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Participate
With more than 110,000 graduates, the University of Calgary has an incredible number of stories to tell about our alumni. After all, U of C alumni are the CEOs, writers and poets, healers, leaders and builders, small-business owners, dancers and musicians, the educators, and more who make up our community. As we celebrate the U of C’s 40 th anniversary, we will share these stories.
If you'd like to share your story, or that of a graduate you know, please get in touch. Send an email that includes contact information to alumni@ucalgary.ca.
Space doctor turns into hurricane hero
 Last fall, as Hurricane Katrina destroyed countless lives and homes in New Orleans, Doug Hamilton (MD’91, PhD’91), in Houston, did what he could to pick up the pieces and help people put their lives back together.
Hamilton, whose regular day job is as a flight surgeon at NASA, took time out to serve as the lead night physician at the Houston Astrodome when Louisiana evacuees flooded into the Space Center City. More than 25,000 people were sent to the sports-arena-come-emergency clinic in a matter of three days. Hamilton says it was overwhelming, “We didn’t fully expect the magnitude of what was about to happen.”
Working 20-hour shifts, Hamilton and his team of medical volunteers assessed, hydrated, bandaged, stitched, and triaged dozens of people an hour. Dozens of others were sent by ambulance to neighbouring hospitals.
Hamilton, whose family was evacuated from Houston as well, remembers the time as one of terror and compassion. He’d listen to the stories of horror that many evacuees went through but also heard their praise. “These people were the most pleasant and appreciative of any I have ever met,” he says. “There wasn’t a single person who didn’t thank us for the medical care they received.”
Marketing expertise pays off for small business owner
 Tourism is a booming industry in Alberta, and Cara Ripley (MBA’05) and her husband, Shawn, have capitalized on some family-owned property on the edge of Calgary to create a tranquil retreat and getaway that doesn’t require a trip out of the city.
Riple Ridge Retreat was once a one-bedroom bed and breakfast in Shawn’s mother’s home, but the younger Ripleys decided to expand and built a full-scale retreat on the property that was once a spiritual place for Aboriginal peoples—archaeologists have found evidence of a sweat lodge in the area. The Ripleys now offer a variety of accommodation, spa services, meeting facilities, and even custom-designed group packages that can include a corporate murder mystery.
Cara, a former marketing manager and travel consultant, won the 2005 Centennial Alto Award in the Marketing Excellence category. Her hard work has paid off as the business has grown 100 percent for each of the two years that Riple Ridge Retreat has been open. She’s planning on another 50 percent increase for 2006.
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