Gratitude and good byes

Gratitude and good byes McGill University

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McGill Reporter
April 25, 2002 - Volume 34 Number 15
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Home > McGill Reporter > Volume 34: 2001-2002 > April 25, 2002 > Gratitude and good byes

Gratitude and good byes

This will be my last issue of the McGill Reporter. After 12 years and hundreds of Reporter articles about McGill and the people who make it what it is, I'm off to Development and Alumni Relations to work as a senior communications officer.

You've been an entertaining and impressive bunch to write about. You've also been a gracious and discerning audience. Thank you for both.

I'm in the happy position of being able to exit on a high note.

The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education has awarded the Reporter a bronze medal in its annual Prix d'Excellence in the category of best newspaper. The prize recognizes the terrific work done by past associate editor Bronwyn Chester, current associate editor Maeve Haldane (who will now be acting editor) and designers Teena Aujla and Sally Warner.

The CCAE also awarded the Reporter a gold medal for best science or technology research article for a piece I did on biology professor Graham Bell and his work on biodiversity.

The Reporter won a third CCAE medal -- sort of. Bronwyn Chester and translator Carl Lavoie earned a bronze medal for best article in French for a story published in the McGill News about how the Faculty of Dentistry's professors, staff and students periodically hit the streets to offer free dental care to homeless young people and other vulnerable Montrealers. The article originally appeared in English in the Reporter.

I owe a debt of thanks, really, to dozens and dozens of people. From Archives to the Web Communications Group, from Athletics to the Welcome Centre, there are so many of you to thank for your help over the years that it would take me the whole issue to do it properly (and it would read like the lamest Oscar acceptance speech ever).

I would like to single out my University Relations Office colleagues -- Kate Williams for being a wonderfully supportive and energetic supervisor, Laurie Devine and Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins for their very tangible contributions to the quality of the paper, Jenny Addesa for making budgets a little less frightening, Chantal Mauceri for her calm in a variety of crises, and Anne-Marie Bourdouxhe and Joe Zackon for their ideas and advice.

I also want to single out photographer Owen Egan and proofreader Jane Jackel for both being our fifth Beatle. Finally, a note of thanks to Diana Grier Ayton, my once and future boss, for showing me how it's done.

There have been many days when I've mused that I had one of the best jobs at McGill.

And then, there have been other days.

Like the day when the paper was late coming out because some poor fellow lost his finger in a freak accident at the printing plant. Or the day the drugged-out transvestite stumbled into the typesetting shop as we were nearing our deadline and promptly slumped on a chair unconscious. Or the day when our designer's computer imploded just as we were rushing to finish an issue. Or the day...

Thank you for reading. I urge you to keep reading the McGill Reporter. Maeve and acting associate editor Mark Reynolds will make it worth your while.

In this uncertain world I know one thing for certain -- McGill will continue to be an exciting and vibrant place. In this regard, the University just can't help itself.

And the McGill Reporter will continue to tell McGill's stories.

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