Ray Baillie, S BA, and his wife, Diana Baillie, BA 78, MA 91, this September will publish the third book in their series Imprints: Discovering the Historic Face of English Quebec (Price-Patterson Ltd.). These books chronicle the presence and contribution of English-speakers to the province since the 1760s.
Volume I dealt with Montreal and western Quebec, and volume II covered the Eastern Townships. Volume III looks at Quebec City and the eastern part of the province, where the English imprint has been vast and varied. Ray, a history teacher and department head at Chomedey Polyvalent High School, and Diana, a fiction writer, raised three children. When Ray retired in 1994, they embarked on this project, for which they have interviewed more than 300 people and Ray has photographed 900 English landmarks.
Howard B. Ripstein, S BComm, has
been promoted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of
Canada and Sovereign Head of the most valuable order of St. John of
Jerusalem, from Serving Brother (SBStJ) to Officer (OStJ), for his
support of the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade in Canada.
Reuben Spector, S BSc, received the Lifetime Career Achievement Award from the Canadian Plastics Industry Association Quebec Region. The award was presented at the association’s annual gala, April 17, in Montreal. More than 400 people were in attendance as Reuben was recognized for his leadership, expertise and impact during 48 years of service in the plastics industry. He is national accounts manager for Nova Chemicals Corporation, a commodity chemical company in Montreal.
Kevin Johnson, L BA (econ.), last
summer began working as a real estate agent for Royal Lepage in Pointe
Claire, Que. He is married with two children and lives in Beaconsfield.
Vancouver artist Lilian Broca, S BA, was awarded the Lorenzo il Magnifico gold medal at the 2003 Florence Biennale International Exhibition in Florence, Italy, for her
mosaic diptych Queen Esther’s Banquet. Lilian also received first prize in the Two Dimensional Category at the exhibition Opus Veritas - Fragments of Truth, held at the Italian American Museum in San Francisco, January 29 to April 4, for her mosaic Queen Esther Holding Evidence of Haman’s Guilt (pictured). Broca had a solo exhibition, the Queen Esther Series, at Vancouver’s Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, April 22 to May 24. lilianbroca.com
Steve Lake, S BA (mktg.), is a pit boss (floor supervisor), overseeing Black Jack, roulette and Baccarat tables, for Caesars Palace Las Vegas hotel and casino. Steve is also president of his own public relations firm, Innovative Media Communications. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Caroline, a travel writer. “I’d
be glad to be of assistance to any grads planning to visit Las Vegas.”
stevelake2@cox.net
Sharon H. Nelson, S BA, MA 80, took part in a poetry
reading, Communities: 3 Neighbourhood Poets, with fellow poets Carolyn
Zonailo and Mark Featherstone, at Montreal’s Coop la maison verte
on April 20. Sharon has published nine books of poems, and has also
written essays, plays and political analyses.
Ian Nielsen Jones, BA (econ.), received
an MA in economics from McMaster University in 1972. He is president
and CEO of Granada Empresarial, S.A., a lottery company based in the
Dominican Republic. Ian lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., and is
married with three children.
Gary Boire, L BA, writes, “After Concordia,
I went on to do my MA (1974) and PhD (1979) at McMaster and have since
then taught at the University of Auckland (1979-89) and Wilfrid Laurier
(1989-2004), in the Department of English & Film Studies. On July
1, I will become the Dean of Graduate and International Studies at
Lakehead University.”
Dominic Faccone, S BEng (civ. eng.), is president
and CEO of Core Furnace Systems, an engineering firm in the iron and
steel industry sectors, in Coraopolis, Penn. Dominic has been married
since 1974 and has two daughters, both University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill graduates. “I’ve been away from Montreal since 1974
and have lived in Argentina and the States. I enjoy keeping up with
Concordia events. We recently purchased a townhouse on Nun’s
Island, where we expect to spend our summers once I retire.”
30th Reunion
Corinne Benedetti Charette, L BEng,
is deputy director and CIO of Fintrac, an Ottawa-based market research
and technical services company. “I have just moved to Ottawa
from Toronto. I am divorced and have two boys: Philippe, who is at
McGill, and Marc-Alain, who is in high school in Ottawa.”
Frank Tingle, L BA (comm. arts), received a BEd in
technical education in 2003 from the Ontario Institute for Studies
in Education at University of Toronto. “After 20-plus years
running graphics at Royal Bank in Toronto, I am now teaching grades
10, 11 and 12 communication technology for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic
District School Board in Mississauga, bringing my experience to the
‘next generation’ and using many of the fundamentals I
learned in Loyola’s Communication Arts program. I’m married
30 years to Vicky Barberini, L BA 74, and we have
two sons, one at York University and the other in grade 11. My Radio
Loyola contemporaries were Mike Godin, Dan Phelan, Richard Paradis,
Carole Carter and Andy Kuhn.”
Murray Millett, BComm, is Vice-President, Finance,
for Seamont Brokerage & Transport, a Montreal customs brokerage and
freight forwarding company. He lives in Pierrefonds, Que. “I’m
now in my 25th year at Seamont. I joined TKE fraternity at Loyola in
1972 and still keep in touch with many. I would love to hear from former
classmates!” murray@seamontbt.com
Kathryn Noel, BA (soc.), received an MEd from Bishop’s
University in 1989 and a PhD in education from the University of Toronto
in 1996. She is now an education professor at Nipissing University.
Kathryn and her husband, who teaches at the University of Western Ontario,
live in London.
Jan Conn, BSc, placed second in
this year’s CBC Literary Awards poetry category for her poem
“Amazonia.” Jan works at the Wadsworth Center, part of
the New York State Department of Health, in Albany, N.Y., and is an
associate professor in the Biomedical Sciences Department at SUNYAlbany.
She has published four books with Véhicule Press, including
Beauties on Mad River: New and Selected Poems (2001).
Ann McCall, BFA, exhibited her
collograph prints in a three-person show, Trois visions d'espaces,
at Montreal’s Galerie Clair-Obscur in February. Ann’s
work also appeared in the Pratt & Whitney annual women’s exhibition,
Les Femmeuses, in April.
Maurice Antonucci, BComm, writes,
“After moving to Calgary in 1979 I worked in the oil and gas
industry. Since 1995 I’ve been working in the facilities management
field with the occasional foray into property management and lease
administration. In November 2003 I received my FMA (Facilities Management
Administrator) designation. I’ve returned to Montreal many times
since graduating and always look forward to visiting downtown and
the new campus buildings. I’ve been married to Wendy Fitzgibbon
for 23 years and we have one daughter, Jessica.”
Patricia Abbott, BA (journ.), was
recently awarded the Ordre du Mérite choral from the Alliance
des chorales du Québec, for her more than 20 years of contribution
to the development of choral music in the province. Pat is the executive
director of the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors, and conducts
the English Montreal School Board Chorale and the Chorale du Gesù women’s
choir. She is also an artist-in-residence at FACE School in Montreal
and is in demand as a choral music clinician and adjudicator across
Canada and abroad.
Thomas Bachelder, BA, was recently appointed as viniculture
manager at Le Clos Jordan, a new winery in Canada’s Niagara Peninsula
designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. Thomas has more
than 10 years of professional experience that started in his native
Montreal and then took him to Burgundy, France, and to the U.S. “It’s
an opportunity of a lifetime to work for such a prestigious and forward-
thinking new winery.”
Nabil Naccache, BCSc, MCSc 84, recently
joined semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments in Toronto, as
a product engineering manager. He is also founder and a director of
BeaconWave Consulting. Nabil is married with two children and lives
in Mississauga. beaconwave.com
Susan Pepler, BFA, held an exhibition
of her paintings, In the Garden/Dans le Jardin, at Montreal’s
Galerie 1040, March 16-21. Her work has also been picked up by Montreal’s
Galerie Borduas, including a series of paintings of teacups, and A.H.
Campbell Gallery in Westmount, where large-scale paintings of vintage
American cars from Cuba are featured. Pictured: Pontiac at the
Port. susanpepler.com
Rami Naccache, BComm, is a controller for a distribution
company in Montreal. He is divorced with two girls and lives in Ville
St. Laurent, Que.
James Briffett, BComm, is married
and lives in Rigaud, Que. “I’m working on a BA in English
literature at Concordia on a part-time basis. I have been with Clariant
(Canada) Inc. Global, a Swiss-based specialty chemical company in
St. Laurent, for 15 years, the past eight as a financial analyst.”
Luc Beauchemin, BFA, performed with his chamber-music
quartet, Quatuor Alcan, at the Centre d’Art de Richmond in Richmond,
Que., April 17. Quatuor Alcan, with Luc on alto violin, violinists
Laura Andriani and Nathalie Camus, and cellist David Ellis, are touring
Quebec for their 15th anniversary.
Mark Shainblum, BA (English), writes, “I had
a very big year in 2003. I turned 40 in April and in November married
my one true love, Andrea. Simultaneously, I served as president of
SF Canada, Canada’s national association of science fiction
and fantasy authors, and after many years as a science fiction editor
and comic book writer, published my first prose short fiction story,
“Endogamy Blues,“ in the anthology Island Dreams: Montreal
Writers of the Fantastic (Véhicule Press).” northguard.com/mbs/
Tess Fragoulis, BA, MA 99, is a
part-time English instructor at Concordia and author of Stories
to Hide from Your Mother (1997) and Ariadne’s Dream
(2002). She is the editor of the recently released Musings: An
Anthology of Greek-Canadian Literature (Véhicule Press).
Larry Williams, MFA, exhibited
at Montreal’s Wilder & Davis Gallery, March 19 to May 14, in
the show Elements: Recent Works by Larry Williams & David Gillanders.
The focal points of Larry’s paintings are glacial landscapes,
from his experiences of living in Inukjuak, an Inuit village on the
east coast of Hudson Bay. He has exhibited across Canada and the U.S.
Pictured: Glacial Residue.
Yvan Cournoyer, BComm (fin.), is a senior buyer of
natural and organic products for Organic Foods Supermarket in Austin,
Tex.
Mario Guillemette, EMBA, is president of Group Cabico,
cabinet manufacturer in Ayer’s Cliff, Que. He is married with
one child and lives in Beaconsfield, Que.
Jennifer Rae, BFA (art hist.), graduated in bioethics
from the University of Toronto in 1999, where she was the recipient
of the Canadian Scholars’ Press Award for Outstanding Achievement
in Bioethics in 1998. In 2004 she completed her MD degree from McMaster
University, and is now in residency in family medicine. Jennifer is
the author of two children’s books, Gilbert de la frogponde
(1997) and Dog Tales (1998).
Keba Amadou Sow, BAdmin (fin. & gen. admin.), a native
of Senegal, received a Diploma in Management from McGill in 1993 and
a Certified Management Accountant designation in 1998. “I am
now regional director of a multinational corporation in the telecom
sector, based in South Africa, and I do extensive travelling. I am
married and have three children, Chekbia, Nawal and Ahmad.”
John Vidmar, BSc (biol.), MSc (biol.) 93, lives in
Edmonton. “I received a PhD in biology (botany) from the University
of British Columbia in 1999. I then worked for two years at INRA in
Montpellier, France, on a postdoctorate degree. I am now a research
scientist/program leader of biotechnology for the agricultural fibres
unit of the Alberta Research Council. My research is in the use of
cereal straw, hemp and flax. I married Claudine Charlery, GrDip
(trans.) 92, in 1995, and our first child was born in 1997. We are
currently expecting our second child (in June).”
Helen Kulbers, BA, lives in Lod, Israel. “If there are any
Concordia grads in Israel, feel free to contact me.” hkulbers@yahoo.ca
Asif Ali, BComm, is a financial
planning specialist for financial consulting firm Smith Barney in
Boca Raton, Fla. Asif and his wife, Sumaya, have two children, Zane
and Jaden.
Raymond Beauchemin, MA, is the foreign editor at
the Montreal Gazette. His new book, Salut! The Quebec Microbrewery
Beer Cookbook (Véhicule Press), offers recipes, a history
of beer in Quebec and other beer tidbits. Ray is a recipient of the
Quill & Tankard Prize for Food Writing from the North American Guild
of Beer Writers. vehiculepress.com/salut/
Kim Boudreau, BA (psych.), lives in Rolling Meadows,
Ill. She runs her own company, Time 2b Fit Personal Training, providing
in-home health and fitness training.
Michael Armstrong, BA (poli. sci.),
and GrDip (journ.) 95, is a Montreal journalist. He has worked for
CBC Radio and Global TV Quebec, and since 2002 has been the Quebec
correspondent for Global TV’s Global National with Kevin
Newman. Mike was in Haiti in February during that country's political
upheaval, and among a group of 11 journalists who were pulled over
by roving gangs and seriously threatened before being allowed to leave,
an incident covered by the Toronto Star, February 28.
Sarah Dudley, BFA, has worked as
a master printer in County Donegal, Ireland, since 2002. She has also
helped set up another print workshop in Donegal, and was accepted
to be the International Visiting Artist for one month, August 2003,
at the Seacourt Print Workshop in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland.
Sarah studied at the Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Albuquerque,
N.M., from 1999 to 2001, as well as the École des Beaux-Arts de
Nimes in Nimes, France. In May and June 2004, she travels to Germany
to be the artist-in-residence at the Steindruck München print workshop
in Munich. Pictured: Forbidden Fruit Series - Fig.
Carolyn Gammon, MA, has co-written Zweimal Verfolgt/Twice Persecuted (Metropol Verlag) with Christiane Hemker. The book recounts the harrowing story of Johanna Krause, a native of Dresden, Germany, who, as a Jew, was persecuted by the Nazis and then again, under East German rule, by the Communists. A concentration camp survivor, Johanna remained in Dresden, only to learn that anti-Semitism under the Communists was no better. Fortunately, Johanna lived long enough to see some justice, after the fall of the wall. The book is currently available only in German, and the writers are looking for an English publisher. metropol-verlag.de
Susie Grondin, BFA (film production), is a producer for Nelvana, a children’s and family entertainment company in Toronto. “I have worked on kids’ shows such as Miss Spider’s Sunnypatch Kids and Rolie Polie Olie, which was nominated for another Daytime Emmy Award! I am still with John Ellis, BFA 93, a director of development for an Internet-based broadcast company. In my spare time, I train for triathlons.”
Karen Kitto, BFA (drama ed.), received a BEd from the University of Western Ontario in 1995. “Beginning in 1996, I taught overseas (in Colombia, Istanbul, the Netherlands and Beirut) and studied in France for the past year and a half (immediately after getting married, in August 2002, to Michael Collins of Charlottetown — although we met in Istanbul). Mike and I moved to Chicago in February. I’ll be happily back to teaching once the paperwork gets sorted. Any Concordia grads in Chicago? Would love to hook up for coffee and/or a glass of wine.” klynnkitto@yahoo.com
Robert Winters, BFA, writes, “Since graduating from the university, I completed the graphic design course at Collège Inter-Dec in Montreal, then was accepted to the Master Printer Training Programme at the Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Albuquerque, N.M. During the second year, the two apprentices work under the supervision of Tamarind’s master printer, and collaborate with invited artists who produce a number of lithograph editions. The apprentices are responsible for printing the editions after the artist has gone. Robert Bigelow, who was the head of Concordia’s print department while I was a student there, is also a graduate of this program and is the one who inspired me to go there.”
Tamara Smayda, BEd (TESL), lives
in Castlegar, B.C. “I’m finally going to go and do it:
it’s off to Japan to teach for a year. Castlegar is in such
an economic slump I’m afraid it just might slip off and float
away down the Columbia River. I was hired through the city hall of
Trail, B.C., and the school district here in the Kootenays. I’ll be
teaching grades 4 to 6 in Tsukui, a remote mountain town (Trail’s
sister city). Let’s just hope that I come back all rich and
multilingual and fulfilled professionally.”
Jarmila Kavena, BFA (studio arts),
MFA (studio arts) 01, studied art in the Czech Republic before she
came to Canada. She has won several prizes for her multimedia work
of encaustic paintings, prints, aluminum castings and objects from
a foundry. Jarmila most recently exhibited at Maison de la culture
de Gatineau in Gatineau, Que., March 12 to April 18, and will have
an installation at the Engine Gallery in Toronto, July 1- 15, and
at Maison de la culture in Plateau Montr éal in November. Pictured:
Phantom.
Tara Black, BA (TESL), writes, “I teach children
with special needs in an inner city school outside of Boston (Lowell
Public Schools). I am married (we went back to Montreal to do it in
style!) and we are expecting our first child!”
Chris Di Raddo, BA (comm. studs.
& journ.), was featured in the January 8 Noisemakers 2004 issue of
the Montreal Mirror newspaper. Chris, a Montreal publicist,
had two of his stories published in Quickies 3, the latest
in the popular fiction anthology from Arsenal Pulp Press. Di Raddo
is now working on his first novel, a non-linear story about a gay
man starting a new relationship while dealing with the imminent death
of a family member, and his first short film, about romantic relationships
between gay francophones and anglophones.
After Nature, the exhibit by Henri Venne,
MFA, is being shown at the Musée d’art contemporain de
Montréal, May 6 to September 5. Henri’s art combines characteristics
of photography and painting. For his first solo exhibition in a Quebec
museum, he has produced a brand-new series of works. He has exhibited
regularly in Quebec since 1994, in solo and group shows. Pictured:
It Slips Away Eventually.
Kari Colpitts, BComm (acct.), works at Suncor Oil
and Gas in Calgary as a financial derivatives accounting specialist.
“At Concordia I was on the women’s hockey Commerce Games
team. I’m getting married soon.”
Neil Simmerman, BSc, recently returned from southern
India, where he completed a hands-on, two-month clerkship in international
health as part of his last year as a student in the Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev Faculty of Health Sciences Medical School for International
Health in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center. After
completing medical school in May, Neil entered a residency program
in obstetrics and gynecology at New York Presbyterian Hospital in
New York City.
Photo by Robert Winters
A show by Juliana España Keller,
BFA, MFA 03, was highlighted in the Montreal Mirror’s
Best of 2003 review of the city’s visual arts scene. The July-August
2003 show at Galerie Art Mûr on St. Hubert St., A Standard Life,
welcomed visitors with a photographic self-portrait image of the tattooed
Juliana in tennis apparel, silversshoes (pictured), in the
gallery’s storefront window display. The show also included
haunting videos. In September 2003, Juliana presented two video works
at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, in conjunction
with British video artist Gillian Wearing’s exhibition Mass
Observation. In November 2003, she participated in Voilà Québec
in Mexico City, a cultural exchange project involving eight female
artists from Canada who transformed their hotel rooms into art installations.
Also in 2003, Keller curated the Trans-Species Collective’s
show at Montreal’s Belgo Building. Future exhibitions include
a solo exhibition at Gallery McClure in Westmount in June and Muu
Gallery in Helsinki, Finland, in September.
Efstathia Karavasilis, BComm (fin.),
is a personal financial services representative for the Royal Bank
of Canada in Montreal.
Nadia Capogreco, BComm, is supervisor
and production flow analyst for Lady Sandra of Canada, a textiles
company in St. Léonard, Que. She is married with one child.
Joel Fishbane, BA (creative writing), wrote and directed
the play The Bed Trick, which premiered May 13 at the Pumpkin
Theatre in Montreal. Joel’s previous plays include The Yichud
Room, which kicked off the Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas
Festival in Toronto, An Act of God and Rhapsody.
Brian Willoughby, BA (psych.), writes, “I am
now in my second year of an MSc-PhD program in child/family clinical
psychology at the University of Miami, Fla. I received a tuition scholarship
and a TA, and last May, I was awarded a doctoral fellowship from SSHRC:
$76,000 over four years. They are funding my research on young, gay
men and their unique family experiences. I live on South Beach, four
blocks from the water — it’s amazing. See: a Con U grad
can make it in this world!”
Scott MacLeod, BFA, and photographer
Monica Tatjana Götz held an exhibition, Central Park Two Views, at
the Arsenal Gallery in New York, April 29 to June 10. Scott’s
oil on Masonite sketches for the show were based on Götz’s
photographs. Scott is a Montreal artist. macleod9.com
Jawad Hussain Qureshi, GrDip (SCPA), writes, “I
have been accepted at the Institute of Asian Research at the University
of British Columbia for an MA in Asia Pacific Policy Studies (governance
and human rights). I'll be moving to Vancouver over the summer. Any
help from fellow grads in settling in would be appreciated.”
Jawad_H_Qureshi@yahoo.com
Kevin Rechil, BComm (fin.), is sales manager for
Ontario and Manitoba for A. E. Petsche Co., the world’s largest
distributor of high-performance electronics for the aerospace and
defence industry, in Toronto. “I’m managing the existing
customer base, meeting sales/growth targets, and analyzing industry/territory
trends.”
