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AlumX Talks

September 2, 2017 @ 8:30 am - 3:00 pm

The AlumX Speaker Series features talks by Pronghorn Rugby athlete and Olympic bronze-medalist Ashley Steacy (BSc ’15), internationally certified life coach Sarah Lajeunesse (BMgt ’12), acclaimed singer-songwriter and recording artist John Wort Hannam (BA/BEd ’96), archaeology professor Dr. Kevin McGeough (BA ’96), and certified life coach Derek Schmaltz (BA ’12).

Ashley Steacy (BSc ’15) – Journey to the Olympics
Saturday, September 2nd | 2:00 – 2:30 PM (PE-275)

Listen as Pronghorns legend Ashley Steacy recalls her journey, from four Canada West and three U Sports national titles to the top of the women’s rugby world at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal for Canada.
One of the finest athletes to ever wear the Blue and Gold, Steacy began her rugby career in grade 10 at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute. After seeing the Canadian Women’s National Team take on New Zealand, she set a goal for herself to become one of the best women’s rugby players in Canada and the world. Recruited to the U of L Women’s Rugby program in 2005, she went on to win four Canada West Championships, three U Sports national titles and two U Sports player of the year awards. Steacy earned her first international cap, being selected for both the national sevens and fifteens teams in 2007. She would go on to silver in the 2013 Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens, gold at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, and the first Olympic bronze medal in Women’s Rugby at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She retired from international competition this spring and returned to the Pronghorns as coach of the Women’s Rugby Team this summer after the sudden passing of head coach Ric Suggitt.

 

 

Sarah Lajeunesse (BMgt ‘12) – Finding your Passion
Saturday, September 2nd | 2:00 – 2:30 PM (PE-261)

The boxes are all ticked: a beautiful house, supportive relationships and a successful career – yet, you don’t feel fulfilled. You’re tired of feeling like you’re “going through the motions” and that your job is just a means to an end. Deep down, your greatest fear is looking back and realizing that you barely scratched the surface of your fullest potential and worse, you never found the courage to live your dream life. Internationally certified life coach Sarah Lajeuesse shows you how to redefine success on your own terms and start living with more meaning, power, passion and purpose!
Sarah is an internationally certified and award winning life coach from the Beautiful You Coaching Academy, who helps people elevate their innate human potential personally and professionally. She has a degree in marketing with a minor in social responsibility from the University of Lethbridge. Through her individual and corporate coaching programs, speaking and hosting events and sharing free resources at sarahlajeunesse.com, Sarah teaches a radically different approach to discovering and expressing our untapped human capacity for leadership and life.

 

John Wort Hannam (BA ’96, BEd ’96) – The Songwriter’s Process
Saturday, September 2nd | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM (PE-275)

John Wort Hannam tells the story of his transition from school teacher to singer/songwriter and the influences that helped him write the U of L’s 50th anniversary song “Let it Shine On.
A former Grade 9 teacher on the Blood Reserve, John Wort Hannam (BA/BEd ’96) has been gained national acclaim as a folk artist. His album “Queen’s Hotel” received a 2010 Juno Award nomination for Solo Roots and Traditional album and won Contemporary Recording of the Year at the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards. He has served as a guest lecturer at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, performed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics and represented Alberta at the London Canada Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square. He’s toured extensively across North America, including a performance at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, and composed and performed the University of Lethbridge’s 50th Anniversary song “Let it Shine On”.

 

Diane Turner (BEd ‘81) – From Leroy Little Bear to Reconciliation: Addressing the Trauma of Colonialism
Saturday, September 2nd | 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM (PE-275)

Lawyer Diane Turner tells the story of her introduction to the experiences of First Nations people in the legal system as a U of L student and how it has influenced her career and advocacy work as a lawyer in British Columbia.
Diane was called to the British Columbia bar in 1984 and worked as a prosecutor for the Attorney General of B.C. She entered private practice in 1996 and works as a civil litigator at Kelliher & Turner in Victoria. Her recent work involves addressing systemic flaws in the approach to child apprehension cases, particularly for First Nations children. She was instrumental in the development of the initial comprehensive Violence Against Women Policy in 1992 and has supported ant-violence initiatives for decades. She served on the B.C. Task Force on Family Violence, various B.C. Law Society and Canadian Bar Association committees and on the Provincial Court of British Columbia Judicial Council, responsible for interviewing candidates to the provincial court. She is engaged in various cases involving indigenous title claims and court actions to neutralize the non-traditional, dictatorial regimes established by Indian Affairs.

 

 

Derek Schmaltz (BA ’12) – Perspective – Your Mind’s Greatest Tool
Saturday, September 2nd | 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM (PE-261)

Having suffered a traumatic event just weeks before he started classes at the U of L, Derek Schmaltz shares his experiences of lows and highs and the perspectives his trauma and healing have given him.
Less than a month before starting his first semester at the U of L, Derek Schmaltz’s best friend died in his arms, the victim of a random act of violence. On his own for the first time, he struggled to cope with the expectations of society on him as a male and turned to alcohol and video games. On the verge of flunking out after his first semester, Derek was able to speak with a counsellor and be granted a blank slate to restart his academic career. He graduated with a degree in Kinesiology and started working a rewarding job as a personal trainer before moving with his girlfriend first to Victoria and then to Calgary. Working various service industry jobs since moving, Derek was unable to find the same joy and passion he had as a personal trainer. Looking into hiring a Life Coach to help him deal with his career anxiety, Derek was encouraged by his parents to take introductory lessons on coaching to see how he liked it. As of this summer, he completed the program and became a certified Life Coach working for himself.

 

 

Kevin McGeough (BA ‘96) – 50 Years In 20 Minutes
Saturday, September 2nd | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM (PE-261)

Learn about the university’s 50 year history in a 20 minute presentation.

Kevin McGeough graduated from the University of Lethbridge in 1996 with a BA (History), Great Distinction. He graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1998, with an MTS. His PhD is from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania (2005). He is a Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Geography at the University of Lethbridge. He teaches courses in archaeological methods and theories and regional surveys of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. Kevin also teaches Biblical Hebrew and is an occasional contributor to the Liberal Education program. One of Kevin’s current research programs is the study of how non-specialists make use of archaeological data, and especially how the study of the ancient Near East has influenced various aspects of popular and public life. He is currently working on a monograph on the manifestations of this in the 19th century.  As an avid film fan, he has also studied public misconceptions of archaeology that are rooted in cinema experiences and is expanding this study to other genres. He currently holds a SSHRC Insight Grant with Elizabeth Galway as part of a project investigating the presentation of archaeology in children’s literature. He is also interested in means of integrating textual and archaeological evidence. Much of his previous work has been on how this can be applied to the study of ancient economics, especially at the site of Ugarit. Currently, he is the editor of the Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. He was the editor for the American Schools of Oriental Research’s Archaeological Report Series (ARS). He is also a lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America. He has excavated in Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Egypt.

Details

Date:
September 2, 2017
Time:
8:30 am - 3:00 pm