students: An Inquiry into Undergraduates’ Research Skills and Practices, at the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Conference 2013.
• Dr. Bruce Boyd, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, presented papers at three conferences, including, Equipping University Students to be Peacemakers, at the Peacemakers Conference in Denver.
• Dr. Tim Buttler, Assistant Professor of Education, made a presentation at the NAD Teachers Convention in Nashville.
• Dr. John Connors, Professor of Psychology, presented three papers at the 73rd Annual Canadian Psychological Association Convention in Toronto, including, The History of Mazes and Puzzle Boxes in Early Experimental Psychology (1880-1940)
• Dr. June Fiorito, Professor of Education, presented, Teaching Students Through their Emotional Intelligence, at the NAD Teachers Convention in Nashville.
• Dr. Mark Froese, Associate Professor of Political Science, contributed the chapter, "Archival Research and Document Analysis," to the book, Critical Approaches to Security: An Introduction to Theories and Methods.
• Dr. Larry Herr, Professor of Religious Studies was a co-editor of and contributed two chapters to the book, Ceramics Finds: Typological and Technological Studies of the Pottery Remains from Tell Hesban and Vicinity.  Dr. Herr also contributed two chapters for the book, The Ayl to Ras an-Naqab Archaeological Survey, Southern Jordan 2005-2007.  Dr. Herr contributed an entry for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception and presented papers at the 12th International Conference for the History and Archeology of Jordan, in Berlin.
• Dr. John Hoyt, Professor of Art and Education, did field work and research in Greece.
• Keith Leavitt, Associate Professor of Education, presented, Interactive Student Notebooks, at the NAD Teachers Convention in Nashville, and published, Impressing Christ Upon Our Students, in the Journal of Adventist Education.
• Dr. Louicius Michel, Professor of Business, presented, A New Management Paradigm for Emerging Nations, at the 40th Conference of the Colloque International de l'Institut Québécois des Hautes Etudes Internationales
• Dr. Tennyson Samraj, Professor of Philosophy, presented papers at two conferences, including, Belief Quotient - Justified Belief-Decisions: Ontological and Epistemic Implications to Existential Decisions at the 3rd International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society, in Tempe, Arizona.

Grandmother and Grandson Graduate Together from PAA

Claire Ritchey, 85, and her grandson, Adam Ritchey, 18, both graduated from Parkview Adventist Academy Sunday, May 26.  Because having a great-grandmother graduate from high school is such a rare event, Mrs. Ritchey's graduation was featured in the Red Deer Advocate, Lacombe Globe, and CBC Eyeopener Calgary.

Mrs. Ritchey completed grade 11 at Canadian University College's high school division in 1945.  Since then she has dreamed of finishing high school and receiving her diploma.  She said marching down the aisle Sunday with PAA's 37 seniors was a dream come true.  "If nothing else, if this inspired other people to continue their education and go back to school, then it hasn’t been in vain,” said Claire.

On June 11, Lacombe's Member of Parliament, Blaine Calkins, announced Claire's accomplishment in the House of Commons.

Focus on CUC History:

Sports Day in May was a Favourite Event

At some point prior to 1922 the “24^th of May” or the Monday closest to the date was typically scheduled as the annual Sports Day for Canadian Junior College.  This was more than a day of sports events; it was a social time for family and friends who came from as far away as 100 miles to join the school family as participants or observers in the day’s events.

The day usually began at 9 am with a parade and ended at 9 pm with a program and worship in the chapel. Students and visitors enjoyed the day interspersed with volleyball, races, jumping contests, picnic lunch by Lake Barnett, baseball, boating, swimming, and an outdoor picnic supper. When a heavy rain cancelled some events in 1926, everyone spent a social time in the dining room and ended the evening by singing, “The End of a Perfect Day.”

Peter Elloway

The May 26, 1930 sports day was hailed one of the best with the usual track and field activities, outdoor picnic meals and a program in the evening which was enlivened with Peter Elloway’s “sympathy orchestra.” The climax of the day was “sky rockets” at 9:30. No one dreamed that two nights later the sky would be illuminated with a greater flare as the three main campus buildings were consumed by fire.