canadian federation of university women edmonton … · 2013-05-08 · canadian federation of...

CANADIAN FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN EDMONTON MAY 2013

CFUWEDMONTON.ORG! PAGE 1

My thanks to our 2012–2013 Executive Members, who have made this past year so rewarding: Nina Jackson, Karen Lewis-Caron, Valeta Roach, Denise Woollard, Judy Pagano, Gerry Cameron, Barbara Morban, Nafeesa Mohamed, Beryl Sayer, Edith Morgan and Mary Davenport. Thanks also to Barbara Blackley, Margaret McInall, Mel Gowda and Beryl Sayer who reviewed and recommended changes to our Articles and Bylaws, and the many other members who ensured the smooth operation of our club, including Interest Group Convenors, Phoning Committee Members, our mailing and electronic distribution guru, Barbara Blackley, and our Archivist, Trudie McLaren.

The past few months have been very busy with a number of events and activities.

ü Congratulations and thank you to Nina Jackson for spearheading recognition of Geneva Misener at the University of Alberta. See page 6 for more details.

ü Thirteen CFUW Edmonton members attended the 2013 CFUW Alberta Council Annual General Meeting in Sherwood Park on April 26 and 27 (see page 3).

ü On April 15, we recognized 12 CFUW Edmonton members, who received their first university degree in the 1940s or before. We also honoured four members who have maintained their CFUW Edmonton membership for 60 or more consecutive years (see page 2).

ü On April 7, four CFUW Edmonton members attended the 2nd Edmonton Women’s Symposium. Organized by the City of Edmonton, Mayor Mandel announcing that the City would welcome and support an Edmonton Women’s Council to raise issues of concern to women in discussions with governmental and institutional leaders. I have volunteered to serve on the Steering Committee for this initiative.

ü We celebrated International Women’s Day (see page 4) a little early (March 6) with our guest speaker, Sister Rosaleen Zdunich, who was instrumental in establishing the Edmonton Interfaith Centre.

ü The Academic Awards Scholarship Committee has selected the 2013 Margaret Brine Graduate Scholars (see page 8) and we met these recipients at our May 13 barbecue.

For this past year, Denise Woollard coordinated a very interesting and informative program of speakers. We learned about microorganisms that are helpful and harmful to humans and our planet, environmental changes in the Arctic, the social costs of poverty in Alberta, how to integrate hope into our daily lives, the challenges and positive results of effecting healthy eating habits of Canadians, and the role of nurses in World War l. In addition to our monthly meetings, our 11 Interest Groups have kept members actively reading, playing bridge, learning about the club's history, watching and critiquing films, enjoying various taste sensations while cooking and going for lunch, and keeping a close eye on health and environmental issues.

Thank you to Beryl Sayer for producing this May newsletter, which is the last of this year’s three newsletters that are circulated to all our members and sent to our sister Alberta clubs. Barbara Morban will be updating the CFUW Edmonton brochure, which has been very helpful when introducing our organization to potential members and other women’s organizations in Edmonton. Nafeesa Mohamed is updating our website and migrating it to a new server.

We are looking forward to a new year and, with a greater focus on publicity and celebrating our members, our hope is to have more women join our organization. All members are encouraged to bring potential members to any of our monthly meetings. We are now planning next year's monthly program and anticipate another interesting, exciting and wonderful year. Our December Social will be an evening of enjoying friendships and celebrating women–a “not to be missed event.”

To each of our 125 members, my sincerest thanks for your ongoing commitment to and support for CFUW Edmonton. I hope you all enjoy a relaxing summer with family and friends. See you in September!

CFUW EDMONTON NEWSLETTER

President's Message



Barbara Blackley BA 1943

With much pride and pleasure we recognise and honour 12 members who graduated in the 1940s and before (pictures of those attending the meeting).

Roberta Cumming BA 1948

June Menzies MA 1949

Fran Reynolds BSc 1948 Francis Woywitka BA 1940

Isabel McRae BA 1934

Marianne Elder BSc HEc 1940

Muriel Cheriton BSC 1946

Muriel Clarke Dip Physio 1939

Ruth Culham BA 1945

Gwen Molnar BEd 1949

Also on our List of Tributes



In Memoriam Written by Barbara Blackley

24 April 2013

Murina Bauer was to have been one of the member graduates of the 1930s and '40s honoured at our club’s annual general meeting on 15 April. Our loss was great when, on 26 March, Murina died after a very short illness.

A native of Winnipeg, Murina gained a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Manitoba. At the University of Chicago, supported by a CFUW national scholarship, she started a Ph.D. which she finished at the University of Alberta. She was a teacher educator first at the Manitoba Provincial Normal School and later at the University of Alberta, where she taught the history of education and the philosophy of education.

Murina first joined CFUW in Winnipeg in 1944. Here, she said later, she “met the CFUW spirit in action,” in the active encouragement of senior women students by the two (only) women members of the Faculty of Arts: Professor Doris Saunders and Dean Ursula McDonnell. Each was or became a national Federation president. This was, after all, the club of Margaret McWilliams, the founding president of CFUW. Civic affairs and education were matters of central concern. All three of these women were, as Murina said, “at the ready for research and lobbying.” Murina said later that when she joined the Edmonton club in the early 1960s, she felt at home when she found the same openness to friendship and the same capacity to mobilize energy for valid causes. She became involved with various study groups and committees, with writing briefs and with lobbying. All were concerned in some way with education issues, academic awards and feminism. Nationally she was a representative on the Education Committee, and a member and later chair of the Fellowships Committee. In 1943/4 she was a member of the Task Force on Restructuring CFUW. In the last 15 years she devoted much of her time to the club’s history group and was one of the authors of the club’s history By Degrees.

Since Murina was not able in the last few years to attend general meetings, many of our members will not have known her. But those who did know her will not forget Murina Bauer.

STRONG WOMEN STRONG COMMUNITIES

CFUW Strathcona County hosted the 2013 CFUW Alberta Council Meeting on April 26 and 27. Friday evening included dinner, a silent auction and guest speaker Dr. Shawna Pandya. In 2012, Shawna was named to Alberta Venture’s list of “Next Ten” Young Leaders to watch and Edmonton’s Avenue Magazine Top 40 under 40. The silent auction was very successful, with over $1000 raised for the CFUW Charitable Trust.

On Saturday morning, Strathcona County Mayor Linda Osinchuk brought greetings from the local government and Pat Vargas addressed the meeting on the challenges faced in her work as Executive Director of A Safe Place (a shelter for abused women and their children). Guided tours of Art Gallery 501 and Strathcona County Library were also on the morning agenda. The CFUW Alberta Council Annual General Meeting was held in the afternoon, followed by “Show and Tell” from the provincial clubs and short presentations from VP Prairies Janet Goldack and National President Susan Murphy.



Our final speaker for this year was Debbie Marshall an Alberta writer and editor. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous local and national magazines and best-selling anthologies such as Dropped Threads 11 and best seller Give Your Other Vote to the Sister.Her painstaking, enlightening research into the work of nurses on the Front Line in the first and second World Wars has helped to produce these books and articles. Her enthusiastic fast pace kept us rivetted.She was pleased to describe to us the meaning of the nurses' uniforms which had been kindly lent to us by Jean Lund. It seems it was better to be a nurse in the Canadian Armed Forces than the British as the pay was better and the uniforms were much more becoming.

Celebrating International Women’s Day 2013

Edith Morgan, Karen Lewis-Caron, Janet Clark and Judy Pagano organized a superb pre-International Women’s Day, held on March 6, 2013 at Robertson Wesley United Church.

Guest speaker Sister Rosaleen Zdunich is a pioneer in fostering strong ecumenical and interfaith connections between diverse people. Her seminal, innovative efforts offer powerful models for a growing movement to build peace and harmony in our communities and the world.

In 1993, Sister Rosaleen, with a multifaith committee, formed the Edmonton Interfaith Network which planned an interfaith prayer service for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In 1995, Rosaleen became the founding coordinator of the Edmonton Interfaith Centre for Education and Action. She has shared Edmonton's interfaith experience as a delegate to the The Parliament of World’s Religions in Cape Town, South Africa and Barcelona, Spain, as well as to the North American Interfaith Network in Vancouver.

Reflecting her long-held belief that education is the key to promoting interfaith understanding and harmony, Sister Rosaleen served in 2005 as manager of an interfaith project for the AlbertaTeachers’ Association Safe and Caring Schools. She helped teachers create lesson plans that teach students respect for all faiths.

Sister Rosaleen has received numerous recognitions for her service over the years. These include the City of Edmonton Salute to Excellence Award, the Alberta Centennial Medal, the Ecumenical Leadership Award from the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Association Interfaith Symposium Award, the Interfaith Centre Appreciation Award, the Roman Catholic Ecumenical and Interfaith Office Appreciation Award and the Marilyn McClung Memorial Award for Ecumenism and a 2012 Alberta Award of Excellence.

President Myrna Snart, Sister Rosaleen, Tammy Irwin



Pink Teas

During the 2006 CFUW AGM in Edmonton, members from CFUW Calgary and Calgary North presented a play about the Famous Five. We learned that Nellie McClung frequently held Pink Teas in her home not only to provide a social event for women but also to attract them to the suffragette movement. The following year (2007), CFUW Edmonton began holding Pink Teas to raise money to encourage and support our members’ attendance at provincial, prairie and national CFUW meetings. This year we held a Pink Tea at Fort Edmonton called Bustles and Bonnets. We are planning a Pink Tea for November 2013 at the Royal Alberta Museum's Chop Suey on the Prairies exhibit which unveils the history of Chinese restaurants in Alberta. Watch for more details in the Fall.

Canadian Federation of University WomenNotice of Annual General Meeting

is hereby provided that the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) wi$ be held at the Sheraton Cavalier Hotel, 612 Spadina Crescent East, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, &om 8:30 am to noon each day, on Friday, July 12, Saturday, July 13, and Sunday, July 14, 2013 for the purpose of:

1. Receiving annual reports and auditor's report,2. Approving audited financial statements,3. Considering proposed external policy resolutions,4. Considering proposed amendments to CFUW articles and bylaws,5. Considering proposed CFUW internal policies, a Notice and6. Transacting such other business as may be brought before the meeting.

IS ISTANBUL ON YOUR TRAVEL LIST?Why not join your sisters from around the world

from August 16 – 21 at the 2013 International Federation of University Women Triennial Conference

in the beautiful city of Istanbul,Turkey.

We look forward to meeting where the continents meet.

31st IFUW Conference Theme:Women's role in achieving a sustainable future:

education, urbanization, violence and human rights.

Early Registration Deadline has been extended to May 31, 2013!

To learn more: www.ifuw.org

http://www.ifuw.org

http://www.ifuw.org



The Canadian Federation of University Women Edmonton and our partners, Garneau Community League, Preserve Garneau and the University of Alberta, on Sunday, April 28, 2013, in the Rutherford Galleria, unveiled a plaque dedicated to Dr. Geneva Misener (1877-1961) which is to be placed in front of her home in Garneau on the University of Alberta Campus. On a lovely day make a detour to 11013 90 Avenue and remember our academic pioneer, Dr. Misener.

Nominated by CFUW Edmonton History Group, Dr. Misener, a distinguished scholar and a founding member of CFUW was recognised in 2004, during Edmonton’s centennial celebrations as Edmontonian of the Century for the Decade 1910-20: the first female professor at the University of Alberta. She arrived in 1912, with a PhD, and soon after joined the University Women’s Club, was president 1914-1915 and in 1919 was a delegate to the conference in Winnipeg, which established the Canadian Federation of University Women.

In 2009, the Edmonton club’s centennial, The Emil Skarin Fund, administered by the U of A Senate, awarded CFUW Edmonton funds to have a plaque made and installed in front of the home she owned. In the spring of 2012 a partnership, formed with the Garneau Community League and Preserve Garneau, approached the University of Alberta and in August there was a meeting with a University representative

who joined the partnership. Permission, design and approval took some months.

CFUW Edmonton coordinated the efforts. Frances Cruden, Historian, Preserve Garneau provided historical and procedural expertise. Kathy Bruce-Kavanaugh, Treasurer Garneau Community League supported the project: the League donated the flowers and paid the professional musicians. Emily Ball, University Relations of the University of Alberta, was the liaison for the plaque process. Darlene Bryant prepared the invitations, received the RSVP’s, and arranged for the lovely traditional reception tea provided by the University of Alberta. The partnership consulted on all aspects.

Eight Misener family members from Didsbury, Edmonton, Wetaskiwin, Winnipeg and California attended.

Anastasia Lim, Executive Director, University Relations, University of Alberta opened the ceremony. Nina Jackson, Past President, Canadian Federation of University Women Edmonton introduced the speakers.

Edmonton City Councillor Karen Leibovici chose to join us and bring greetings from the city and congratulations for CFUW and Partners.

Dr. Geneva Misener Plaque Unveiling



Myrna Snart, our president congratulated our history group, thanked the partnership, and talked about Dr. Misener and CFUW Edmonton. We are thrilled that our National President, Canadian Federation of University Women, Susan Murphy, joined us, brought greetings, shared information about CFUW and IFUW, as well as, showed her admiration for Dr. Misener.

Kathy Bruce-Kavanagh, Treasurer, Garneau Community League, brought good wishes and presented Edith Morgan with an awesome surprise GCL gift of $1000.00 for CFUW Edmonton Academic Awards Fund. Frances Cruden, Historian, Preserve Garneau talked to us about preserving our heritage and how important it is that we do not forget our pioneers.

Blakely Pallock, Dr. Misener’s great niece, represented the family and told stories about their Aunt Geneva.

Kate Freeman, University of Alberta Senator, brought greetings from the U of A Senate on behalf of the Emil Skarin Fund.

Win Mellon, a past president, reprised her role as Dr. Misener and the history group members, Barbara Blackley PP, Fran Reynolds, Georgie Scafe, Alberta Boytzun PP, unveiled the plaque.

Musicians Christine Hanson, cellist and Keri Lynn Zwicker, harpist, graduates of the UofA, played their compositions before and after the ceremony and during the unveiling.

The program was dedicated to Dr. Murina Bauer, long-time member of CFUW Edmonton and the spirit of the history group, who passed away recently.

After the ceremony, we all enjoyed a lovely tea and warm conversation about Dr. Misener.

Thank you to everyone for helping to make our dream come true!

Nina Jackson, Past President,CFUW Edmonton.

September 16, 2013October 28, 2013November 18, 2013

March 17, 2014April 28, 2014May 12, 2014

2013 - 2014 CFUW Edmonton Programme Meeting Dates

December 2, 2013January 20, 2014February 24, 2014



Thanks to Mary Davenport for leading the Academic Awards Fund (AAF) in 2011–2012 and to Edith Morgan for assuming the role of 2013–2015 Chair of AAF. This year, a total of 27 members participated in the AAF program, reading applications and conducting bursary interviews. Thanks to all who were involved!

Audrey Keen organized the April 2012 casino, which raised over $75,000 for our AAF program. Other fundraising initiatives included the Community Spirit Grant, a garage sale, the Joyce MacDonald Memorial Book Sale, and members’ personal donations.

In December 2012, 22 University of Alberta female students received bursaries totaling $30,100. Additionally, in November 2012, four University of Alberta students received undergraduate scholarships of $1,000 each.

Special thanks to Georgie Scafe for stepping in to convene the 2013 Margaret Brine Graduate Scholarship Program. This year we had 68 applicants. That is less than in the past, but the quality of the applicants remains very high.

We had 16 readers – four in each scholarship group comprised mainly of two experienced readers and two new readers. Cathy Garvey, Norma Kabaroff, Nafeesa Mohamed and Helen Otto coordinated the individual groups. The other readers in each group were JoAnn Kingston-Riechers, Beryl Sayer, Janet Smith, Heather Pick, Debbie Tyson, Shirley Shostak, Anne Valentine, Karen Lewis-Caron, Janet Clark, Win Mellon, Mary Davenport and Lynn Maki.

The recipients of the 2013 Margaret Brine Graduate Scholarships are Valerie Miller (M.Sc. Renewable Resources), Tara Chisholm (M.A. Physical Education and Recreation), Christine Dunbar (PhD Science Chemistry) and Rana El Kadi (PhD Arts Music). Now that the application, selection and paperwork processes have been completed, we look forward to meeting our scholarship recipients at the May 13 barbecue.

Each recipient was very pleased about the award decision. One student said that she had been having a "good" day and now it was a "great" day! That nicely sums up the value of our scholarship program.

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Lori West from the University of Alberta will be our guest speaker at our 2013 fundraising luncheon and silent auction. Dr. West has just been named Director of the new Canadian National Transplant Research Program, which brings together 105 investigators and 86 collaborators from across Canada to conduct research and develop resources to help Canadian transplant patients and those waiting for tissue or organ transplants. This event will be held on September 25, 2013 beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Riverview Room at the Shaw Conference Centre. Tickets can be booked by contacting Edith Morgan.

Academic Awards Fund Program

canadian federation of university women edmonton … · 2013-05-08 · canadian federation of...

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