King’s students and staff made headlines this year.
There are many unforgettable moments at King’s over the past year, but here are eight of our biggest stories in 2019.
Isabelle is the captain of the King’s women’s volleyball team and this year she was one of the inaugural recipients of the Debra Deane Little and Robert Little Academic Scholarships for Varsity Athletes
1. Isabella Roach becomes 32nd King’s student to become Rhodes scholar
In November, the University of King’s College announced that fourth-year science student Isabelle Roach received a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue an MSc in neuroscience at the University of Oxford next year. Roach, who is also the captain of the King’s women’s volleyball team and founder of a group called King’s College Students for Sustainability, will focus on the integrated health of the environment and population.
2. New and old scholarships help students realize dreams
Foundation Year Program student Saskia Laufer is the latest recipientsof the Donald R. Sobey Family Scholarship; Halifax’s Simone Reade felt a sense of duty after winning the Dr. Carrie Best Scholarship; and, Cassandra Burbine of River Hebert, N.S. promised to make the most out of being named the first-ever recipient of the Carrie and Ralph Wright Memorial Scholarship.
3. Stacey Macleod wins inaugural Penguin Random House Canada Prize for Best Nonfiction Proposal
Toronto-based writer and journalist Stacey Macleod won for her proposal For The Record days before graduating from King’s with her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction. Macleod’s book explores “the counterintuitive notion that we are losing our individual and collective pasts, even as we drown in digital memorabilia.”
Meagan, a former Maclean’s writer now honours journalism grad, wanted her valedictorian address to provide a ‘breath of relief’ to fellow graduates with career uncertainty.
4. Valedictorian, honorary doctorates highlight 230th Encaenia
In May, King’s awarded honorary doctorates to educator and tireless community leader Dale Godsoe, author and professor Lawrence Hill, and historian, King’s alumnus and Yale professor Bruce Gordon at its 230th Encaenia ceremony. Valedictorian Meaghan Campbell spoke to the Class of 2019 about embracing uncertainty during life’s changes. Campbell, an honours journalism grad, left school to get work experience before returning to King’s to finish her degree.
5. Why I Write: Jackie Torrens addresses MFA Creative Non-Fiction students
In August, Jackie Torrens provided an inspirational send-off for MFA students as they concluded their two-week King’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction Summer Residency and continue on in their nonfiction writing journeys. Torrens is a writer, actor, and documentary film director who spoke about her journey as a writer through poetry, plays, television and radio, and documentaries and how the lines between fiction and non-fiction are blurrier than we think.
6. International student and multi-sports athlete Shinji Yamamoto finding community at King’s
Growing up in Tochigi, Japan, Shinji Yamamoto decided if he were going to have the best career opportunities he needed to speak English. Yamamoto chose to come here because he said, “Canada has a very good community.” He hasn’t been disappointed. Yamamoto has found community on
Shinji is in the final year of his economics degree, but he is in no rush to return to Japan. “I’m really happy to be here.”
campus and on the soccer field.
7. King’s partnership with University of Calgary Faculty of Law strengthens
This fall, University of Calgary Law School Dean Ian Holloway visited our campus to discuss his school’s curriculum and the partnership that gives King’s Foundation Year Program students provisional pre-admission into Calgary’s law program. There are roughly 1,100 to 1,500 applicants every year, but only 130 places. The relationship between King’s and Calgary offers FYP students a considerable advantage.
8. Professor Shirley Tillotson wins Governor General’s History Award for taxpayer and democracy research
In June, King’s Inglis professor and author Shirley Tillitson won the the 2019 Governor General’s History Award for Scholarly Research—one of Canada’s top prizes for academic writing. Tillotson’s latest book Give and Take: The Citizen Taxpayer and the Rise of Canadian Democracy explores the evolution of income tax in Canada from the 1910s to the 1970s and the relationship between Canadians and the state along the way.
