Convocation debuts new look and feel
By Meghan Sired
Dimmed lights, a sleek stage and a more focused ceremony are what attendees can expect at the University of Calgary’s fall convocation on Nov. 14.
The celebration will be a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles, and if the debut goes well, it will serve as a template for future graduation ceremonies.
“Convocation is a momentous event,” says Sheila O’Brien, special advisor to the president on student life, who led the initiative to have the convocation setting redesigned. “It is a ceremony acknowledging years of hard work and dedication, and our students deserve to be celebrated in great style.”
During two ceremonies on Nov. 14, University of Calgary retired faculty members—Dr. Om Malik and Dr. Michael McMordie—will be inducted into the Order of the University of Calgary.
The order was established to honour individuals who have made distinguished contributions to the university or contributions to the community that bring honour to the university. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and volunteers are eligible.
Malik has provided exemplary service to the U of C for 35 years, holding administrative positions at both the departmental and the faculty levels.
During his tenure as associate dean (academic) and head of common curriculum in the engineering faculty, Malik revamped the academic promotion regulations. He also helped to establish the first double degree program between the engineering and humanities faculties.
Despite his time-consuming administrative duties, Malik maintained a considerable undergraduate teaching load, a significant research effort and a close relationship with the profession.
As a teacher, Malik taught large common core engineering classes for a number of years in addition to teaching third- and fourth-year levels. A total of 40 PhD and 26 master’s students have completed their degrees under Malik’s supervision. Even now, more than nine years after his formal retirement, Malik is supervising 13 graduate students.
Toronto-born Dr. Michael McMordie arrived at the University of Calgary in 1974, after nine years as a University of Edinburgh faculty member.
He taught architectural history and theory at both Edinburgh and Calgary, acted as a studio instructor and supervised the work of graduate students in a number of areas.
Administrative roles have included director of the architecture program from 1979 to 1982 and dean of the Faculty of General Studies (now Communication and Culture) from 1990 to 1998. From 1999 to 2005, he was director of the interdisciplinary graduate program (formerly the resources and the environment program) in the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
Beginning in 1990, McMordie served as dean of the Faculty of General Studies for eight years. In that role, he helped forge an alliance with SAIT Polytechnic to offer a collaborative Bachelor of Communications Studies, only the second such degree in Alberta.
This alliance demonstrated the value of partnerships between institutions that offer academic preparation and those that emphasize professional training.
Last fall, McMordie accepted a role on the steering committee for the U of C’s west campus lands development project. During retirement, McMordie has continued to contribute his knowledge, expertise and experience to this project—one that holds great potential to shape the university’s future.