Have you met Katherine, Manager of Student Affairs in the Dean of Students Office? Spend the next 3 minutes getting to know her a little better.
Where is your favorite place on campus?
I really like the quad in the winter when the trees are all lit up, even though I don’t like the cold. I just think it looks magical in the dark when you’re leaving work at 4:30 and sort of begrudgingly acknowledging that it’s pitch black. But then you notice the twinkly lights and different colours. I think it’s the nicest spot.
Tablet or paper?
Paper. Much to my husband’s dismay.
Name one thing you’ve brought to work from home.
Gym clothing.
What is the one thing you can’t live without?
Gosh, there’s a lot — for instance, sushi and ice cream. But I would say my phone. I’m originally from Nova Scotia, and none of my family is here other than my husband. I have an identical twin sister who lives in Vancouver. So my phone is my connection to my family out east and my sister in Vancouver.
If you won airfare to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I would probably go home to Nova Scotia. I have a soft spot for my tiny little town on the East coast. And frankly, it would be cheaper for me to spend my money flying to Paris than it would be to fly to Nova Scotia.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
It would probably be Beethoven if he didn’t eat and just played the piano for me.
If you could switch jobs with someone else on campus for a week, what would you do?
I don’t think I want to switch jobs, but let me think… I wouldn’t mind being a barista at Starbucks so I could drink coffee all day.
What does “uplifting the whole people” mean to you?
I would say respecting everyone despite differences so that everyone essentially has the same value in society. I think respecting people for who they are, for what they believe, what they practice — that’s one of the ways that as a global community, we can hopefully make life better for everyone.
If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?
Probably child hunger — or really, anything awful that afflicts children. I often think I won the birth lottery: I was born into a family that could take care of me. But so many children are born into families that can’t provide for them. So: child hunger, but more generally child welfare.
What 3 words best describe your U of A experience?
I’d say varied, challenging, and exciting.
Katherine is the Manager of Student Affairs in the Dean of Students Office. She works with student services units, the SU, and the GSA on various student life programming. Katherine holds both her MA and PhD from the U of A. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Saskatchewan before returning to the U of A as the Student Engagement Coordinator in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life, and Environmental Sciences.